Oroonoko cannot be classified as fact or fiction, realism or romance. In the still unshaped field of prose narrative – where a "history" could mean any story, true or false – Behn combines the attractions of three older forms. First, she presents the work as a memoir. According...

"Does not my fortune sit high upon my brow? Dost not see the little wanton god there all gay and smiling have I not an air about my face and eyes, that distinguish me from the crowd of common lovers?" --Aphra Behn, The Rover She was not the first woman ...

[...] a Devil on't the Woman damns the Poet. -- Aphra Behn, Preface to The Lucky Chance Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was not the first woman writer; neither was she the only woman writer of her day. But Aphra Behn holds the singular distinction of being the ...