Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was the first woman writer in England to make a living by her pen, and her novel Oroonoko was the first work published in English to express sympathy for African slaves. Perhaps based partly on Behn’s own experiences living in Surinam, the novel tells the tragic story of a noble slave, Oroonoko, and his love Imoinda. The work was an instant success and was adapted for the stage in 1695 (and more recently by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1999). Behn’s work paved the way for women writers who came after her, as Virginia Woolf noted in a Room of One’s Own (1928): “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.”
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Episodes
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Monday Jan 01, 2024
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Saturday Dec 30, 2023
Friday Dec 29, 2023
Thursday Dec 28, 2023
Wednesday Dec 27, 2023
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
Monday Dec 25, 2023
Sunday Dec 24, 2023