Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was a bold, salacious, and pioneering individual. If Frances Burney made women writers respectable, it was Aphra Behn who put them on the map. Portrait of Aphra Behn by Mary Beale [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons Young Woman In 1640 Aphra Behn was born Eaffrey Johnson of Canterbury, the daughter of a barber. Behn was likely raised Catholic. She was a staunch Tory and Royalist, and may already have been working as a spy for Charles II when she visited Surinam, an English colony, in 1663. Behn stayed on the sugar plantation owned by Sir Robert Harley, and letters from the deputy governor of Surinam refer to her as 'Astrea', her code name as an intelligence officer and later, her nom-de-plume as a writer. Her stay on the plantation inspired her to write Oroonoko: or, The Royal Slave, a novel that shows surprising sympathy for the plight of the plantation slave. Spy By 1664 Aphra married Johan Behn, a foreign merchant, but he died only a few years into their marriage. On her return to England from Surinam Behn became embroiled in the court of Charles II, who recruited her to spy against the Dutch in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. 'Astrea' was...