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Oroonoko; or The Royal Slave
"When Prince Oroonoko's passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko's noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn's visit to Surinam, Oroonoko reflects the author's romantic view of native peoples as in 'the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin'. The novel also reveals Behn's ambiguous attitude to African slavery - while she favoured it as a means to strengthen England's rule, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality." This new edition of Oroonoko is based on the first printed version of 1688, and includes a chronology, further reading and notes. In her introduction, Janet Todd examines Aphra Behn's views of slavery, colonization and politics, and her position as a professional woman writer in Restoration.
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First published January 1, 1688
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About the author
Aphra Behn
317 books246 followersAphra Behn, or Ayfara Behn, of the first professional women authors in English on Britain wrote plays, poetry, and her best known work, the prose fiction
Oroonoko
(1688).
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the Restoration and was one of the female. Her contributed to the amatory genre of literature. People sometimes refer to Delarivier Manley, Eliza Haywood, and her as part of "the fair triumvirate of wit."
In reckoning of Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, more important total career of Behn produced any particular work. Woolf wrote, "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." Victoria Mary Sackville-West called Behn "an inhabitant of Grub Street with the best of them, … a phenomenon never seen and … furiously resented." Felix Shelling called her "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. Her success depended upon her ability to write like a man." Edmund Gosse remarked that "the George Sand of the Restoration" lived the bohemian life in London in the 17th century as Paris two centuries later.
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the Restoration and was one of the female. Her contributed to the amatory genre of literature. People sometimes refer to Delarivier Manley, Eliza Haywood, and her as part of "the fair triumvirate of wit."
In reckoning of Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, more important total career of Behn produced any particular work. Woolf wrote, "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." Victoria Mary Sackville-West called Behn "an inhabitant of Grub Street with the best of them, … a phenomenon never seen and … furiously resented." Felix Shelling called her "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. Her success depended upon her ability to write like a man." Edmund Gosse remarked that "the George Sand of the Restoration" lived the bohemian life in London in the 17th century as Paris two centuries later.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,507 reviews
October 8, 2025
I read this book because I was interested to see what Behn - the first known professional female writer - had to offer. I went into it with low expectations - I've never enjoyed a single book that was published before 'Pride and Prejudice' - so I wasn't surprised to find myself praying for it to end by the eleventh page. Despite this, it was interesting to read a novel that's remained more or less relevant for over 300 years, and which paved the way for many later authors of the eighteenth century.
One point - although the language and sentiments expressed in this novel are certainly racist by today's standards, it's important to remember it was written in 1688, when the slave trade was at its height and Africans were viewed by many whites as mere commodities. While the story displays signs of white superiority by unveiling the peculiarities of life in the New World - a place where whites enjoyed many rights while other races were seen as inferior - Behn has a very positive view of the main character of the book and often stresses that he is much nobler than many Europeans. In this way, she appears to refute the notion which reigned at that time that Africans were inferior to whites, and in that sense, I suppose, her work can be seen as an early example of anti-racism.
I respect her for that. Even if she did bore me.
One point - although the language and sentiments expressed in this novel are certainly racist by today's standards, it's important to remember it was written in 1688, when the slave trade was at its height and Africans were viewed by many whites as mere commodities. While the story displays signs of white superiority by unveiling the peculiarities of life in the New World - a place where whites enjoyed many rights while other races were seen as inferior - Behn has a very positive view of the main character of the book and often stresses that he is much nobler than many Europeans. In this way, she appears to refute the notion which reigned at that time that Africans were inferior to whites, and in that sense, I suppose, her work can be seen as an early example of anti-racism.
I respect her for that. Even if she did bore me.
November 22, 2019
A 17th century precursor to the novel, "Oroonoko" condemns slavery not so much for its intrinsic evil but because it can oppress a man of true nobility--a man like the African prince Oroonoko.
It is well written, moves briskly, and provides a fascinating contemporary glimpse not only of the slave trade but of the indigenous inhabitants of South America as well.
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January 10, 2020Perhaps the perfect thing to read after Kafka's The Trial, I found this discomforting and curious by turns, the author and the story both are slippery, the boundaries between reportage, myth and fiction unclear and maybe unimportant (in the finest traditions of fiction).
Aphra Behn herself is a mysterious person, presumed to have been born in Kent, maybe Canterbury, it is debated who her parents were though it is a strong probability that she had some. She spent sometime in Suriname, a Dutch colony from the later 1660s, but first settled by the English who introduced plantation slavery there, powered by imported African persons. Behn returned from Suriname to England, claiming to be a 'widow' to a Dutchman, after the restoration of Charles II, she worked for a while in Holland as a spy, but wasn't paid her expenses, despite this she was a loyal supporter of Charles II, then of his brother James II. Since the spy game didn't pay, she turned to playwriting and did well writing Restoration comedies for the London stage, but also some poems and pieces of fiction including this curious and remarkable work, a novella published in 1688, a year before her death in 1689.
In it she returns to Suriname where she was twenty or so years earlier. The story which she says she wrote in one continuous session, without a break, purports to be the story of the eponymous hero, an African Prince who she met and knew in Suriname.
The story is very short and I don't want to spoil you all with details of the narrative, but it is possible that many odd things are going on. Perhaps the story is mostly invention, Jenny Uglow in her study of the first ten years of Charles II's restoration regime A Gambling Man, tells us that restoration stories were very popular in the restoration period as you will not fall off your chairs in shock to read, kings and Princes unjustly exiled and returning to their rightful kingdoms was the political story of the reading public's lives and they delighted to see such on the stage, nor was the taste limited to European heroes, one play The Indian Queen, was set in Mexico and seemingly was inspired by the story of the conquest of the Aztecs. And one of Charles II's nicknames was 'Black Boy' (he was more olive skinned in colour than the more typical English lobster red) indeed the physical description of our hero Prince Oroonoko, with his Roman nose and black hair falling loosely down to his shoulders, reminds me more than a little of the Merry Monarch. The central idea is the arch-conservative one that there's such divinity doth hedge a King although Oroonoko becomes a slave, his nobility is evident not just to the author but also to his owner, his fellow slaves but also to the indigenous inhabitants of Suriname.
Ok, while we have a hero who is an African Prince, if he is based on a real character, do we admire him because Behn has presented him 'Hollywood style' - acceptable to a broad bottomed audience - so he looks a bit like Charles II, has similar tastes and learning as a 17th century European gentleman, and who pointedly sulks in his tent like Achilles at one point? Or can we find him to be an alien enough figure to be expanding the boundaries of the expectable and the possible for her 17th century English audience? Or is he just an updated version of Othello ? Noble, passionate, and ruined because he trusts the word of a white man?
In any case this is a novella by a English woman, from the dawn of the Imperial age and the Atlantic trade, set in Africa and a colony, that has as it's hero a black man. The work repays any curiosity you may feel. It seems in so many ways so odd taken all together that I am inclined to think that it is based on some experience from Behn's own life, fiction strains to be believable in a way that fact doesn't bother to.
But it is not an anti-slavery tract, although the Quakers were complaining and protesting against slavery from the 1670s, in this book slavery is an accepted part of human society, Oroonoko's people sell the captives they take in war as slaves to such merchants as come from Europe, the noble prince gifts his sweetheart with 150 slaves as a love token, before they themselves are enslaved. But then again we might read this as a literary conceit, from enslaver to enslaved. Is the story true at all or a political fable? Odd, no sooner was this sad, savage story published, than James II was driven off his throne deposed by his daughter, Mary, and her husband, William III. The exile returned into exile.
There is something interesting going on with regard to religion, the work was dedicated to a Catholic nobleman who is praised for his ability to explain the faith. The Africans have their own religion, but are all the same decent and upstanding folk, the English colonists are Christian but dishonest and untrustworthy, and prepared to make cruel non-culinary use of chille pepper powder.
Behn struggles with the notion of beauty, in places it seems that if your skin tone is not white, that you can not be beautiful, in others she points to Oroonoko's ebony skin colour as particularly handsome and impressive, while she does mention his roman nose and that his hair has been teased out and so approximating European male beauty standards of the time, she is also taken by his distinctly non-European ritual scarification. Perhaps she had a simple notion of beauty as Europeanness which had been shaken by her life experience, but not replaced by a generous and universal concept of human beauty.
The names apparently are close enough that they might be actual ones from west Africa for all that Oroonoko sounds suspiciously like a certain river , perhaps there are still aspects of Behn that can be studied further and some mysterious that can be resolved. A fine unsettling work of fiction.
