Faithful and handsome, the Englishman Belvile is in love with the Italian lady Florinda, who is betrothed to another. Willmore, the rover, is in love with Hellena, sister of Florinda and destined for the convent. And Angellica Bianca, a courtesan, is in love with Willmore. Against the backdrop of Naples during Carnival time, this varied cast of characters pursue life, honour, and pleasure in this comedic drama.Author and playwright Aphra Behn created a clearly male-centric world in...

Aphra Behn è la prima scrittrice professionista della storia! La cui tomba nell’Abbazia di Westminster "tutte le donne insieme dovrebbero cospargere di fiori, poiché fu lei a conquistar loro il diritto a dire quello che pensavano" scriverà Virginia Woolf in Una stanza tutta per sé, consacrando la Behn capostipite delle scrittrici della storia della letteratura mondiale. Aphra Ben ebbe una vita costellata di avventure, successi e sconfitte: lo spionaggio internazionale, la prigione per debi...

La tormentata storia d'amore fra il principe Oroonoko, nipote di un sovrano africano, e Imoinda, figlia di un valoroso condottiero. La giovane, che l'anziano tiranno vorrebbe sua sposa, si ribella insieme all'amato. I due nobili giovani saranno costretti alla lontananza, per poi riabbracciarsi, ormai schiavi, nella colonia inglese del Suriname. Mediante il codice della tragedia eroica, l'opera affronta le complessità ideologiche legate al colonialismo, proponendo una visione combattuta tra...

Aphra Behn, the poet, playwright, novelist and political satirist was the first truly professional woman writer in English. This selection, edited and introduced by Professor Janet Todd, demonstrates the full sophistication and vitality of Aphra Behn's genius. It contains the plays The Rover and The Widow, Ranter (the first English play to be set in the American colonies) together with Love Letters to a Gentleman, a choice of poems and two short novels - The Fair Jilt and Oroonoko - which ...

'We are bought and sold like apes or monkeys, to be the sport of women, fools, and cowards, and the support of rogues . . .'Spy, traveller and pioneering female writer Aphra Benn's story of an African prince sold into slavery is considered one of the earliest English novels

It is perhaps not altogether easy to appreciate the multiplicity of difficulties with which the first editor of Mrs. Behn has to cope. Not only is her life strangely mysterious and obscure, but the rubbish of half-a-dozen romancing biographers must needs be cleared away before we can even begin to see daylight. Matter which had been for two centuries accepted on seemingly the soundest authority is proven false; her family name itself was, until my recent discovery, wrongly given; the very ...

When Prince Oroonoko’s passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko’s noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn’s visit to Surinam, Oroonoko (1688) reflects the author’s romantic view of Native Americans as simple, superior peoples ‘in the first state of innoc...

Some injustices echo across centuries. In Oroonoko, Aphra Behn tells a powerful and emotionally charged story of love, betrayal, and enslavement. Based on a West African prince sold into bondage, the novel confronts colonialism, power, and human dignity with striking directness. Blending romance with political and moral critique, the narrative explores loyalty, resistance, and the devastating cost of oppression. Its vivid storytelling and tragic intensity make it one of the earliest and mo...

A groundbreaking early novel that blends romance, political conflict, and a deeply moving human tragedy. Oroonoko is a noble African prince whose life changes dramatically after betrayal and enslavement. Known for his honor, intelligence, and dignity, he finds himself torn from his homeland and thrust into a world of cruelty and injustice. Even in captivity, he remains steadfast in his values and sense of identity. As he navigates the harsh realities of colonial power and oppression, Oroon...

Ambientato nel Surinam britannico dove Behn in gioventú aveva trascorso due anni, Oroonoko narra la storia di uno schiavo di rara bellezza e coraggio. Un racconto di amore e morte, umanità e prigionia, che anticipa i temi dalla letteratura postcoloniale e apre la strada alla prosa inglese del Settecento, primo fra tutti al Robinson Crusoe di Daniel Defoe.

Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was a spy for Charles II, a playwright, poet, and novelist, and the first English woman to make a living from writing. Her pen name was Astrea. Ernest A. Baker (1869-1941) was an English writer and historian of literature. In 1905, 216 years after Mrs Behn's death, he introduced this collection of ten of her novels in the language of his day, a form which was not a facsimile of her texts. This ebook, prepared 329 years after her death, silently corrects some typos, a...

Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave was written in the year 1688 by Aphra Behn. This book is one of the most popular novels of Aphra Behn, and has been translated into several other languages around the world.This book is published by Booklassic which brings young readers closer to classic literature globally.