The Definitive Aphra Behn Collection: Her Fiction, Poetry, and Drama

THE DEFINITIVE APHRA BEHN COLLECTION includes more than 50 works by 17th-century English writer, dramatist, and spy Aphra Behn.  This collection included her famous anti-slavery work OROONOKO, as well as her other works of prose fiction, many of her poems, and her plays. Disregarded for many years, Behn's works achieved renewed interest in the twentieth century, and she is now regarded as one of the most important dramatists in 17th-century English literature.

Little is known of Behn's (1640-1689) early life.  She was probably born to Bartholomew (or possibly Eaffrey) Johnson, a barber, and Elizabeth Denham, a wet-nurse, although several alternate possibilities exist.  She may have traveled to Surinam and lived there several years, returning to England in 1664, although this is uncertain as well.  Her most famous work, OROONOKO, is set in Surinam and may reflect some of her experiences in that South American colony.  Around 1664 she married John (or Johan) Behn, a Dutch or German merchant who died shortly thereafter, although she kept the Behn surname for the rest of her life.  With the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665, Behn became an English spy in Antwerp.  The crown's refusal to pay for her services contributed to her becoming a professional writer, one of the first women in England to do so.

Novels and Short Stories

• The History of Agnes de Castro
• Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and his Sister
• The Fair Jilt
• Oroonoko
• The History of the Nun
• The Dumb Virgin
• The Adventure of the Black Lady
• The Court of the King of Bantam
• The Lucky Mistake
• The Nun
• The Unfortunate Bride
• The Unfortunate Happy Lady
• The Unhappy Mistake
• The Wandering Beauty

Poetry

• The Willing Mistress
• The Disappointment
• The Lover's Watch
• Poems Upon Several Occasions
• A Voyage to the Isle of Love
• Lycidus; or, The Lover in Fashion
• Westminster Drollery
• Miscellany
• Gildon's Miscellany
• Gildon's Chorus Poetarum
• Muses Mercury
• Familiar Letters
• Prologue to Romulus
• Epilogue to Romulus
• Satyr on Dryden
• Valentinian
• To Henry Higden, Esq.
• On The Death of E. Waller, Esq.
• A Pindaric Poem to Dr. Burnet

Drama

• The Forc’d Marriage
• The Amorous Prince
• The Dutch Lover
• Abdelazar
• The Town Fop
• The Rover, Part I
• The Rover, Part II
• Sir Patient Fancy
• The Feigned Courtesans
• The Young King
• The False Count
• The Round-Heads
• The City Heiress
• The Lucky Chance
• The Emperor of the Moon
• The Window Ranter
• The Younger Brother