Aphra Behn herself is a mysterious person, presumed to have been born in Kent, maybe Canterbury, it is debated who her parents were though it is a strong probability that she had some. She spent sometime in Suriname, a Dutch colony from the later 1660s, but first settled by the English who introduced plantation slavery there, powered by imported African persons. Behn returned from Suriname to England, claiming to be a 'widow' to a Dutchman, after the restoration of Charles II, she worked for a while in Holland as a spy, but wasn't paid her expenses, despite this she was a loyal supporter of Charles II, then of his brother James II. Since the spy game didn't pay, she turned to playwriting and did well writing Restoration comedies for the London stage, but also some poems and pieces of fiction including this curious and remarkable work, a novella published in 1688, a year before her death in 1689.
In it she returns to Suriname where she was twenty or so years earlier. The story which she says she wrote in one continuous session, without a break, purports to be the story of the eponymous hero, an African Prince who she met and knew in Suriname.
The story is very short and I don't want to spoil you all with details of the narrative, but it is possible that many odd things are going on. Perhaps the story is mostly invention, Jenny Uglow in her study of the first ten years of Charles II's restoration regime A Gambling Man, tells us that restoration stories were very popular in the restoration period as you will not fall off your chairs in shock to read, kings and Princes unjustly exiled and returning to their rightful kingdoms was the political story of the reading public's lives and they delighted to see such on the stage, nor was the taste limited to European heroes, one play The Indian Queen, was set in Mexico and seemingly was inspired by the story of the conquest of the Aztecs. And one of Charles II's nicknames was 'Black Boy' (he was more olive skinned in colour than the more typical English lobster red) indeed the physical description of our hero Prince Oroonoko, with his Roman nose and black hair falling loosely down to his shoulders, reminds me more than a little of the Merry Monarch. The central idea is the arch-conservative one that there's such divinity doth hedge a King although Oroonoko becomes a slave, his nobility is evident not just to the author but also to his owner, his fellow slaves but also to the indigenous inhabitants of Suriname.
Ok, while we have a hero who is an African Prince, if he is based on a real character, do we admire him because Behn has presented him 'Hollywood style' - acceptable to a broad bottomed audience - so he looks a bit like Charles II, has similar tastes and learning as a 17th century European gentleman, and who pointedly sulks in his tent like Achilles at one point? Or can we find him to be an alien enough figure to be expanding the boundaries of the expectable and the possible for her 17th century English audience? Or is he just an updated version of Othello ? Noble, passionate, and ruined because he trusts the word of a white man?
In any case this is a novella by a English woman, from the dawn of the Imperial age and the Atlantic trade, set in Africa and a colony, that has as it's hero a black man. The work repays any curiosity you may feel. It seems in so many ways so odd taken all together that I am inclined to think that it is based on some experience from Behn's own life, fiction strains to be believable in a way that fact doesn't bother to.
But it is not an anti-slavery tract, although the Quakers were complaining and protesting against slavery from the 1670s, in this book slavery is an accepted part of human society, Oroonoko's people sell the captives they take in war as slaves to such merchants as come from Europe, the noble prince gifts his sweetheart with 150 slaves as a love token, before they themselves are enslaved. But then again we might read this as a literary conceit, from enslaver to enslaved. Is the story true at all or a political fable? Odd, no sooner was this sad, savage story published, than James II was driven off his throne deposed by his daughter, Mary, and her husband, William III. The exile returned into exile.
There is something interesting going on with regard to religion, the work was dedicated to a Catholic nobleman who is praised for his ability to explain the faith. The Africans have their own religion, but are all the same decent and upstanding folk, the English colonists are Christian but dishonest and untrustworthy, and prepared to make cruel non-culinary use of chille pepper powder.
Behn struggles with the notion of beauty, in places it seems that if your skin tone is not white, that you can not be beautiful, in others she points to Oroonoko's ebony skin colour as particularly handsome and impressive, while she does mention his roman nose and that his hair has been teased out and so approximating European male beauty standards of the time, she is also taken by his distinctly non-European ritual scarification. Perhaps she had a simple notion of beauty as Europeanness which had been shaken by her life experience, but not replaced by a generous and universal concept of human beauty.
The names apparently are close enough that they might be actual ones from west Africa for all that Oroonoko sounds suspiciously like a certain river , perhaps there are still aspects of Behn that can be studied further and some mysterious that can be resolved. A fine unsettling work of fiction.
July 17, 2013
I quite liked this book and would have probably given it a 5 had it not been for the racist depictions in the book. Behn depicts the protagonist, Oroonoko, as being extremely regal and handsome because of his European nose and straight hair, among other things. I guess since the book was written in the 17th Century, racism and ignorance about Africa and black people was to be expected. Apart from that, the story was pretty good, a tragic love story. The descriptions of Surinam were also beautiful.
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July 7, 2024
|| 4.0 stars ||
This is an anti-slavery novel written in the 17th-Century by the very first professional female author; for that reason alone I would already consider this to be a historically interesting and admirable piece of writing.
However, it is not for that reason alone that I am glad to have read this, as it also turned out to be a surprisingly well-written, easy to follow, thoroughly compelling and emotionally engaging story! I truly felt my heart break and my anger rise during so many moments in this novel: it was so brutal and so tragic!
In the first part of the novel we get to see the beauty and honour as well as the hardships and barbaric customs of the African culture of which Oroonoko is a Prince. Then, after he is tricked into slavery, we get to see how disingenuous Europeans can be in how they betray their promises to Oroonoko time and time again. Yet, the Europeans also show him a tremendous amount of kindness and care that they do not show any of the other slaves. They claim this is because he is “different” and “better” than all the others, but it was clearly just because Oroonoko resembled their own features and customs more than the other slaves; his beauty and haughtiness somehow commanded their respect and admiration…
As I said before, this was a very gripping novel, and I especially felt myself near tears when it came to Imionda’s, even more so than Oroonoko’s, fate… Whereas Oroonoko had a very powerful and self-assured aura around him, Imionda was shy and defenseless and so entirely innocent. Considering Oroonoko himself had sold slaves when he was still an African Prince, I found it more difficult to feel true sympathy for him. I had no such problems with Imionda, and could only deeply admire her for her bravery and loyalty, and thus, my heart genuinely shattered into a million pieces for her from the moment she received the Royal Veil to the moment of her death…
Personally, I thought this novel showed a very interesting duality in how there were both Africans and Europeans who could either be pure and nobel and worthy of great respect as well as those who could be filled with deceit, dishonour and cruelty.
This might not sound like much to today’s standards of racial equality, but for a novel written in the 17th-Century, which was during the very height of the slave trade, I found this to be extremely surprising and perhaps even inspiring to read!
This is an anti-slavery novel written in the 17th-Century by the very first professional female author; for that reason alone I would already consider this to be a historically interesting and admirable piece of writing.
However, it is not for that reason alone that I am glad to have read this, as it also turned out to be a surprisingly well-written, easy to follow, thoroughly compelling and emotionally engaging story! I truly felt my heart break and my anger rise during so many moments in this novel: it was so brutal and so tragic!
In the first part of the novel we get to see the beauty and honour as well as the hardships and barbaric customs of the African culture of which Oroonoko is a Prince. Then, after he is tricked into slavery, we get to see how disingenuous Europeans can be in how they betray their promises to Oroonoko time and time again. Yet, the Europeans also show him a tremendous amount of kindness and care that they do not show any of the other slaves. They claim this is because he is “different” and “better” than all the others, but it was clearly just because Oroonoko resembled their own features and customs more than the other slaves; his beauty and haughtiness somehow commanded their respect and admiration…
So as it was in vain to make any resistance, he only beheld the captain with a look all fierce and disdainful, upbraiding him with eyes that forced blushes on his guilty cheeks, he only cried in passing over the side of the ship, “Farewell, Sir, 'tis worth my sufferings to gain so true a knowledge both of you and of your gods by whom you swear.” And desiring those that held him to forbear their pains, and telling 'em he would make no resistance, he cried, “Come, my fellow-slaves, let us descend, and see if we can meet with more honor and honesty in the next world we shall touch upon.”
