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Of Love and War: The Political Voice in the Early Plays of Aphra Behn is a study which situates Behn’s early plays within their historical and political context. Behn (c.1640-1689), the first professional female playwright in England, is a fascinating study, having traveled to Surinam as a young woman, served as a spy for Charles II, and evidently supported her family through her writing, including plays, poetry, fiction, and translation.
Her early plays have often been dismissed as romances, largely because they treat such social and/or gender issues as forced marriage and female desire. This study argues that these same social issues frequently serve as tropes for political commentary and propaganda in support of foreign and domestic policies. Behn’s plays clearly demonstrate staunch loyalist support of the Stuart government, yet within the dramatic construction, she—like her contemporary male colleagues, offers fascinating covert political criticism.
Her early plays have often been dismissed as romances, largely because they treat such social and/or gender issues as forced marriage and female desire. This study argues that these same social issues frequently serve as tropes for political commentary and propaganda in support of foreign and domestic policies. Behn’s plays clearly demonstrate staunch loyalist support of the Stuart government, yet within the dramatic construction, she—like her contemporary male colleagues, offers fascinating covert political criticism.
Price: $131.00
Pages: 304
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Costerus New Series
Publication Date:
01 January 2010
ISBN: 9789042031722
Format: Paperback
Judy Hayden is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of English and Writing at the University of Tampa. She earned her PhD at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. She has published numerous articles and essays on Restoration Drama in journals such as Studies in English Literature, Papers on Language and Literature, English, and Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama and in collections including Aphra Behn (1640-1689): Identity, Alterity, Ambiguity (L’Harmattan, 2000) and Roxolana in European Literature, History and Culture (Ashgate).