Aphra Behn: The Comedies

Aphra Behn: The Comedies
ISBN-10
1350317926
ISBN-13
9781350317925
Series
Aphra Behn
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
259
Language
English
Published
2017-03-14
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing
Author
Kate Aughterson

Description

Kate Aughterson provides readers with an approachable and fascinating critical guide to the dramatic works of an important seventeenth-century woman writer. Aughterson analyses Aphra Behn's abilities as a playwright, showing particularly how she skillfully employs comic and dramatic conventions to radical ends, and how she forces her audience to engage with issues about gender and sexuality whilst retaining her witty and accessible style. Chapters in the first part of the book provide close readings of the comedies, addressing such topics as openings, endings, character types, staging, and politics and society. In the second part, Aughterson not only examines Behn's literary career and the Restoration contexts of her plays, but also looks at some sample criticism and explores Behn's drama as performance.

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