Table Of ContentAphra Behn's Afterlife
JANE SPENCER
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Aphra Behn’s Afterlife
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Angellica confronts Willmore in an eighteenth-century illustration from
Behn’s most frequently-performed play,The Rover(edn.).Bodleian
Library,University of Oxford.Shelfmark Vet Af.()
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Aphra Behn’s
Afterlife
JANE SPENCER
1
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3
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In memory of
GARETH ROBERTS
‒
most wonderful colleague and friend
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Acknowledgements
SOME material in Chapter appeared in an earlier form in my
article ‘Adapting Aphra Behn: Hannah Cowley’s A School for
Greybeards and The Lucky Chance’,in Women’s Writing,vol.no.(),
–.I am grateful to Triangle Journals for permission to use this.
Part of Chapter is a revised version of my ‘The Rover and the
Eighteenth Century’, in Janet Todd (ed.), Aphra Behn Studies
(Cambridge University Press, ), –. I am grateful to
Cambridge University Press for permission to incorporate this.Lines
from W. H. Auden, Collected Shorter Poems, ‒, are quoted by
permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.and Random House,Inc.
My work on this book has been generously supported by several
institutions.Someof theresearchwasdonewhileIheldaWilliamA.
Ringler,Jr.FellowshipattheHuntingtonLibraryin.TheBritish
Academy provided travel grants and, crucially, a Research Leave
Award.Aswellasgrantingmeresearchtermsinand,Exeter
UniversitySchoolof Englishgavethematchingfundingthatallowed
metotakeuptheBritishAcademyawardandhavetwoterms’ leave
in –,during which time most of the book was written.
That I was able to think of writing it in the first place is due to
James Booth, who introduced me to Aphra Behn back in the s,
before anyone else was lecturing on her; and to Marion Shaw, who
taught me how to read as a feminist.
My colleagues at Exeter have supported me in many ways. Many
of them have read and commented helpfully on some part of the
work in progress. In addition, I’d especially like to thank Regenia
Gagnier for giving me courage; Helen Taylor for providing a listen-
ing ear; Peter New for minimizing my duties in the summer term of
;Chris Brooks for taking on an enormous workload during that
term which, among other things, lightened mine; Diane Purkiss for
not allowing me to slow down towards the end;and Ashley Tauchert
for challenging and nourishing me over the course of many con-
versations. My debt to the late Gareth Roberts is inadequately
acknowledged in the dedication.
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viii Acknowledgements
I have received enormous help from the community of scholars
working in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century studies. Jeslyn
Medoff very generously allowed me to make use of her unpublished
research on the early biographies of Behn, and provided me with a
number of leads, as well as sustaining me with her conversation.
Mary Ann O’Donnell has passed on information and shared the
results of bibliographical work in progress with her usual great
generosity.She and Bernard Dhuicq organized the hugely enjoyable
Aphra Behn conference in July , where I learned a great deal
that was new at an uncomfortably late stage in the book’s composi-
tion. Warren Chernaik very generously made his unpublished work
on Oroonoko available to me. Carol Barash was extremely kind in
answering my questions and providing me with access to the Folger
MS of Anne Finch’s poetry.Conversations and communications with
Cathrin Brockhaus, Alan Downie, Germaine Greer, Ludmilla
Jordanova,Paulina Kewes,Joyce Green MacDonald,Anita Pacheco,
SarahPrescott,MarjorieStone,andJanetTodd,havebeenespecially
helpful. I would also like to thank all those who have listened to me
give papers on Behn over the last few years for their comments and
suggestions, which have opened up new directions for me. Warren
Chernaik and Susan Wiseman read the entire book in draft. They
criticized, offered suggestions, and saved me from errors, and the
book is a much stronger work for their help.The errors that remain,
of course,are all my own.
My parents, Margaret and Philip Spencer, have given me every
help and encouragement, and have spent many half-term holidays
looking after their granddaughters. Jacquie Rawes, Richard
Simmons, and Peninah Thomson have been never-failing sources of
handy accommodation and sustenance of all kinds, practical, intel-
lectual,and emotional.Kate Spencer listened to me patiently while I
talked about the book,and solved a major structural problem for me
on the way home from school one day. I am proud to say that I am
Eleanor Spencer’s favourite author,even though (or perhaps because)
she has not yet read my work. Hugh Glover has been my constant
support,and the help he is to me is beyond my power to describe.
J.S.
Exeter
December
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Contents
Introduction
PART I REPUTATIONS
Pleasure and Poetry:The Behn Myth
The Dramatist and the Novelist
PART II INFLUENCES
The Sons of Behn
Her Wit,without Her Shame:Women Writing after Behn
PART III RECEPTIONS
The Rover
Oroonoko
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Description:Aphra Behn, now becoming recognized as a major Restoration figure, is especially significant as an early example of a successful professional woman writer. This book analyses her reception as a poet, a novelist, and a dramatist, demonstrating her far-reaching influence on eighteenth-century literatu
