Jean Honore Fragonard, The Bolt (1776) Yesterday I wrote about Aphra Behn giving us images of women’s sexual liberation in her 1677 play The Rover. But there is a dark undertone that differentiates the play from male-authored Restoration comedies. Behn’s play may not be as polished as the plays of William Wycherley and George Etherege. […]
Tag Archives: Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn, Sexual Revolutionary
Aphra Behn, by Mary Beale I am having a great deal of fun teaching Aphra Behn’s play The Rover this week. Written in 1677 during the reign of Charles II, it is a rollicking sex comedy that proved to be very popular. A woman writing for the stage was in itself extraordinary. That the play […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Anais Nin, Erica Jong, John Wilmot, Rover, sexual liberation, To a Lady in a Letter Comments closed
How Racism Sullies Everything
If race has been the subject of these past two weeks of posting it is because, as a Sherrilyn Ifil article notes in the on-line publication Root, we are having a hard time talking about race this summer, what with the furor over the Sonia Sotomayor nomination and the Henry Louis Gates affair. I haven’t […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Harper Lee, Oroonoko, racism, slavery, To Kill a Mockingbird Comments closed
