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Oroonoko

Oroonoko Paperback - 2004

by Aphra Behn

  • Used
  • Acceptable
  • Paperback

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 reflects the author's romantic views of native peoples as being in 'the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin.' The novel also reveals Behn's ambiguous attitude toward slavery: while she favored it as a means to strengthen England's power, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.

Description

Penguin Publishing Group, 2004. Paperback. Acceptable. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Details

  • Title Oroonoko
  • Author Aphra Behn
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: repri
  • Condition Used - Acceptable
  • Pages 144
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Publishing Group, E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date 2004
  • Features Bibliography
  • Bookseller's Inventory # G0140439889I5N00
  • ISBN 9780140439885 / 0140439889
  • Weight 0.26 lbs (0.12 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.39 in (19.56 x 12.95 x 0.99 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Africa, Slavery
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2004559817
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

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Summary

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 reflects the author’s romantic views of native peoples as being in “the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin.” The novel also reveals Behn’s ambiguous attitude toward slavery: while she favored it as a means to strengthen England’s power, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.

  • A new single-volume edition of this early anti-slavery novel
  • Includes introduction, carefully modernized text, chronology, suggestions for further reading, and explanatory notes

From the publisher

A new single-volume edition of an early anti-slavery novel

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 reflects the author's romantic views of native peoples as being in "the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin." The novel also reveals Behn's ambiguous attitude toward slavery: while she favored it as a means to strengthen England's power, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.

This new single-volume edition of Oroonoko includes a carefully modernized text accompanied by an introduction, chronology, explanatory notes and suggestions for further reading.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About the author

Aphra Behn (c. 1640-1689), born in Kent, England, claimed to have visited the British colony of Surinam, where Oroonoko is set. She wrote poetry, short stories, stage plays, and political propaganda for the Tory party, as well as her great amorous and political novel, Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister.

Janet Todd is Francis Hutcheson Professor of English Literature at the University of Glasgow and an honorary fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.