Other editions of book Oroonoko

This carefully crafted ebook: "Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave (Unabridged)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. This ebook is a short novel by Aphra Behn (1640–1689), published in 1688, concerning the love of its hero, an enslaved African in Surinam in the 1660s, and the author's own experiences in the new South American colony. It is one of the earliest English novels. Interest in it has increased since the 1970s, critics arguing that Behn is the foremother of British women writers, and that Oroonoko is a crucial text in the history of the novel. Aphra Behn (baptised 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration, the first English professional female literary writer. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature. Along with Delarivier Manley and Eliza Haywood, she is sometimes referred to as part of "The fair triumvirate of wit." Behn's work Oroonoko (1688) is critically acknowledged as important to the development of the English novel. She was also a key writer in seventeenth century theatre. She is perhaps best known to modern audiences for her short novel.

Aphra Benn was a phenomenon: a lone female who was by turns a well-respected playwright, a spy, a convict, and the author of 'Oroonoko', the first English novel. Behn tells the (reputedly true) story of an African Prince, betrayed into slavery, who tires of the perfidy of the whites and leads a slave revolt for freedom - with tragic consequences. The atrocities Behn described shocked Restoration England and greatly advanced the cause of abolitionism. Behn's innovative novel also gave females a literary voice; as Virginia Woolf wrote "...it was she who earned [women] the right to speak their minds."

A landmark in the history of the novel, Oroonoko is among the earliest such works in the English language and its author, Aphra Behn, is often cited as the first professional woman writer. Originally published in 1688, the tale combines memoir, biography, and travelogue in the form of a narrative by an Englishwoman visiting Surinam. The storyteller's account of an African prince who is sold into slavery and becomes the leader of a rebellion represents one of the first fictional treatments of colonial and abolitionist themes, and it is unusual for its era in its sympathetic regard for black Africans.Despite the considerable success of her poetry, plays, and fiction, little is known for certain about the life of Restoration-era author Aphra Behn (1640–89). Two centuries after Behn's burial in Westminster Abbey's Poets Corner, Virginia Woolf observed, "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn ... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds."

Oroonoko is a short novel by Aphra Behn (June 10, 1640 - April 16, 1689), published in 1688, concerning the love of its hero, an enslaved African in Surinam in the 1660s, and the author's own experiences in the new South American colony. It is generally claimed (most famously by Virginia Woolf) that Aphra Behn was the first professional female author in English, living entirely by her own earnings. While this is not entirely true, Behn was the first professional female dramatist, as well as one of the first English novelists, male or female. The novel concerns Oroonoko, the grandson of an African king, who falls in love with Imoinda, the daughter of that king's top general. Oroonoko is now the most studied of Aphra Behn's novels.

I do not pretend, in giving you the history of this Royal Slave, to entertain my reader with adventures of a feigned hero, whose life and fortunes fancy may manage at the poet's pleasure; nor in relating the truth, design to adorn it with any accidents but such as arrived in earnest to him: and it shall come simply into the world, recommended by its own proper merits and natural intrigues; there being enough of reality to support it, and to render it diverting, without the addition of invention.

Oroonoko, the grandson of an African king, is madly in love with Imoinda, the daughter of the king’s general. When the king—who is also in love with Imoinda—catches wind of their affair, he sells Imoinda as a slave. This betrayal sets off a chain of events that carries unforeseen consequences for everybody involved. Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko has been hailed as one of the first great English novels and remains a classic of historical fiction. It was adapted for the stage in the play Oroonoko: A Tragedy, which debuted in 1695 and went on to become a massive success.HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital form, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library