As I said before, this was a very gripping novel, and I especially felt myself near tears when it came to Imionda’s, even more so than Oroonoko’s, fate… Whereas Oroonoko had a very powerful and self-assured aura around him, Imionda was shy and defenseless and so entirely innocent. Considering Oroonoko himself had sold slaves when he was still an African Prince, I found it more difficult to feel true sympathy for him. I had no such problems with Imionda, and could only deeply admire her for her bravery and loyalty, and thus, my heart genuinely shattered into a million pieces for her from the moment she received the Royal Veil to the moment of her death…
“And why,” said he, “my dear friends and fellow-sufferers, should we be slaves to an unknown people? Have they vanquished us nobly in fight? Have they won us in honorable battle? And are we by the chance of war become their slaves? This would not anger a noble heart; this would not animate a soldiers soul: no, but we are bought and sold like apes or monkeys, to be the sport of women, fools, and cowards; and the support of rogues and runagates, that have abandoned their own countries for rapine, murders, theft, and villainies. Do you not hear every day how they upbraid each other with infamy of life, below the wildest savages? And shall we render obedience to such a degenerate race, who have no one human virtue left, to distinguish them from the vilest creatures? Will you, I say, suffer the lash from such hands?” They all replied with one accord, “No, no, no.”
Personally, I thought this novel showed a very interesting duality in how there were both Africans and Europeans who could either be pure and nobel and worthy of great respect as well as those who could be filled with deceit, dishonour and cruelty.
This might not sound like much to today’s standards of racial equality, but for a novel written in the 17th-Century, which was during the very height of the slave trade, I found this to be extremely surprising and perhaps even inspiring to read!
November 10, 2019
What I LOVED: that the love story is Vivid & the plot is Alive. But all this matters not when placed on the other side of the spectrum where Misery is Aware and Dismemberment is the ultimate form of Destruction. I was left wowed.
A Must!!
A Must!!
January 27, 2022
uni reading feels like worms are eating my brain whilst i'm simultaneously trying to create world peace
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July 2, 2019There are several other reviews on Goodreads (e.g. Jan-Maat’s) which cover the aspects of Oroonoko most often studied and discussed : colonialism, and what it shows about racism in the late 17th century. And of course this is also a major subject of the very interesting introduction in this Penguin edition by Janet Todd, also a biographer of Behn.
Even though I also went into the book aware of the role of social class and hierarchy in it - that the narrator considers it wrong for Oroonoko to be enslaved because he is a prince, rather than because slavery in general is wrong - it was still curious to see the depth of actual reverence and extra value a 17th century monarchist writer gave characters based on royal birth. (Though in the introduction readers learn of one opponent of slavery who was a contemporary of Behn's, Thomas Tryon, also an early vegetarian. And some of Prince Oroonoko's speeches in the second half of the book seem to decry slavery as a whole.) The veneration of royalty seemed quite medieval, but as a reaction against the Cromwellian period it makes sense. Behn's life must have been very marked by political turmoil: childhood during the Civil War, teens during the Commonwealth, a young adult at the Restoration, and seemingly someone with a temperament suited to bawdy Restoration culture.
What did surprise me about the story, and which I would not have known about but for the introduction, was that the grievously wronged tragic hero Prince Oroonoko is a representation of James II, by the staunch Stuart-supporting Behn. (Obvs this seen as is all kinds of wrong today, a black slave representing a white king who didn't get what he wanted though still got to live the life of a nobleman in exile. But yeah.)
I'd always expected the text to be quite dry, but it actually fits the bawdy and bloody paradigm associated with a lot of 17th century plays. The lulls in between can be a bit boring in the same way as I found when I was younger and had to read Volpone and some plays by Thomas Middleton. Although it's very short, and it was less boring than expected, it still sort of took me ages to read because of being very busy for a bit and then a week where I was exhausted and couldn't concentrate for more than 10 minutes on anything other than a brightly-lit computer screen without falling asleep.
Near the beginning of Oroonoko is a melodramatic harem scenario fit for porn, featuring an elder king one could consider a stand-in for Charles II or Louis XIV and their famous sexual appetites. The narrator has sympathy for Imoinda, but it's the lurid situation that stands out, and one can't help but think of Behn as a writer with Restoration sensibilities who was part of the same literary world as Rochester. And the novella ends with the sorts of scenes of early modern torture and execution that, although I've been reading about 16th century history for most of my life, still make me feel sick if I hear about them without warning as I did here. This truly is a melodrama, and despite everything artificial and clumsy about the story, there were points when I was cross with Trefry and the narrator for not doing more to help. Once I was awake enough to read the second half properly, I found it emotionally involving despite all the ways in which it does not conform to modern literary standards.
On a different level, Oroonoko is also interesting for Behn's observations about life in Surinam. The treatment and punishment of slaves will be horrifically familiar to anyone who has read about that in other more famous colonial contexts. But the first-hand details of the South American wildlife, of food, of how Indians and white settlers dressed, interacted and traded are not something one hears about very often in British literature as most of it was written by authors who stayed at home, and besides British colonialists never had a large foothold in mainland South America.
The copious notes mean that there is almost never an unusual word-meaning unglossed (even things like 'sensible', that anyone who understands the title of Sense & Sensibility would know) and so in this Penguin edition at least, it is considerably easier to read than some might expect. So, um, yes, more interesting and more of a rollercoaster for the reader than I thought it would be. In some ways (assumptions about boringness and density) I didn't need to be quite as trepidatious about it as I was in all the years I hadn't read it (in an old Norton Anthology, and then a paper copy of this edition in 2013). Instead I would have benefited from knowing that it can actually be emotionally involving, and, towards the end, gorily brutal. (I'm still feeling a little queasy as I'm finishing writing this review.)
So, another author finally and belatedly read for what, if looked at that way, is my longest-running reading project (est. 1994), at least one work by everyone from The Divine Comedy's The Booklovers. And one mentioned in episode synposes for the upcoming and BBC Novels That Shaped Our World series.
(The Penguin cover illustration is a detail of King Gaspard from Bosch's 'Adoration of the Magi' c.1495.)
Even though I also went into the book aware of the role of social class and hierarchy in it - that the narrator considers it wrong for Oroonoko to be enslaved because he is a prince, rather than because slavery in general is wrong - it was still curious to see the depth of actual reverence and extra value a 17th century monarchist writer gave characters based on royal birth. (Though in the introduction readers learn of one opponent of slavery who was a contemporary of Behn's, Thomas Tryon, also an early vegetarian. And some of Prince Oroonoko's speeches in the second half of the book seem to decry slavery as a whole.) The veneration of royalty seemed quite medieval, but as a reaction against the Cromwellian period it makes sense. Behn's life must have been very marked by political turmoil: childhood during the Civil War, teens during the Commonwealth, a young adult at the Restoration, and seemingly someone with a temperament suited to bawdy Restoration culture.
What did surprise me about the story, and which I would not have known about but for the introduction, was that the grievously wronged tragic hero Prince Oroonoko is a representation of James II, by the staunch Stuart-supporting Behn. (Obvs this seen as is all kinds of wrong today, a black slave representing a white king who didn't get what he wanted though still got to live the life of a nobleman in exile. But yeah.)
I'd always expected the text to be quite dry, but it actually fits the bawdy and bloody paradigm associated with a lot of 17th century plays. The lulls in between can be a bit boring in the same way as I found when I was younger and had to read Volpone and some plays by Thomas Middleton. Although it's very short, and it was less boring than expected, it still sort of took me ages to read because of being very busy for a bit and then a week where I was exhausted and couldn't concentrate for more than 10 minutes on anything other than a brightly-lit computer screen without falling asleep.
Near the beginning of Oroonoko is a melodramatic harem scenario fit for porn, featuring an elder king one could consider a stand-in for Charles II or Louis XIV and their famous sexual appetites. The narrator has sympathy for Imoinda, but it's the lurid situation that stands out, and one can't help but think of Behn as a writer with Restoration sensibilities who was part of the same literary world as Rochester. And the novella ends with the sorts of scenes of early modern torture and execution that, although I've been reading about 16th century history for most of my life, still make me feel sick if I hear about them without warning as I did here. This truly is a melodrama, and despite everything artificial and clumsy about the story, there were points when I was cross with Trefry and the narrator for not doing more to help. Once I was awake enough to read the second half properly, I found it emotionally involving despite all the ways in which it does not conform to modern literary standards.
