PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Little is known of Aphra Behn's early life. She was probably born around 1640 in Kent and in the early 1660s claims to have visited the British colony of Surinam. She turned to literature for a living, producing numerous short stories, 19 stage plays and political propaganda for the Tories. Janet Todd is Francis Hutcheson Professor of English Literature, University of Glasgow and Aphra Behn's biographer.
Oroonoko is a poignant tragic story of an African prince whose grandfather, the king, denied him his true love, black beauty Imoinda . Betrayed and sold into slavery to British colonists, Oroonoko finds his lost love in the British colony of Suriname but fails to gain freedom for himself and his family and soon finds a tragic, grotesque death. This new edited version with an introduction, further reading and notes by Janet Todd, offers a fresh assessment of the literary and political contexts of Oronoko, providing also a summary of Aphra Behn's life and the criticism of her writing during the Restoration period. Particularly interesting is the editor's observation of Behn's controversial treatment of the racial differences and colonialism; Todd highlights how the narrator identifies herself with her hero - Imoinda, but also includes herself in the 'we' of the Europeans. Moving and thought-provoking. (Kirkus UK)
