Aphra Behn
http://ift.tt/20KAAEB
April 16th 1689: Aphra Behn dies
On this day in 1689, Aphra Behn, England’s first professional female writer, died in London aged 48. Born as Aphra Johnson in 1640, little is known about her early life but it is believed that she spent some of her childhood in the West Indies. In 1664, she married the merchant Johan Behn, but he soon passed away, leaving his widow in crippling debt. Due to her association with the Dutch, Behn was appointed as a spy for King Charles II in Antwerp. However, she was poorly compensated for her efforts and was eventually imprisoned for failing to pay off her debts, leading her to begin writing professionally in order to maintain an income. During her writing career, Behn wrote a number of successful plays, including ‘The Forc’d Marriage’, ‘The Rover’, and ‘The Emperor of the Moon’. Behn also tried her hand at translating, poetry, and novel writing, publishing ‘Oroonoko’ in 1688, which told the story of an enslaved African prince and was based on her experiences in the West Indies. Her success was unusual for a woman in the seventeenth century, and she advocated gender equality. Aphra Behn - spy, playwright, and novelist - died in April 1689, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
“All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn…for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds”
- Virginia Woolf in ‘A Room of One’s Own’
No comments:
Post a Comment