The Theatre of Aphra Behn

by D. Hughes

Overview

During the nineteen years of her play-writing career, Aphra Behn had far more new plays staged than anyone else. This book is the first to examine all her theatrical work. It explains her often dominant place in the complex theatrical culture of Charles II's reign, her divided political sympathies, and her interests as a free-thinking intellectual. It also reveals her as a brilliant theatrical practitioner, who used the seen as richly and significantly as the spoken.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333760307
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	02/20/2001
Edition description:	2001
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

DEREK HUGHES is a Reader at the University of Warwick. He has published extensively on Restoration drama, his most recent book being English Drama, 1660-1700, a study of the entire corpus of late seventeenth-century plays.

Table of Contents

Dedication Acknowledgements Introduction Background First Attempt First Impact Experimentation Maturity Political Crisis Political Triumph Death and Famine 'Tho she is now no more' Conclusion Bibliography Appendix Index

Editorial Reviews

'This is a major contribution to recent scholarship on Aphra Behn from the foremost British authority on the history of Restoration theatre. It will recontextualise approaches to a major dramatist and will provoke lively critical debate.' - Professor Malcolm Kelsall, Cardiff University

'Dr Hughes has written a book which is at once thorough and exciting. It is thorough in that he examines each of Aphra Behn's plays in the full context of Restoration theatre (on which few, if any, scholars are more knowledgeable) and so enables is to see her continuously interacting with political events and with the changing theatrical repertoire. It is exciting because the figure who thus emerges is far more complex than the Aphra Behn now chiefly remembered for feminist contributions to Restoration comedy; a writer of unstoppable creativity, intellectually alert and, above all, supremely aware of the nature and possibilities of theatrical presentation.' - Professor Inga-Stina Ewbank

From the Publisher

Riches on nearly every page...

Choice

Riches on nearly every page...

This study of Behn's plays examines all of her theatrical work, with attention to her prominent place in the unstable and diverse world of Restoration theater. Consideration is also given to Behn's artistic response to the political crises of the day, her portrayal of patriarchal power, and her tendency toward skepticism. Hughes teaches English and comparative literary studies at the University of Warwick, UK. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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