Author: Aphra BehnPublisher: Joe Books Ltd
ISBN: 1987955684
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 190
Book Description
The magic of Naples during Carnival inspires love between a disparate group of local citizens and visiting Englishmen.
Oroonoko, the Rover and Other Works
Author: Aphra BehnPublisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141958871
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 461
Book Description
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 (1688) reflects the author’s romantic view of Native Americans as simple, superior peoples ‘in the first state of innocence, before men 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 power, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.
The Rover
Author: Mel OdomPublisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429965789
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 509
Book Description
Edgewick Lamplighter (Wick to his friends) is a humble librarian in the isolated halls of Greydawn Moors until dreams of wanderlust and a bit of dereliction in his duties result in his being shanghaied to a far-off land. Captured by pirates, sold into slavery, and adopted by a gang of thieves, Wick soon finds himself with more adventures than even a halfling librarian can imagine. Rival gangs, goblin marauders, evil wizards, and monstrous dragons are soon after the wee adventurer and his newfound allies in a tale of treasures and treachery, magic and mystery, where even a little guy can rise to the occasion and save the day. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Secret Life of Aphra Behn
Author: Janet ToddPublisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1448212545
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 830
Book Description
'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,' said Virginia Woolf. Yet that tomb, in Westminster Abbey, records one of the few uncontested facts about this Restoration playwright, poet, novelist and spy: the date of her death, 16 April 1689. For the rest secrecy and duplicity are almost the key to her life. She loved codes, making and breaking them; writing her life becomes a decoding of a passionate but playful woman. Janet Todd draws on documents she has rediscovered in the Dutch archives, and on Behn's own writings, to tell a story of court, diplomatic and sexual intrigue, and of the rise from humble origins of the first woman to earn her living as a professional writer. Aphra Behn's first notable employment was as a Royal spy in Holland; she had probably also spied in Surinam. It was not until she was in her thirties that she published the first of the 19 plays and other works which established her fame (though not riches) among her 'good, sweet, honey-candied readers'. Many of her works were openly erotic, indeed as frank as anything by her friends Wycherley and Rochester. Some also offered an inside view of court and political intrigues, and Todd reveals the historical scandals and legal cases behind some of Behn's most famous 'fictions'.
The Way of the World and Other Plays
Author: William CongrevePublisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141938080
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 654
Book Description
With piercing accuracy William ongreve depicted the shallow, brittle world of 'society' where the right artifice in manners, fashion and conversation--and money--eased the passage to success. Through sparkling, witty dialogue and brilliant characterisation--Lady Plyant, Valentine, Lady Touchwood, Mirabell and Millamant--Congreve exposed the follies and vanities of that world, and suggested that behind the glinting mirror lay something more brutal. 'The language is everywhere that of Men of Honour, but their Actions are those of Knaves; a proof that he was perfectly well acquainted with human Nature, and frequented what we call polite company.' --Voltaire 'Congreve quitted the stage in disdain, and comedy left it with him.' --A contemporary
Author: Oh, Play That Thing
Author: Roddy DoylePublisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307368971
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 390
Book Description
It's 1924, and New York is the centre of the universe. Henry Smart, on the run from Dublin, lands on his feet. After the 1916 Rebellion, Henry Smart is running from the Republicans for whom he committed murder and mayhem. Lying to the immigration officer, avoiding Irish eyes that might recognise him, hiding the photograph of himself with his wife because it shows a gun across his lap, he throws his passport into the river and forges a new identity. He's a handsome man with a sandwich board, behind which he stashes hooch for the speakeasies of the Lower East Side. He catches the attention of the mobsters who run the district and soon there are eyes on his back and men in the shadows. It is time to leave, for another America... The Depression is sending folks to ride the rails in search of a new life and new hope, and all trains lead to Chicago. As Henry’s past tries to catch up with him, he takes off on a journey to the great port, where music is everywhere. Chicago is wild and new, and newest of all is the music. Furious, wild, happy music played by a man with a trumpet and bleeding lips called Louis Armstrong. His music is everywhere, coming from every open door, every phonograph. But Armstrong is a prisoner of his colour; there are places a black man cannot go, things he cannot do. Armstrong needs a man, a white man, and the man he chooses is Henry Smart.
Author: Louis A. MeyerFive Modern No Plays
Author: Yukio MishimaPublisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307473112
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
Five No plays—one of the great art forms that has fascinated people throughout the world—from one of Japan's outstanding post-war writers. • "Mishima's is a wonderful, astonishing, and frightening creative energy." —The New York Times Magazine The late Yukio Mishima infused new life into the form by using it for plays that preserve the style and inner spirit of No and are at the same time so modern, so direct, and intelligible that they could, as he suggested, be played on a bench in Central Park. Here are five of his No plays, stunning in their contemporary nature and relevance—and finally made available again for readers to enjoy.
Oroonoko, and Other Writings
Author: Aphra BehnPublisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780192834607
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
..'I value fame almost as much as if I had been born a hero'. (Preface to The Lucky Chance).Aphra Behn (1640-89) achieved both fame and notoriety in her own time, enjoying considerable success for her plays and for her short novel Oroonoko, the story of a noble slave who loves a princess. Acclaimed by Virginia Woolf as the first English woman to earn her living by the pen, Behn'sachievements as a writer are now acknowledged less equivocally than in the seventeenth century.As well as Oroonoko, this volume contains five other works of fiction ranging from comedy and high melodrama to tragedy. The Fair Jilt, Memoirs of the Court of the King of Bantam, The History of the Nun, The Adventure of the Black Lady, and The Unfortunate Bride are complemented by a generousselection of her poetyr, ranging from public political verse to lyrics and witty conversation poems.This selection demonstrates Behn's range, as well as her wit, compassion, and interest in the question of identity and self-representation.
