Aphra Behn: the Incomparable Astrea. --

by V (Victoria) 1892-1 Sackville-West (creator)

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104 pages, Hardcover

Published September 9, 2021

Reviews

[Aria Ligi · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I love Vita Sackville-West, her books Daughter of France: the life of Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de Montpensier, 1627-1693, La Grande Mademoiselle (1959) and Saint Joan of Arc (Doubleday 1936, reprinted M. Joseph 1969) are well-written and provide a great deal of information on her subject. Aphra: The Incomparable Astrea is a quick read, yet, after focusing so much on her writing and the haze concerning her life, she then proceeds to deride her, calling Aphra a 'hack' and calling to question her ability as a playwright and novelist, and poet. Her polemic on Behn may be fair, but it undercuts why she would spend so much time on someone whose work she claims is subpar. Why even write anything for her, or highlight her if the work itself is not worthy? I would posit it was simply due to her gender, outspokenness, and life, yet it is a life in which we have very few facts to verify what we know or even think to be so. Surely, there had to be more to her that would give us reason to spend considerable time on such a subject, as many before Sackville-West did. At the same time, it is worth mentioning that Sackville-West is honest enough to underscore Behn's shortcomings as a writer and not lead readers astray by creating a false narrative that would lead them to believe otherwise, even if she admires her as one who was audacious and unafraid to be who she was, even during a time, when to do so was not only unpopular but lead Behn to have a horde of critiques which were only too happy to deride her in during her lifetime and after.