On a different level, Oroonoko is also interesting for Behn's observations about life in Surinam. The treatment and punishment of slaves will be horrifically familiar to anyone who has read about that in other more famous colonial contexts. But the first-hand details of the South American wildlife, of food, of how Indians and white settlers dressed, interacted and traded are not something one hears about very often in British literature as most of it was written by authors who stayed at home, and besides British colonialists never had a large foothold in mainland South America.
The copious notes mean that there is almost never an unusual word-meaning unglossed (even things like 'sensible', that anyone who understands the title of Sense & Sensibility would know) and so in this Penguin edition at least, it is considerably easier to read than some might expect. So, um, yes, more interesting and more of a rollercoaster for the reader than I thought it would be. In some ways (assumptions about boringness and density) I didn't need to be quite as trepidatious about it as I was in all the years I hadn't read it (in an old Norton Anthology, and then a paper copy of this edition in 2013). Instead I would have benefited from knowing that it can actually be emotionally involving, and, towards the end, gorily brutal. (I'm still feeling a little queasy as I'm finishing writing this review.)
So, another author finally and belatedly read for what, if looked at that way, is my longest-running reading project (est. 1994), at least one work by everyone from The Divine Comedy's The Booklovers. And one mentioned in episode synposes for the upcoming and BBC Novels That Shaped Our World series.
(The Penguin cover illustration is a detail of King Gaspard from Bosch's 'Adoration of the Magi' c.1495.)
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January 20, 2021white saviour bullshit and i really wish it would be taken off so many foundational syllabi because this is the second time i’ve had to read it for a class and if a student isn’t given the proper framework and lens to read this text it’s extremely dangerous. if I hear one argument in tutorial tomorrow about how Behn was a white woman in the 1600s and didn’t intend to be racist blah blah blah... i’m going to yell at my zoom call. There’s no excuse for how BIPOC are written in this novel. She intentionally writes about Black and Indigenous people in a way that denies her any onus in the consequences of white supremacy and it will never be okay or debatable. Behn writes a grossly offensive fictional depiction of enslavement and claims it to be truth, and romanticizes Black pain, violence, and death. The fact that this text is still insisted on within the English canon is insane to me. To any professors who may come across this, PLEASE LISTEN— you can teach this text without forcing your students to read it all. Or at the very least give your students, particularly BIPOC students, prior knowledge of the content and the option to not read it.
August 22, 2022
The story of Oroonoko, a prince, and his wife, Imoinda. Imoinda is a beauty and Oroonoko's grandfather, the king, wishes to have her for his own. Both Imoinda and Oroonoko are subsequently enslaved. Inspired by a trip to Surinam, Aphra Behn's view of slaves is very much of her time--a sort of mingling of the noble savage, fierce warrior myth and the born to serve myth.
I think this is worthwhile as a measure of how early the use of slave labor was recognized as being immoral in truth. Written in the 1600's there can be no doubt that Behn was bothered by the institution as it existed. There is a morbid fascination you feel while reading it. I wanted to put it aside, and yet I wanted to finish to the bitter end.
I think this is worthwhile as a measure of how early the use of slave labor was recognized as being immoral in truth. Written in the 1600's there can be no doubt that Behn was bothered by the institution as it existed. There is a morbid fascination you feel while reading it. I wanted to put it aside, and yet I wanted to finish to the bitter end.
December 30, 2015
There's a quiz on this tomorrow that's likely to consist of 'Who was the main character?' and 'What was the climax?' and 'Name three unconnected plot points that demonstrate ______' (It's been a while since my last English Lit class and I'm totally making shit up), so I'll get my digressive What I Think About This Thing out of the way here. Honestly, it was a windfall that this was assigned as short things make me nervous and I end up putting off reading them for ages, so a "Hey sup have a novella which you'll be quizzed on in two days kthxbai." wasn't nearly as awful as one would assume. Of course, keep in mind my constant appetite for classics/difficult things/first women to ______ if you're thinking of signing up for any variation on the theme of Neoclassical to Romantic British (English with a dash of Irish/Welsh/Scottish/you understand). It's safe to say I'm the only person in my class who was thrilled at the prospect of this.
The only excuse for this is that it was published 326 years ago. That's long enough for it to become a window into a history that plays out all too well today because, guess what, winners like to be winners and the best way to keep winning is to plant an idea (Inception + actual ideological implications on reality) that being a psychopath (winner) is Just How Life Is and then let it grow into a civilization/supremacy that's alive and well today. Behn is a good example of this because her proto-Uncle Tom's Cabin piece is a good mix of all the bits and pieces that go into racism and make it such an effective virus. Gatekeeping via European standards of beauty, pitting one non-European group against another while erasing the complex conflict with vague categorizations such as "anti-Africa" and racism itself, creating stereotypes of black people naturally having a higher pain tolerance, equating a good slave master with a good human being, "noble savage", "Orientalism", the fact that this is a classic while narratives of Ferguson protesters are being fended off with "Why are you so angry all the time?", "There's still hope for them so long as they get the right European teacher!", and a whole host of others that are still being played out, reinforced, and every so often deconstructed all over the corners of Tumblr. The fact that all of this is likely to be passed over for the test-acing essay on "How does Behn's writing style compare with those of her peers?" and other formulaic analyses necessary for eventually being able to earn one's food is yet another aspect.
When all that's said and done, what's interesting is the tale of how this piece made its way into the canon and has survived all these long years. The first woman (supposedly) to support herself via writing, the multiple wholesale condemnations of Christianity and Europeans made during the course of the narrative, the irony that would be considered satire if it didn't involve cultural enslavement and willful genocide, the fact that it's pretty readable, the combination a bunch of genres that weren't being combined at the time, and many other unusual aspects make for a peculiar creation whose survival is still a question when one looks at all the female-authored experimentations that have fallen by the wayside. I wouldn't be surprised if the story of its inclusion is a messy heap of events unto itself, a tale full of white feminists and historical reclamation where cries of "Racist!" rent the air of rooms filled only with white people and so many points are missed by so many liberal academics all the live long day. I'd laugh at it if 326 years hadn't meant shit in the long run.
P.S. There's Islamophobia in this. If the CH shooting is used as a reason for perpetuated genocide, I do not stand with the winners.
The only excuse for this is that it was published 326 years ago. That's long enough for it to become a window into a history that plays out all too well today because, guess what, winners like to be winners and the best way to keep winning is to plant an idea (Inception + actual ideological implications on reality) that being a psychopath (winner) is Just How Life Is and then let it grow into a civilization/supremacy that's alive and well today. Behn is a good example of this because her proto-Uncle Tom's Cabin piece is a good mix of all the bits and pieces that go into racism and make it such an effective virus. Gatekeeping via European standards of beauty, pitting one non-European group against another while erasing the complex conflict with vague categorizations such as "anti-Africa" and racism itself, creating stereotypes of black people naturally having a higher pain tolerance, equating a good slave master with a good human being, "noble savage", "Orientalism", the fact that this is a classic while narratives of Ferguson protesters are being fended off with "Why are you so angry all the time?", "There's still hope for them so long as they get the right European teacher!", and a whole host of others that are still being played out, reinforced, and every so often deconstructed all over the corners of Tumblr. The fact that all of this is likely to be passed over for the test-acing essay on "How does Behn's writing style compare with those of her peers?" and other formulaic analyses necessary for eventually being able to earn one's food is yet another aspect.
When all that's said and done, what's interesting is the tale of how this piece made its way into the canon and has survived all these long years. The first woman (supposedly) to support herself via writing, the multiple wholesale condemnations of Christianity and Europeans made during the course of the narrative, the irony that would be considered satire if it didn't involve cultural enslavement and willful genocide, the fact that it's pretty readable, the combination a bunch of genres that weren't being combined at the time, and many other unusual aspects make for a peculiar creation whose survival is still a question when one looks at all the female-authored experimentations that have fallen by the wayside. I wouldn't be surprised if the story of its inclusion is a messy heap of events unto itself, a tale full of white feminists and historical reclamation where cries of "Racist!" rent the air of rooms filled only with white people and so many points are missed by so many liberal academics all the live long day. I'd laugh at it if 326 years hadn't meant shit in the long run.
P.S. There's Islamophobia in this. If the CH shooting is used as a reason for perpetuated genocide, I do not stand with the winners.
January 2, 2015
Aphra Behn (AF-ra Ben) was a popular playwright and dabbly novelist in the late 1600s, part of the gap between Shakespeare and novels. Bawdy, free-thinking, perpetually broke, perversely royalist, and probably atheist, she fell badly out of favor in the next few centuries and is now making a tepid comeback - tepid because as much as we'd love to have a radical(ish) female protonovelist in the canon, Behn is only okay as a writer.
