Product Description

Aphra Behn (1640-89) was both successful and controversial in her own lifetime; her achievements are now recognized less equivocally and her plays, often revived, demonstrate wit, compassion and remarkable range. This edition brings together her most important comedies in a single volume: The Rover, her best-known play; The Feigned Courtesans, a lively comedy of intrigue; The Lucky Chance, a comedy with a bitter edge, which takes a satirical look at marriage customs; and the dazzling and popular farce, The Emperor of the Moon. All the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #526148 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780199540204
• BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Review

"An affordable volume of Behn's major plays is long overdue. The endnotes are helpful in placing Behn in a literary tradition and the cultural milieu of her London. The text will be appropriate for a variety of courses: Woemn's Studies, period surveys, drama courses, etc."--Deborah Montuori, University of Missouri-Columbia
"This collection of four comedies by Aphra Behn is a welcome addition to the growing number of available works by 17th-century women authors."--Choice

About the Author

Jane Spencer is Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Exeter. She is also the editor of Behn's Oroonoko and other Writings in World's Classics.

Customer Reviews

Well-laid out text, excellent foreward
Recently introduced to the works of Aphra Behn, I found this collection to be an excellently laid out edition of some of her plays. The print is friendly to the eye (many collections of Restoration drama are not) and easy to read. I can only speak for "The Rover", as I have not had the time to read the rest of the plays. However, I found the notes and the forewards to the plays to be informative and easy to follow. It must be said that the notes were contained in the back of the book, as opposed to the bottom of the page; that was a bit of an irritant, especially when reading a crucial scene. On the whole however, I give this book a thumbs up!

Great text, frustrating format.
The text is fabulous. Providing access to an underappreciated female writer is desperately needed. The modernized spelling is wonderfully accessible. But using endnotes rather than footnotes to explain all unusual words, references, etc. is unbelievably frustrating. And not even endnotes after each play - endnotes at the end of the book! I am dizzy from flipping back and forth several times each page to the end of the book.