Aphra Behn (1640-1689)

A selective list literary criticism for the seventeenth-century English playwright, novelist, and poet writer Aphra Behn, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars and articles published in peer-reviewed sources


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Introduction & Biography

"Aphra Behn." Encyclopedia-type introduction to Aphra Behn. Poetry Foundation.

Donald, Jennifer. "Aphra Behn." Introduction to Aphra Behn, from the Literary Encyclopedia, 26 July 2004. On Oroonoko, or the History of the Royal Slave (1688) [subscription service].


Literary Criticism

Hayden, Judy. "Of Privileges and Masculine Parts: The Learned Lady in Aphra Behn's Sir Patient Fancy." Papers on Language and Literature 42, 3 (Summer 2006) [questia sub ser]

Macdonald, Joyce Green. "Race, Women, and the Sentimental in Thomas Southerne's Oroonoko," [Thomas Southerne's 1696 dramatization of Behn's novella]. Criticism 40, 4 (Fall 1998) pp 555-70 [free at jstor, click "Preview" or "Read Online"].

Pigg, Daniel. "Trying to frame the unframable: Oroonoko as discourse in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko." Studies in Short Fiction 34, 1 (Winter 1997) [questia sub ser].

Velissariou, Aspasia. "'Tis pity that when laws are faulty they should not be mended or abolisht': Authority, legitimations, and honor in Aphra Behn's The Widdow Ranter." Papers on Language and Literature 38, 2 (Spring 2002) [questia sub ser].

The American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies. Web site for the scholarly journal.


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