Oroonoko has a pretty good plot: the titular archetypal noble savage is torn from his hot fiancee and betrayed into slavery in Surinam, where he's miraculously reunited with his fiancee, learns to distrust white dudes, and fights for his freedom. It moves quickly (it's very short), it's fairly interesting, and the end is very powerful. There are some details about life in early colonized South America that are neat; Behn wrote from personal experience.
But the prose is functional at best. The voice of the narrator is confused, and the whole thing feels dully expository. At this very early stage, when the concept of prose was still being invented, novelists tended to do this: "And then the savage said that he was unhappy here." Just stating the facts. There is - curiously, given that Behn was a dramatist foremost - virtually no dialogue in the entire book. About forty years later, Daniel Defoe would inject a bit more life into his prose, although still with only the dimmest concept of getting into his characters' heads.
As a stepping stone in the evolution of the novel, this is great to have in your experience. As a plot, it's excellent. As a book, it's fine but unlikely to become one of your favorites.
Oroonoko has a pretty good plot: the titular archetypal noble savage is torn from his hot fiancee and betrayed into slavery in Surinam, where he's miraculously reunited with his fiancee, learns to distrust white dudes, and fights for his freedom. It moves quickly (it's very short), it's fairly interesting, and the end is very powerful. There are some details about life in early colonized South America that are neat; Behn wrote from personal experience.
But the prose is functional at best. The voice of the narrator is confused, and the whole thing feels dully expository. At this very early stage, when the concept of prose was still being invented, novelists tended to do this: "And then the savage said that he was unhappy here." Just stating the facts. There is - curiously, given that Behn was a dramatist foremost - virtually no dialogue in the entire book. About forty years later, Daniel Defoe would inject a bit more life into his prose, although still with only the dimmest concept of getting into his characters' heads.
As a stepping stone in the evolution of the novel, this is great to have in your experience. As a plot, it's excellent. As a book, it's fine but unlikely to become one of your favorites.
November 24, 2020
My full review on BookNest - BookNest - Oroonoko
Virginia Woolf said Oroonoko was the first novel. What makes the context of this story even more remarkable is that if we agree with this, then the first novelist was a woman, written in the late 17th century.
“A poet is a painter in his way, he draws to the life, but in another kind; we draw the nobler part, the soul and the mind; the pictures of the pen shall outlast those of the pencil, and even worlds themselves.”
It is a story told in an almost biographical manner about Prince Oroonoko, who lived in the Caribbean Islands, and whom the author was in awe of. Behn forms his character with a sense of realism despite his idealised nature. He is the symbol of honour and deserves respect of all. But unto this he is stripped of his rank and taken as a slave. Yet he maintains his integrity and the impression of his personality on all he meets.
A particular favourite aspect of mine in this read was the romantic thread, which I do not often say. Unlike so many stories I have read, it appeared natural, despite also being idealised The way Behn implemented this into the story gave the story a humanity that was needed for a connection to be made with Oroonoko.
The prose of Behn does not focus on emotive language, but rather tells the story of what is happening in a factual, fluid and immersive manner, which cleverly presented the setting and culture and characters of all parties so effectively.
But, Oroonoko is a product of its time, especially with the topic of colonialism. Behn appears to show two opinions on slavery. By having slavery as the means in which Oroonoko is tragically stripped from his power, It is projected as barbarous and a tool of injustice, but paradoxically Behn shows support by depicting its importance in sustaining the British Empire that is heralded as a great ideal.
“Where there is no novelty, there can be no curiosity"
The fact that Oroonoko was inspired largely by true facts and then idealised and romanticised added an extra does of realism into this novel, but also made it even more interesting. In this multifaceted novel, we are introduced to an inspiring and evocative story, memorable characters of both a loveable and hatable disposition, and the fluid prose of Aphra Behn. A short, thought-provoking read.
4.5/5 STARS
Virginia Woolf said Oroonoko was the first novel. What makes the context of this story even more remarkable is that if we agree with this, then the first novelist was a woman, written in the late 17th century.
“A poet is a painter in his way, he draws to the life, but in another kind; we draw the nobler part, the soul and the mind; the pictures of the pen shall outlast those of the pencil, and even worlds themselves.”
It is a story told in an almost biographical manner about Prince Oroonoko, who lived in the Caribbean Islands, and whom the author was in awe of. Behn forms his character with a sense of realism despite his idealised nature. He is the symbol of honour and deserves respect of all. But unto this he is stripped of his rank and taken as a slave. Yet he maintains his integrity and the impression of his personality on all he meets.
A particular favourite aspect of mine in this read was the romantic thread, which I do not often say. Unlike so many stories I have read, it appeared natural, despite also being idealised The way Behn implemented this into the story gave the story a humanity that was needed for a connection to be made with Oroonoko.
The prose of Behn does not focus on emotive language, but rather tells the story of what is happening in a factual, fluid and immersive manner, which cleverly presented the setting and culture and characters of all parties so effectively.
But, Oroonoko is a product of its time, especially with the topic of colonialism. Behn appears to show two opinions on slavery. By having slavery as the means in which Oroonoko is tragically stripped from his power, It is projected as barbarous and a tool of injustice, but paradoxically Behn shows support by depicting its importance in sustaining the British Empire that is heralded as a great ideal.
“Where there is no novelty, there can be no curiosity"
The fact that Oroonoko was inspired largely by true facts and then idealised and romanticised added an extra does of realism into this novel, but also made it even more interesting. In this multifaceted novel, we are introduced to an inspiring and evocative story, memorable characters of both a loveable and hatable disposition, and the fluid prose of Aphra Behn. A short, thought-provoking read.
4.5/5 STARS
September 4, 2018
Some books you read for what they have to give you and some books you read due to the circumstances under which they were written.
This is a story by Aphra Behn, a woman who lived and wrote during the Restoration in England. Behn was one of the first women to write in order to make ends meet, something not very common in the 17th century. In the early 20th century she was made more popular when Virginia Woolf stated that "all women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds". And when I researched a little more, I was very impressed to discover that Aphra Behn was not only a writer of theatrical plays and prose but also a spy sent by the King George II in Antwerp and a very politically energetic woman. So I read Oroonoko mainly because I was intrigued by the life and personality of the writer and much less because I was interested in the story itself. And partly I was right, because it is difficult to be particularly impressed by Oroonoko in 2018.
The plot is quite simple: an African prince falls in love with a fair lady, Imoinda, but his cruel grandfather, also charmed by Imoinda's beauty, takes her away from him and finally sells her as a slave. Oroonoko is also sold as a slave and departs for Surinam where he is reunited with Imoinda but faces the ugly truth: the white people are not so keen on keeping their promise to him and grant him and the woman he loves their liberty.
Behn gives us a rather gloom picture of slavery in the 17th century. Although she was ahead of her time, it is obvious that she did not think of slavery as cruel and absurd. She rather believed that slavery was necessary for progress and justified when in time of war. She adopts a more critical view towards slavery as a result of trade but still this is deemed acceptable. In fact, Oroonoko himself, when negotiating the terms of his release, he offers to provide a large number of slaves to take his place once he regains his freedom.
Another aspect of this book is the depiction of native American people in the 17th century. Behn describes them under a rather romantic spectrum as uncivilized but also honourable people who know not how to harm or deceive unless they have made contact with European influence. The tale of the noble savage, very popular throughout the global human literature, is intensely presented in Oroonoko.
All in all, my world was not shocked having read Oroonoko. But I am happy to have read a book by this remarkable woman and would most probably read another.
This is a story by Aphra Behn, a woman who lived and wrote during the Restoration in England. Behn was one of the first women to write in order to make ends meet, something not very common in the 17th century. In the early 20th century she was made more popular when Virginia Woolf stated that "all women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds". And when I researched a little more, I was very impressed to discover that Aphra Behn was not only a writer of theatrical plays and prose but also a spy sent by the King George II in Antwerp and a very politically energetic woman. So I read Oroonoko mainly because I was intrigued by the life and personality of the writer and much less because I was interested in the story itself. And partly I was right, because it is difficult to be particularly impressed by Oroonoko in 2018.
