Editing Aphra Behn (section)

==Legacy and re-evaluation==
Following Behn's death, new female dramatists such as [[Delarivier Manley]], [[Mary Pix]], [[Susanna Centlivre]] and [[Catherine Trotter]] acknowledged Behn as their most vital predecessor, who opened up public space for [[women's writing (literary category)|women writers]].<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Intro" /> Three posthumous collections of her prose, including a number of previously unpublished pieces attributed to her, were published by the bookseller Samuel Briscoe: ''The Histories and Novels of the Late Ingenious Mrs. Behn'' (1696), ''All the Histories and Novels Written by the Late Ingenious Mrs. Behn'' (1698) and ''Histories, Novels, and Translations Written by the Most Ingenious Mrs. Behn'' (1700).<ref name="CoxOUP">Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). ''The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-860634-6}}.</ref> Greer considers Briscoe to have been an unreliable source and it's possible that not all of these works were written by Behn.<ref name=":1" />

Until the mid-20th century Behn was repeatedly dismissed as a morally depraved minor writer and her literary work was marginalised and often dismissed outright. In the 18th century her literary work was scandalised as lewd by [[Thomas Brown (satirist)|Thomas Brown]], [[William Wycherley]], [[Richard Steele]] and [[John Duncombe (writer)|John Duncombe]]. [[Alexander Pope]] penned the famous lines "The stage how loosely does Astrea tread, Who fairly puts all characters to bed!". In the 19th century [[Mary Hays]], [[Matilda Betham]], [[Alexander Dyce]], [[Jane Williams]] and [[Julia Kavanagh]] decided that Behn's writings were unfit to read, because they were corrupt and deplorable. Among the few critics who believed that Behn was an important writer were [[Leigh Hunt]], [[William Forsyth (writer)|William Forsyth]] and [[William Henry Hudson]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Rereading Aphra Behn: History, Theory, and Criticism | editor-first= Heidi| editor-last= Hutner|publisher=University of Virginia Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-8139-1443-5|pages=2}}</ref>

The life and times of Behn were recounted by a long line of biographers, among them Dyce, [[Edmund Gosse]], [[Ernest Bernbaum]], [[Montague Summers]], [[Vita Sackville-West]], [[Virginia Woolf]], [[George Woodcock]], William J. Cameron and Frederick Link.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Rereading Aphra Behn: History, Theory, and Criticism | editor-first= Heidi| editor-last= Hutner|publisher=University of Virginia Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-8139-1443-5|pages=2–3}}</ref>

Of Behn's considerable literary output only ''Oroonoko'' was seriously considered by literary scholars. This book, published in 1688, is regarded as one of the first abolitionist and humanitarian novels published in the English language.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Britannica |title=Oroonoko work by Behn |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oroonoko-by-Behn |website=Britannica}}</ref> In 1696 it was adapted for the stage by [[Thomas Southerne]] and continuously performed throughout the 18th century. In 1745 the novel was translated into French, going through seven French editions. It is credited as precursor to [[Jean-Jaques Rousseau]]'s ''Discourses on Inequality''.

In 1915, [[Montague Summers]], an author of scholarly works on the English drama of the 17th century, published a six-volume collection of her work, in hopes of rehabilitating her reputation. Summers was fiercely passionate about the work of Behn and found himself incredibly devoted to the appreciation of 17th century literature.<ref name="Palmer" />

Since the 1970s Behn's literary works have been re-evaluated by [[feminist]] critics and writers. Behn was rediscovered as a significant female writer by [[Maureen Duffy]], Angeline Goreau, [[Ruth Perry]], Hilda Lee Smith, Moira Ferguson, Jane Spencer, [[Dale Spender]], Elaine Hobby and [[Janet Todd]]. This led to the reprinting of her works. ''The Rover'' was republished in 1967, ''Oroonoko'' was republished in 1973, ''Love Letters between a Nobleman and His Sister'' was published again in 1987 and ''The Lucky Chance'' was reprinted in 1988.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Rereading Aphra Behn: History, Theory, and Criticism | editor-first= Heidi| editor-last= Hutner|publisher=University of Virginia Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-8139-1443-5|pages=3}}</ref> [[Felix Emanuel Schelling|Felix Schelling]] wrote in ''The Cambridge History of English Literature'', that she was "a very gifted woman, compelled to write for bread in an age in which literature... catered habitually to the lowest and most depraved of human inclinations," and that, "Her success depended upon her ability to write like a man." [[Edmund Gosse]] remarked that she was, "...the [[George Sand]] of the Restoration".<ref>{{cite book |title=British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary|editor-first=Stanley |editor-last=Kunitz |editor-first2=Howard|editor-last2=Haycraft|location=New York|publisher=H.W. Wilson|year=1952|page=36}}</ref>

The criticism of Behn's poetry focuses on the themes of gender, sexuality, femininity, pleasure, and love. A feminist critique tends to focus on Behn's inclusion of female pleasure and sexuality in her poetry, which was a radical concept at the time she was writing. Like her contemporary male libertines, she wrote freely about sex. In the infamous poem "[[The Disappointment (Aphra Behn)|The Disappointment]]" she wrote a comic account of male [[impotence]] from a woman's perspective.<ref name="Routledge" /> Critics Lisa Zeitz and Peter Thoms contend that the poem "playfully and wittily questions conventional gender roles and the structures of oppression which they support".<ref name="Zeitz">{{cite journal|last1=Zeitz|first1=Lisa M.|last2=Thoms|first2=Peter|date=1997|title=Power, Gender, and Identity in Aphra Behn's "The Disappointment"|journal=SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900|volume=37|issue=3|pages=501–516|doi=10.2307/451046|jstor=451046}}</ref> One critic, Alison Conway, views Behn as instrumental to the formation of modern thought around the female gender and sexuality: "Behn wrote about these subjects before the technologies of sexuality we now associate were in place, which is, in part, why she proves so hard to situate in the trajectories most familiar to us".<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Flesh on the Mind: Behn Studies in the New Millennium|journal=The Eighteenth Century|volume=44|issue=1|pages=87–93|last=Conway|first=Alison|date=2003|jstor=41467917}}</ref> [[Virginia Woolf]] wrote, in ''[[A Room of One's Own]]'':

<blockquote>
All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds... Behn proved that money could be made by writing at the sacrifice, perhaps, of certain agreeable qualities; and so by degrees writing became not merely a sign of folly and a distracted mind but was of practical importance.<ref name="woolf">[[Virginia Woolf|Woolf, Virginia]]. ''[[A Room of One's Own]]''. 1928, at 65</ref>
</blockquote>A statue to Canterbury born Aphra Behn was unveiled on 25 February 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canterbury Commemoration Society – Championing Aphra Behn and other heritage projects' |url=https://www.cantcommsoc.co.uk/ |access-date=26 February 2022 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Warren |first=Gerry |date=27 April 2024 |title=Statue of author Aphra Behn revealed ahead of being installed in Canterbury high street |url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/stunning-new-statue-of-kent-spy-and-author-revealed-305611/ |website=Kent online}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Warren |first=Gerry |date=25 February 2025 |title=Queen Camilla unveils statue of Aphra Behn in Canterbury |url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/huge-excitement-as-queen-to-visit-kent-high-street-today-320545/ |website=Kent online}}</ref> In partnership with local organisations, Canterbury Christ Church University announced, in September 2023, plans for a year long celebration of Behn's connection to Canterbury which would involve talks, a one-woman show, walks, and exhibitions, some hosted within the Canterbury Festival.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=September 2023 |title=Aphra Who? |journal=[[Community Matters]] |pages=4 |via=Canterbury Christ Church University}}</ref>