Book

Todd, Janet, 1942- author.

Aphra Behn : a secret life / Janet Todd.

London : Fentum Press, [2017]

©2017

xxx, 586 pages ; 24 cm

"Aphra Behn, a spy in the Netherlands and the Americas, was the first professional woman writer. The most prolific dramatist of her age, innovative novelist, translator, lyrical and erotic poet, she expresses a frank sexuality addressing impotence, orgasm and bisexuality, whilst serving as political propagandist for the monarch. This revised biography of the extraordinary, ground-breaking writer, who is emblematic of the Restoration period, a time of masks and self-fashioning, is set in conflict-ridden England, Europe, and in the mismanaged slave colonies, following the Puritan republic in 1660."-- Amazon.com

Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689.

Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689 -- Political and social views.

Authors, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Biography.

Espionage, British -- Belgium -- Antwerp -- History -- 17th century.

Women spies -- Great Britain -- Biography.

Biographies.

Secret life of Aphra Behn

"An earlier version of this book, The Secret Life of Aphra Behn, was published in 1996 by André Deutsch Ltd/Rutgers University Press, and in 2000 by Rivers Oram/Pandora"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 549-567) and index.

Introduction to the 1996 version -- Beginnings in Kent -- Sire Thomas Colepeper and Lord Strangford -- Voyage to Surinam -- Colonial politics : Willoughby and Byam -- Surinam : African slaves and Native Americans -- Marriage and the Great Plague -- On the king's service -- To Antwerp -- Debts and disappointment -- In and out of prison -- Theatrical début : The Forc'd Marriage -- The Amorous Prince and Covent Garden Drolery -- The Dutch Lover and theatrical conflict -- John Hoyle and Abdelazer -- Poetry in a theatrical world -- The Rover and Thomaso -- Sir Patient Fancy and city Whigs -- The popish plot and The Feign'd Curtizans -- Deaths of the Earl of Rochester and Viscount Stafford -- The Second Part of the Rover and The Roundheads -- Free-thinking in politics and religion -- Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister -- The great frost and Voyage to the Isle of Love -- Death of Charles II and coronation of James II -- Farewell to the theater : The Luckey Chance and The Emperor of the Moon -- Seneca Unmasqued and The Montre -- Part III of Love-Letters and court poetry -- A Discovery of New Worlds and poems for James II -- The Widdow Ranter and Oroonoko -- End of the Stuart dynasty and death of Aphra Behn -- Chronological list of Behn's works.

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BIO Behn