The plot is quite simple: an African prince falls in love with a fair lady, Imoinda, but his cruel grandfather, also charmed by Imoinda's beauty, takes her away from him and finally sells her as a slave. Oroonoko is also sold as a slave and departs for Surinam where he is reunited with Imoinda but faces the ugly truth: the white people are not so keen on keeping their promise to him and grant him and the woman he loves their liberty.
Behn gives us a rather gloom picture of slavery in the 17th century. Although she was ahead of her time, it is obvious that she did not think of slavery as cruel and absurd. She rather believed that slavery was necessary for progress and justified when in time of war. She adopts a more critical view towards slavery as a result of trade but still this is deemed acceptable. In fact, Oroonoko himself, when negotiating the terms of his release, he offers to provide a large number of slaves to take his place once he regains his freedom.
Another aspect of this book is the depiction of native American people in the 17th century. Behn describes them under a rather romantic spectrum as uncivilized but also honourable people who know not how to harm or deceive unless they have made contact with European influence. The tale of the noble savage, very popular throughout the global human literature, is intensely presented in Oroonoko.
All in all, my world was not shocked having read Oroonoko. But I am happy to have read a book by this remarkable woman and would most probably read another.
February 10, 2019
Edebi olarak keyifli olmasa da edebiyat tarihi açısından önemli sayılabilecek bu eser 1600 lerde bir kadın tarafından yazılmış. Bu nedenle oldukça ilgi çekiciydi. Diğer taraftan sömürgecilerin "vahşi" lerden daha vahşi olması hiç şaşırtıcı değildi.
September 11, 2014
Oroonoko is a complicated novel for me to rate.
I think Virginia Woolf was correct in stating that Aphra Behn's career as a whole was more important than any particular work, but I suppose I still have to rate the novella as it stands. I will start by saying that it's historical context seems to be extremely important in understanding before reading it, and for a few reasons. First, Aphra Behn is considered to be the first woman to make a career for herself* (and without a pseudonym!) from writing. Oroonoko was published in 1688 near her death to some success, but it's subject matter is just as significant, which brings me to my second point -- Oroonoko is also considered to be the first story written and published in English to show African slaves in a sympathetic manner. For these two reasons alone it is certainly worth reading, but it is not without it's faults as a novel.
If you have no problem with random capitalization, italicized dialog, and no chapter breaks, (it's a short novel so this didn't take it's toll on me) this is an "easy" adventure/tragedy to read. But the subject matter isn't always painless to uncover. As sympathetic to Oroonoko and his loyal Imoinda as it may be, it's sentiments are most definitely not modern and were at times difficult to read.
With everything going for it (and against it), Oroonoko is an interesting and important read that should continue to be discussed and not forgotten, like it nearly was.
*Also, before Behn had even begun her career as a writer, she was a spy for a bit after her husband croaked shortly after marriage. Behn is pretty rad.
I think Virginia Woolf was correct in stating that Aphra Behn's career as a whole was more important than any particular work, but I suppose I still have to rate the novella as it stands. I will start by saying that it's historical context seems to be extremely important in understanding before reading it, and for a few reasons. First, Aphra Behn is considered to be the first woman to make a career for herself* (and without a pseudonym!) from writing. Oroonoko was published in 1688 near her death to some success, but it's subject matter is just as significant, which brings me to my second point -- Oroonoko is also considered to be the first story written and published in English to show African slaves in a sympathetic manner. For these two reasons alone it is certainly worth reading, but it is not without it's faults as a novel.
If you have no problem with random capitalization, italicized dialog, and no chapter breaks, (it's a short novel so this didn't take it's toll on me) this is an "easy" adventure/tragedy to read. But the subject matter isn't always painless to uncover. As sympathetic to Oroonoko and his loyal Imoinda as it may be, it's sentiments are most definitely not modern and were at times difficult to read.
With everything going for it (and against it), Oroonoko is an interesting and important read that should continue to be discussed and not forgotten, like it nearly was.
*Also, before Behn had even begun her career as a writer, she was a spy for a bit after her husband croaked shortly after marriage. Behn is pretty rad.
August 5, 2017
Readaton2017 22/26 ενα βιβλιο που ο Πρωταγωνιστης του δεν ειναι λευκός
Τωρα εγω πρεπει να γράψω κριτική . Βρίσκομαι ομως σε μεγάλη αδυναμία . Οχι γιατι δε μου αρεσε το βιβλιο . Αυτο ηταν υπέροχο . Και το θεμα του δυνατό . . Ομως διαβάζοντας το εδραιώθηκε η πεποίθηση μου για τη " δυστηχια του πολιτισμού " οπως λεει ο Φρόυντ . Οσο ειμαστε πρωτόγονοι οι δεύτερες σκέψεις το ψέμα και ο υπολογισμός δεν ειναι...,, Μα τι γράφω ; ολα ειναι θεμα εξουσίας . Οι λευκοί δυτικοί κατέκτησαν και αποίκησαν τις χώρες των " ευγενών άγριων " και τέρμα . Ολα τ'αλλα ειναι κομμάτι της δυτικής ιστορίας και λογοτεχνίας . Γιατι την ιστορια και τις "ιστοριες" την γράφουν οι νικητές κΙ το μονο που μένει απο τους "ευγενείς αγρίους " -θύματα τους ειναι ο καπνός απο τη φωτιά που καει τα μέλη τους .
Τωρα εγω πρεπει να γράψω κριτική . Βρίσκομαι ομως σε μεγάλη αδυναμία . Οχι γιατι δε μου αρεσε το βιβλιο . Αυτο ηταν υπέροχο . Και το θεμα του δυνατό . . Ομως διαβάζοντας το εδραιώθηκε η πεποίθηση μου για τη " δυστηχια του πολιτισμού " οπως λεει ο Φρόυντ . Οσο ειμαστε πρωτόγονοι οι δεύτερες σκέψεις το ψέμα και ο υπολογισμός δεν ειναι...,, Μα τι γράφω ; ολα ειναι θεμα εξουσίας . Οι λευκοί δυτικοί κατέκτησαν και αποίκησαν τις χώρες των " ευγενών άγριων " και τέρμα . Ολα τ'αλλα ειναι κομμάτι της δυτικής ιστορίας και λογοτεχνίας . Γιατι την ιστορια και τις "ιστοριες" την γράφουν οι νικητές κΙ το μονο που μένει απο τους "ευγενείς αγρίους " -θύματα τους ειναι ο καπνός απο τη φωτιά που καει τα μέλη τους .
June 7, 2017
I can sum up my general feelings about this book in a well known quote by Maya Angelou:
"When people show you who they are, believe them the first time."
Oroonoko really could've avoided half of his misfortune if he had learned this principle after he was abducted into slavery by someone he considered a friend. However, he decided he was going to repeatedly try to apply his African moral system into his new surroundings and go by the "honor system" taking everybody at their word. No matter how many times Oroonoko was burnt by his masters who masqueraded as friends and allies, he continued to trust them until it was too late.
Soooo...yeah, as you can see from the previous paragraph, I had some serious strong feelings about the book. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys learning about history especially, African/Afro-Caribbean/African-American History. Aphra Behn's book is fairly short with the actual story weighing in at approximately 60-70 pages. Being a person who tends to shy away from classics, I can honestly tell you that this book was a good read and kept me intrigued for the whole story. It had romance, adventure, history, tomfoolery...basically, it had EVERYTHING!
"When people show you who they are, believe them the first time."
Oroonoko really could've avoided half of his misfortune if he had learned this principle after he was abducted into slavery by someone he considered a friend. However, he decided he was going to repeatedly try to apply his African moral system into his new surroundings and go by the "honor system" taking everybody at their word. No matter how many times Oroonoko was burnt by his masters who masqueraded as friends and allies, he continued to trust them until it was too late.
Soooo...yeah, as you can see from the previous paragraph, I had some serious strong feelings about the book. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys learning about history especially, African/Afro-Caribbean/African-American History. Aphra Behn's book is fairly short with the actual story weighing in at approximately 60-70 pages. Being a person who tends to shy away from classics, I can honestly tell you that this book was a good read and kept me intrigued for the whole story. It had romance, adventure, history, tomfoolery...basically, it had EVERYTHING!
January 2, 2020
"Mrs Behn [1640-1689] era uma mulher da classe média que a morte do marido e umas quantas e infelizes aventuras pessoais forçaram a ganhar a vida com as qualidades do espírito.
Todas as mulheres deviam deixar cair flores sobre o túmulo de Aphra Bhen porque ela ganhou por todas o direito de exprimir as suas ideias."
