Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was a novelist, poet, playwright and translator who is considered the first woman to make a living as a writer in 17th Century England.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know -- but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Leading Ladies, Activists, STEMinists, Local Legends, and many more. Encyclopedia Womannica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Encyclopedia Womannica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Cinthia Pimentel, Grace Lynch, and Maddy Foley. Special thanks to Shira Atkins, Edie Allard, and Carmen Borca-Carrillo.
We are offering free ad space on Wonder Media Network shows to organizations working towards social justice. For more information, please email Jenny at jenny@wondermedianetwork.com.
Follow Wonder Media Network:
Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today’s storyteller was a novelist, poet, playwright and translator who is considered the first woman to make a living as a writer in 17th Century England. She used her poems, prose and plays to challenge societal norms of the time. Much of her life remains a mystery, but her enduring body of work speaks for itself.
Let’s talk about Aphra Behn.
The mystique of Aphra Behn begins with her own origin story. There are multiple conflicting accounts of where she was born, and who her parents were. Because of this, Aphra’s maiden name is lost -- or at least hotly debated -- history.
A few more details of Aphra’s life come into focus around 1664 when she married a Dutch merchant. This is where it’s thought she got the last name Behn. While the name stuck, the marriage did not. The union abruptly ended due to separation or death - although we’re not sure which. Now penniless and living in Antwerp, Belgium, Aphra tried to make money by working as a spy for England’s King Charles II. Either Charles refused to pay, or her payment was insufficient, because when she made passage back to England in 1668, she was thrown in debtor’s prison.
In an unconventional decision for the time, Aphra turned to writing to make a living and pay off her debts. In 1671, her first play, Forc’d Marriage was produced in London by The Duke’s Company. Over the next several years, Aphra wrote 19 plays with The Duke’s Company.
While Aphra became well known for her work as a playwright, - her reputation as a poet was just as fabled as her work as a dramatist. Her talents were compared to that of Sappho, the great poet of Ancient Greece.
The fact that Aphra was a woman was unusual for the time, but it wasn’t just her gender that made her writing notorious -- it was the salacious content of her plays and poems. While it’s debatable whether the content of her stories would have caused as much of a fuss had they been written by a man, it’s certainly clear that she brought a unique perspective to her work.
Aphra’s signature style included the presence of an audacious first person narrator. Through this technique, Aphra infused herself into her writing. The first-person narrator nearly always reflected the perspective of a woman, which was also uncommon for the time. She frequently commented on current events, even daring to call out members of public life. Her topical satires appealed to a sophisticated audience. Aphra broached topics of war, sex and love in vivid, unabashed terms. She wrote extensively about homoeroticim. While Aphra had several male lovers in her lifetime, her writings capture her attraction to women and the attraction she witnessed between men in her life.
One of her most famous poems, ‘The Disappointment’ showcases how Aphra regularly confronted societal expectations for men and women in her writing. While it has typically been interpreted as a poem about male impotence, it is also a poem about rape. Aphra kept with conventional language and form for the time, but placed the reader in the woman’s mind, exposing the double standards at play in this heterosexual relationship.
Aphra was dedicated to amplifying the female perspective. In her writings she consistently featured male infidelity in contrast to female companionship and loyalty.
In addition to her plays and poetry, Aphra also translated books and wrote short stories.
Perhaps Aphra’s most famous work of fiction is Oroonoko. Through the centuries, Arpha’s work has been revisited, cast aside as unladylike and re-examined yet again. But the short story, Oroonoko, stands out as a work that remained in the limelight.. Despite the fact that the hero of the story is a slave owner, the tale is seen as an abolitionist treatise and gives insight to Aphra’s views on imperialism, race and ethnicity.
Aphra lived in poor health for quite some time, often struggling to write or walk. Some speculate that she suffered from untreated arthritis or gout. In 1689, Aphra died. Her body was buried in the cloisters at Westminster Abbey. She was 49 years old.
Aphra’s prolific career as a novelist, dramatist and poet inspired some of the most celebrated female writers of the twentieth century. Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf both cited Aphra as a role model. The unabashed nature of Aphra’s writings on everything from religion to politics to sex, places Aphra as the preeminent founding figure in feminist literary history.
All month, we’re talking about storytellers.
For more on why we’re doing what we’re doing, check out our newsletter Womannica Weekly.
Follow us on facebook and instagram @encyclopediawomannica.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!