The Most Prolific Writer You’ve Never Heard Of
The long-overdue recognition of the unsung heroine of British Literature, Aphra Behn.
By Corinna Miller, www.copybycorinna.com
She was a visionary playwright, acclaimed poet, the first woman to make a living from her writing, and even a spy for the English royal family. While this might sound like the premise of this summer’s newest blockbuster, it’s the reality of the amazing Aphra Behn, born just outside Canterbury, Kent, in 1640.
She was written out of history because she wrote about love, sex, gambling, and feminism in an era where women were meant to be seen and not heard.
Not only this but her book Love Letters Between and Nobleman and His Sister is regarded as the first British novel. Aphra is also recognised as an LGBTQ+ icon, having written beautiful, funny, and sensitive love poetry to other women. She wrote over twenty plays, three poetry collections, and six books. Her novel, Oroonoko, was the first novel written in English about the horrors of African enslavement.
She rose to prominence over a century before Jane Austen was born and became the first woman to make a living by publishing her works in English. Her writing featured themes of unrequited love, sex, gambling, and feminism. The unveiling of the new statue of Aphra Behn has finally brought recognition of this revolutionary writer back to her hometown. Still, Professor Emerita Elaine Hobby hopes this is only the beginning.
“Canterbury, as a centre of heritage and history, should celebrate the first professional woman writer. It ought to be part of how people see Canterbury,” she says.
Aphra was born in Harbledown during the first English Civil War and spent her early years in Canterbury teaching herself to read at a time when it was taboo for women to have a formal education.
She married and became Aphra Behn, though there is little recorded information about her husband.
What we do know, however, is that Behn left England for Antwerp in 1666, taking on a spy mission for King Charles II. Behn was sent to Antwerp during England’s war with the Dutch to convince Englishman William Scot to spy for his home country. When she left London, she was given £50 of spending money from the Government, which was spent quickly due to the cost of travel in Antwerp and the Netherlands.
Aphra wrote to the King asking for more funds to continue her mission but was denied and left stranded in Antwerp, right on the enemy’s doorstep. She borrowed money to travel back to England after the government refused to pay her anymore to return home. Once she returned to England, she was threatened with debtor prison for not paying back the money she owed.
Desperate to earn a living, she then turned to writing and became an author, poet, and playwright. She had two successful plays staged in one year, The Forc’d Marriage and The Armorus Prince. In both plays, she uses comedy to highlight the harmful effects of arranged marriages.
Her continued success in theatre earned her a handsome income as well as good favour with the King. While her plays were often classed as comedies, one of her most famous plays, The Rover, featured a character who experiences sexual assault three separate times during the
show. Her plays used humour to illuminate some of the more nefarious parts of life and marriage at the time.
“She was scandalous but not so much that you wouldn’t buy her work or go to the theatre to see her.” Professor Hobby says. “Everyone who read books or went to the theatre knew her name.”
In 1688, she published the first English-language novel about enslaved people, called Oroonoko. The book tells the story of a heroic African prince named Oroonoko who falls in love with his war general’s daughter, is tricked and sold into slavery, and leads a slave revolt in Suriname. Oroonoko is caught and brutally killed.
The novel later had a significant impact and later became a cited text used by the abolitionist movement throughout the 1800s. It is still studied today, and its significance as the first English novel concerning slavery is examined worldwide.
Aphra died in 1689 at 29 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Her life story is short, filled with adventure, mystery, peril, and success. But the question remains to all who have studied her: why isn’t she more widely known? Why don’t the people of Canterbury speak about her like they do Chaucer or Marlowe?
There are a few theories. During the Victorian era (starting around 1820 with the birth of Queen Victoria), Aphra’s work fell into the shadows as it was thought of as too rude or indecent. A woman’s place in the house was reinforced, and her work fell out of fashion. “There was an idea in the 19th century that women should be silent and submissive.” Profession Hobby says. “We are taught to see our history in terms of things men achieved.” So, while the works of Shakespeare were performed and studied during this time, the works of Aphra Behn were forgotten.
The Local History section at Canterbury Library features a few dozen works about playwright Kit Marlowe and another dozen about Canterbury Tales writer Henry Chaucer, but only two books on the life of Aphra Behn. Despite being hailed as ‘the first paid female writer’ by historical texts and being a Canterbury native, no theatres, pubs, or statues are named after her.
That is, until last year when the Canterbury Commemoration Society, the History and English departments at Canterbury Christ Church University, Loughborough University, the A is for Aphra Campaign, and the newly formed Aphra Behn Society of Canterbury commenced a year
celebrating her forgotten works and impact.
Sculpture Christine Charlesworth was thrilled when her Aphra Behn statue design was chosen by the A is for Aphra campaign. “Tears streamed down my face. I really could not believe that I had won. I was so very happy to be the chosen sculptor,” she said. “My wish is that young people, visitors, and the people of Canterbury find my statue of Aphra Behn approachable and a person they would want to meet, find her an inspiration and that everyone will want to learn more about her.”
To continue the celebration, the 1 July will commence a week-long festival in Canterbury coinciding with an international conference on Aphra Behn and her Restoration at the Univeristy of Kent, attracting over 150 visitors from a dozen different countries to Canterbury. Activities include a full-scale production of Aphra’s The Amorous Prince by The Canterbury Players (performances in the Anselm Studios at Canterbury Christ Church University); Behn-themed walks; a Curating Aphra event and outreach activities at The Beaney; public lectures, and a production of Aphra’s The Rover by students at the King’s School.
“She should be talked about in schools. How can this be that a woman who made a living writing 350 years ago isn’t talked about or acknowledged in her hometown?”
This may be the turning point for Aphra Behn and her legacy. Though she is not the focus of a multi-million-pound film (yet), her works and story are finally coming home to Canterbury.
Let’s hope her works and story eventually become a celebrated blockbuster.
Initially written for the Canterbury Courier, published on May 16th, 2024
Interview of Professor Emerita Elaine Hobby conducted by Corinna Miller.
Corinna Miller is a freelance writer specializing in crafting compelling and creative copy for sustainable and/or female-led businesses.
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