— Virginia Woolf, Um Quarto Que Seja Seu
Orunoko é um príncipe africano apaixonado por uma mulher a qual também é amada pelo rei — o avô do moço. O velho vinga-se e os amantes terminam como escravos e a sofrer as peninhas dos infernos.
Supostamente, mas não existem provas, trata-se de uma história verídica, testemunhada, em parte, por Aphra, quando esteve no Suriname.
Eu não gostei. Não sei se da história se de Mrs Behn. De qualquer forma, se um dia visitar a Abadia de Westminster não me custa nada deixar-lhe umas florzinhas no túmulo.
Todas as mulheres deviam deixar cair flores sobre o túmulo de Aphra Bhen porque ela ganhou por todas o direito de exprimir as suas ideias."
— Virginia Woolf, Um Quarto Que Seja Seu
Orunoko é um príncipe africano apaixonado por uma mulher a qual também é amada pelo rei — o avô do moço. O velho vinga-se e os amantes terminam como escravos e a sofrer as peninhas dos infernos.
Supostamente, mas não existem provas, trata-se de uma história verídica, testemunhada, em parte, por Aphra, quando esteve no Suriname.
Eu não gostei. Não sei se da história se de Mrs Behn. De qualquer forma, se um dia visitar a Abadia de Westminster não me custa nada deixar-lhe umas florzinhas no túmulo.
January 29, 2022
3.5*
As I said in an update, this is easily as compelling and as assured as all but the best of Daniel Defoe (Moll Flanders, Roxanna), and you can get through it in a couple-few short sittings.
Aphra Behn, a Jacobite, lived an amazing life to boot (like dissenter extraordinaire double-D himself), acting as a spy for Charles II in Antwerp as DD did in Scotland (strangely, for the Tory first minister Harley in his case, as the later Lord Oxford sprung him from gaol due to his evident usefulness as a pamphleteer). But unlike DD Behn was more adventuresome, and her travels to Surinam on the northeastern coast of S America lend this tale at least as much specificity as Defoe's cut-from-whole-cloth Crusoe.
Also kinda weird: unlike said male novelist, Behn, a woman, was cut no slack by even relatively recent critics for actually writing fiction and passing it off (t'was the very thing to do at the turn of the 18th C) as reportage—only in 1987 did her reputation begin to really rise, though it had been given quite the attempted boost by Virginia Woolf decades earlier....
I liked it, then, and/though it was over in a flash, and though (again as I said in an update) this particular Penguin eBook lacked any of the usual accoutrements for making an historical text more digestible. Get the larger Penguin with her play The Rover Oroonoko, The Rover and Other Works or the (cheaper, more recent) Oxford one I bought and am still waiting for (Oroonoko and Other Writings). I don't think they are identical, alas, so if you aspire to completion you'll need both.
As I said in an update, this is easily as compelling and as assured as all but the best of Daniel Defoe (Moll Flanders, Roxanna), and you can get through it in a couple-few short sittings.
Aphra Behn, a Jacobite, lived an amazing life to boot (like dissenter extraordinaire double-D himself), acting as a spy for Charles II in Antwerp as DD did in Scotland (strangely, for the Tory first minister Harley in his case, as the later Lord Oxford sprung him from gaol due to his evident usefulness as a pamphleteer). But unlike DD Behn was more adventuresome, and her travels to Surinam on the northeastern coast of S America lend this tale at least as much specificity as Defoe's cut-from-whole-cloth Crusoe.
Also kinda weird: unlike said male novelist, Behn, a woman, was cut no slack by even relatively recent critics for actually writing fiction and passing it off (t'was the very thing to do at the turn of the 18th C) as reportage—only in 1987 did her reputation begin to really rise, though it had been given quite the attempted boost by Virginia Woolf decades earlier....
I liked it, then, and/though it was over in a flash, and though (again as I said in an update) this particular Penguin eBook lacked any of the usual accoutrements for making an historical text more digestible. Get the larger Penguin with her play The Rover Oroonoko, The Rover and Other Works or the (cheaper, more recent) Oxford one I bought and am still waiting for (Oroonoko and Other Writings). I don't think they are identical, alas, so if you aspire to completion you'll need both.
June 13, 2016
From the first professional woman writer, published in 1688, this is a story about the enslaved grandson of an African King. We are treated to numerous descriptions of his beauty, and the limitlessness of true love, yet not spared the details of his torturous life or gruesome end.
I have now obeyed Virginia Woolf’s famous directive to women to “let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.” I was pleased that, while this story reflected the ignorance and attitudes of its time, it was still an attempt to reveal the human toll of injustice, and I let my flowers fall with sincere gratitude.
I have now obeyed Virginia Woolf’s famous directive to women to “let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.” I was pleased that, while this story reflected the ignorance and attitudes of its time, it was still an attempt to reveal the human toll of injustice, and I let my flowers fall with sincere gratitude.
June 15, 2019
"Eğer imkan verilse, tek başına doğa insanoğlunun tüm icatlarından daha güzel ders verir dünyaya. Din, bu insanların kendi cehaletleriyle sahip oldukları huzuru yerle bir edecektir; kanun onlara şu an hakkında hiçbir fikirleri yokken, suç nedir onu öğretecektir."
⭐
1688 yılında bir kadının yazdığı roman...
⭐
1688 yılında bir kadının yazdığı roman...
November 12, 2020
One of the Most Racist Book I've Ever Read, BY FAR
Wow...
I went into this book knowing next to nothing about it, with a completely open mind, and you know what? I hated it... every damn word of it. It's pseudo-progressive stance is insulting to actual victims of slavery, not the watered down and inaccurate version of slavery presented here.
I'm gonna let you in on a little secret; this "true story" (if you're not aware already) is completely fake. Aphra Behn (a white woman) never actually visited the book's setting of Surinam, and historical research pretty much proves there was no Oroonoko — who is offensively referred to as "Caesar" here, on the notion that he is somehow "superior to other Africans" because he "looks and behaves more white" than them (yikes, that's racist) — so really, this book is a massive act of fraud in the worst possible way; it presents an offensively stereotyped version of African culture, but then PRESENTS IT AS FACT!
Some argue it's "progressive" in that it advocates for ending Slavery, but this really isn't the case — if it was so integral to ending slavery, why did it last another 200 FRIGGIN' YEARS after this farce was published? — the book's entire reasoning isn't that slavery is inherently evil (which it is), it's reasoning is that SOME slaves are "exceptional" and essentially more white than the "common slave," and so slavery should end in case someone who "deserves better" accidentally becomes a victim of it...
...as if ANYBODY deserves to be a victim of slavery! God, how racist can one book get in 77 pages!
If you want to read an actually informative or truthful book on the issue of slavery, this isn't it.
Something more akin to THOSE books include:
—> Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave(1845) by Frederick Douglass
—> Twelve Years a Slave(1853) by Solomon Northrup
—> Harriet Tubman(1955) by Ann Petry
—> Roots: The Saga of an American Family(1976) by Alex Haley
—> Bullwhip Days(1988) edited by James Mellon
—> The Ballad of Blind Tom(2009) by Deirdre O'Connell
—> The Half has Never Been Told(2014) by Edward E. Baptist
Wow...
I went into this book knowing next to nothing about it, with a completely open mind, and you know what? I hated it... every damn word of it. It's pseudo-progressive stance is insulting to actual victims of slavery, not the watered down and inaccurate version of slavery presented here.
I'm gonna let you in on a little secret; this "true story" (if you're not aware already) is completely fake. Aphra Behn (a white woman) never actually visited the book's setting of Surinam, and historical research pretty much proves there was no Oroonoko — who is offensively referred to as "Caesar" here, on the notion that he is somehow "superior to other Africans" because he "looks and behaves more white" than them (yikes, that's racist) — so really, this book is a massive act of fraud in the worst possible way; it presents an offensively stereotyped version of African culture, but then PRESENTS IT AS FACT!
Some argue it's "progressive" in that it advocates for ending Slavery, but this really isn't the case — if it was so integral to ending slavery, why did it last another 200 FRIGGIN' YEARS after this farce was published? — the book's entire reasoning isn't that slavery is inherently evil (which it is), it's reasoning is that SOME slaves are "exceptional" and essentially more white than the "common slave," and so slavery should end in case someone who "deserves better" accidentally becomes a victim of it...
...as if ANYBODY deserves to be a victim of slavery! God, how racist can one book get in 77 pages!
