A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Behn, Aphra
&#;Behn, Aphra (Johnston) ().—Novelist and dramatist, dau. of a barber named Johnston, but went with a relative whom she called father to Surinam, of which he had been appointed Governor. He, however, d. on the passage thither, and her childhood and youth were passed there. She became acquainted with the celebrated slave Oronoko, afterwards the hero of one of her novels. Returning to England in she m. Behn, a Dutch merchant, but was a widow at the age of She then became attached to the Court, and was employed as a political spy at Antwerp. Leaving that city she cultivated the friendship of various &#;playwrights, and produced many plays and novels, also poems and pamphlets. The former are extremely gross, and are now happily little known. She was the first English professional authoress. Among her plays are The Forced Marriage, Abdelazer, The Rover, The Debauchee, etc., and her novels include Oronoko and The Nun. The former of these was the first book to bring home to the country a sense of the horrors of slavery, for which let her have credit.
Behn, Aphra
, –89, first professional female English author. Little is known of her early life, but there is evidence that c she married a London merchant of Dutch descent named Behn. After the death of her husband, Aphra Behn became an English spy in the Dutch Wars (–67), adopting the pseudonym Astrea, under which she later published much of her verse. Her career as a secret agent was unsuccessful, and she returned to England exhausted and penniless, forced even to serve time in debtors' prison. By her first play had been performed, and by she gained her much desired fame with the eminently successful production of All her plays are noted for their broad, bawdy humor. Despite her success as a playwright, however, her best literary achievement can be found in her novels. The most notable of these is (), a tragic love story concerning an enslaved African prince, the first philosophical novel in English. Aphra Behn was famous for her lifestyle as well as her works; her denial of woman's subservience to man and her high-living, bohemian existence has led critics to describe her as the George Sand of the Restoration and a forerunner of the feminist movement. Her literary reputation
Dictionary of National Biography, /Behn, Afra
&#;BEHN, AFRA, APHRA, APHARA, or AYFARA (–), dramatist and novelist, was baptised at Wye on 10 July She was the daughter of John Johnson, a barber, and of Amy, his wife. A relative whom she called her father was nominated by Lord Willoughby to the post of lieutenant-general of Surinam, which was then an English possession. He went out to the West Indies with his whole family when Aphra was still a child. The father died on the outward voyage, but the family settled in the best house in the colony, a charming residence called St. John's Hill, of which the poetess has given a probably overcharged picture, painted from memory, in her novel of 'Oroonoko.' She became acquainted, as she grew up, with the romantic chieftain whose name has just been mentioned, and with Imoinda his wife. A great deal of nonsense was long afterwards talked in London about this friendship, in which the scandal-mongers would fain see a love-affair between Aphra and Oroonoko. The latter, to say the truth, is a slightly fabulous personage, although the poetess says that 'he was used to call me his "Great Mistress," and my wishes would go a great way with him.
A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Behn, (Aphra)
BEHN, (APHRA)poetically called Astrea, an English Poetess and Novel-writer. Born in the Reign of Charles&#;I. died, after a long Illness,
Daughter of a gentleman of good family in Canterbury, of the name of Johnson, who, being lieutenant-general of Surinam, &c. embarked with his family for the West-Indies, at which time Aphra was very young. Her father died on the passage; but the rest arrived at Surinam, where the natural beauties of the situation allotted them, seem to have first awakened her poetical powers; and perhaps the luxurious indulgence and state of their way of life, helped to give her that taste for pleasure, which she afterwards retained. Here she became acquainted with the American prince Oroonoko, whose story she afterwards gave to the public, from which Southerne took his play of the Royal Captive, He and his wife Climene, or Imoinda, were almost constantly with her. Some censures were passed on her respecting this intimacy; but it appears to have been without foundation. His great merit would naturally awaken esteem; and his story render him interesting to
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