Aphra behn biography dictionary definition
Aphra behn biography oroonoko.
Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Behn, Afra
BEHN, AFRA, APHRA, APHARA, or AYFARA (1640–1689), dramatist and novelist, was baptised at Wye on 10 July 1640.
Aphra behn biography dictionary definition
She was the daughter of John Johnson, a barber, and of Amy, his wife. A relative whom she called her father was nominated by Lord Willoughby to the post of lieutenant-general of Surinam, which was then an English possession.
He went out to the West Indies with his whole family when Aphra was still a child. The father died on the outward voyage, but the family settled in the best house in the colony, a charming residence called St. John's Hill, of which the poetess has given a probably overcharged picture, painted from memory, in her novel of 'Oroonoko.' She became acquainted, as she grew up, with the romantic chieftain whose name has just been mentioned, and with Imoinda his wife.
A great deal of nonsense was long afterwards talked in London about this friendship, in which the scandal-mongers would fain see