If you want to read an actually informative or truthful book on the issue of slavery, this isn't it.
Something more akin to THOSE books include:
—> Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave(1845) by Frederick Douglass
—> Twelve Years a Slave(1853) by Solomon Northrup
—> Harriet Tubman(1955) by Ann Petry
—> Roots: The Saga of an American Family(1976) by Alex Haley
—> Bullwhip Days(1988) edited by James Mellon
—> The Ballad of Blind Tom(2009) by Deirdre O'Connell
—> The Half has Never Been Told(2014) by Edward E. Baptist
September 22, 2024
Penso di aver letto il libro più noioso e prolisso di sempre e visto che parliamo di un libricino di circa 100 pagine, ciò lo rende ancora più inquietante.
La storia che ci viene narrata dall'autrice, parla di Oroonoko che vedrà sulla sua pelle le atrocità della schiavitù.
Il problema in questo racconto, per me, oltre alla narrazione noiosa, è che le tematiche, molto importanti, quali la lotta contro la schiavitù, vengono esposte in modo farraginoso e soprattutto non in modo uniforme. Oroonoko è un principe e quindi per il suo status dovrebbe essere rispettato e non destinato alla schiavitù. Ma tutti gli altri non di alto rango? Mmmmhhh :-S
Poi la questione della donna: avrei tanto voluto poter leggere, dalla penna di una donna, un resoconto, almeno sufficientemente dettagliato, sulla condizione della donna, sia tra i bianchi che tra i neri, ma all'interno di questo libro ho letto soltanto di sospiri, di pianti, di donne che non sono altro che dei soprammobili, che gli uomini, soprattutto bianchi, possono utilizzare, come, quando e perchè, vogliono!
La storia che ci viene narrata dall'autrice, parla di Oroonoko che vedrà sulla sua pelle le atrocità della schiavitù.
Il problema in questo racconto, per me, oltre alla narrazione noiosa, è che le tematiche, molto importanti, quali la lotta contro la schiavitù, vengono esposte in modo farraginoso e soprattutto non in modo uniforme. Oroonoko è un principe e quindi per il suo status dovrebbe essere rispettato e non destinato alla schiavitù. Ma tutti gli altri non di alto rango? Mmmmhhh :-S
Poi la questione della donna: avrei tanto voluto poter leggere, dalla penna di una donna, un resoconto, almeno sufficientemente dettagliato, sulla condizione della donna, sia tra i bianchi che tra i neri, ma all'interno di questo libro ho letto soltanto di sospiri, di pianti, di donne che non sono altro che dei soprammobili, che gli uomini, soprattutto bianchi, possono utilizzare, come, quando e perchè, vogliono!
March 22, 2016
This book got off to a rather dull, though interesting beginning, but improved as I continued to read.
The author was ahead of her time in more ways than one.
The author was ahead of her time in more ways than one.
May 28, 2017
A book more for historians then the usual novel readers some interesting parts but ultimately dull.
Only giving this two stars, why? so obsessed with letting everyone know it's a woman writer, which is completely unnecessary. It's like having an author named David and saying he's a man writer! Subsequently, in the need to state this they have spelt the authors last name as Benn instead of Behn. They need to pay attention to what needs to be put on the back cover rather than worrying about "we must let everyone know it's a woman" and ignoring the correct spelling of the authors name.
PLEASE PENGUIN GET PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THE BOOKS AND NOT THEIR PERSONAL ISSUES.
Only giving this two stars, why? so obsessed with letting everyone know it's a woman writer, which is completely unnecessary. It's like having an author named David and saying he's a man writer! Subsequently, in the need to state this they have spelt the authors last name as Benn instead of Behn. They need to pay attention to what needs to be put on the back cover rather than worrying about "we must let everyone know it's a woman" and ignoring the correct spelling of the authors name.
PLEASE PENGUIN GET PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THE BOOKS AND NOT THEIR PERSONAL ISSUES.
October 24, 2016
( 1.5 STARS )
Incredible story but I feel like the narrative made it a really slow read and therefore I couldn't enjoy it as much as I probably would have done if it was written more like a novel or if I watched it as a film.
Incredible story but I feel like the narrative made it a really slow read and therefore I couldn't enjoy it as much as I probably would have done if it was written more like a novel or if I watched it as a film.
January 27, 2022
17.yy'ın köleliğe ilk başkaldırı kitaplarından biri. Hem de kadınların çalışmasının ayıp olduğu dönemde, hayatını yazarak kazanan bir kadın tarafından kaleme alınmış.
Başkaldırı, büyük bir aşk temasının içinde özenle işlenmiş. Her ne kadar sömürgecilere dair eleştiriler az olsa da, köle olarak yaşamanın isyanı kuvvetli anlatılmış.
3,5⭐️
"Fakat zaman tüm aşırılıkları hafifletir, dindirir, yerini kayıtsızlığa bırakır."
Başkaldırı, büyük bir aşk temasının içinde özenle işlenmiş. Her ne kadar sömürgecilere dair eleştiriler az olsa da, köle olarak yaşamanın isyanı kuvvetli anlatılmış.
3,5⭐️
"Fakat zaman tüm aşırılıkları hafifletir, dindirir, yerini kayıtsızlığa bırakır."
July 3, 2008
Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is theorized in style and format to possibly be one of the first novels in English, connecting the worlds of Europe, Africa, and America in a tale that is common in plot but uncommon in character. Written by the so-called "bad girl" of her time, Behn's novel explores firs the foreign world of Coramantien and its royalty. The title character of the Royal Prince then finds himself with soldiers and war captains with the natives of Surinam, and then with its colonists. Separated in different social classes, the main character, who is black, is deemed royalty in one world, and slave in another.
This is just one the main dualities presented in this text. Race, social class, gender, age, life and death all play a part in this manuscript. The interesting story makes definite commentary on the role of women and of religion as shown by the contrast in cultures. Oroonoko, while not an immediately likable character in his stoicism, is given the effect of reader appeal through the other characters in the text. His love interest, Imoinda, shines.
Dismissed during its publishing as vulgar and sensational because of the author's "warm" attitude toward sexuality and violence, Oroonoko is now placed among the treasures of British literature. Its value as a story, a novel, and a commentary of social life and slavery is highly valuable.
Oroonoko is one of the only known novels written by this author, who has yet to be fully discovered and publicized. For a long while, Behn was negatively criticized for both her work and her social life outside of her writing. She was also notorious for her torrid relationships with other well-known people of her time, and for working a provocative job as a spy. She changed the definition of feminine in presenting works where women are objects subjugated to male carnal desire, and punished for going outside this subjugated sphere. She champions the female as a deliberately sexual being who is punished for being so. Other works of hers include a large work of poetry that is slowly finding its way into mainstream literature anthologies. Her contributions to both prose and poetry have contributed greatly to feminism and to literature.
This is just one the main dualities presented in this text. Race, social class, gender, age, life and death all play a part in this manuscript. The interesting story makes definite commentary on the role of women and of religion as shown by the contrast in cultures. Oroonoko, while not an immediately likable character in his stoicism, is given the effect of reader appeal through the other characters in the text. His love interest, Imoinda, shines.
Dismissed during its publishing as vulgar and sensational because of the author's "warm" attitude toward sexuality and violence, Oroonoko is now placed among the treasures of British literature. Its value as a story, a novel, and a commentary of social life and slavery is highly valuable.
Oroonoko is one of the only known novels written by this author, who has yet to be fully discovered and publicized. For a long while, Behn was negatively criticized for both her work and her social life outside of her writing. She was also notorious for her torrid relationships with other well-known people of her time, and for working a provocative job as a spy. She changed the definition of feminine in presenting works where women are objects subjugated to male carnal desire, and punished for going outside this subjugated sphere. She champions the female as a deliberately sexual being who is punished for being so. Other works of hers include a large work of poetry that is slowly finding its way into mainstream literature anthologies. Her contributions to both prose and poetry have contributed greatly to feminism and to literature.
May 5, 2015
It is a story of an African prince and his beloved wife Imoinda, who are captured by the British and brought to Surinam as slaves.
Because of Oroonoko’s high social status as a former prince, superior education, and spectacular physical appearance, Oroonoko is never sent to work. He was asking for his freedom over and over while they feed him with lies, Oroonoko realizes he will never be free…
I don’t want to say more, all i can say is that i had mixed feeling for the book and the character since he was selling slaves himself before ending up a slave
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