The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume II

Aphra Behn wrote like she had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. As the first English woman to earn her living by the pen, she populated her plays with dangerous women, scheming lovers, and men undone by their own desires. This second volume gathers her theatrical works, including the ferocious revenge tragedy 'Abdelazer' , in which a Moorish general, discarded by the Spanish court, orchestrates a scandalous affair with the Queen to bring down the King who orphaned him. The comedy 'The Dutch Lover' tangles a straitlaced Englishman with a sharp-tongued荷兰女人 (Dutch woman) who speaks her mind and her desires plainly. Throughout, Behn dissects the corrupt courts and cramped morals of Restoration England with wit that still bites. She was called obscene, immoral, unfeminine. She called it a living. These plays are why she matters: raw, politically charged, unafraid.