Overview

First published in 1688, Oroonoko, or, The Royal Slave is a short, politically charged novella by the Restoration playwright – and spy – Aphra Behn, and is arguably one of the founding texts of the novel form. Purporting to chart the life of an African prince, Oroonoko, who is tricked into slavery and taken to South America, the narrative follows the Prince through his trials of love, loss and rebellion. Vying for the title of the first English novel – and certainly the first to be read as an indictment of the treatment of Africans – Oroonoko has all the hallmarks of Behn's stage works, which are widely considered to be amongst the most important of the Restoration period.

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9781913724115

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'All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.' (Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own)

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Aphra Behn (c.1640–89), or Astrea, was a poet, author and playwright, best remembered today as being one of the first English women to earn a living with her pen, as well as for her work as a spy for Charles II.

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