Oroonoko, Aphra Behn
Oroonoko, Aphra Behn
List: $10.13 | Sale: $7.10
Club: $5.06

Oroonoko
Penguin Classics

Author: Aphra Behn

Narrator: Isabel Adomakoh-Young, Kristin Atherton

Unabridged: 3 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/03/2020


Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by Isabel Adomakoh Young. Isabel's credits include The Provoked Wife with the RSC and playing Lady Macbeth in the West End with the National Youth Theatre Rep Company. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Janet Todd.

Restoration-era poet, playwright and novelist Aphra Behn was the first truly professional woman writer in English, and Oroonoko is her sophisticated and insightful condemnation of slavery. This Penguin Classics edition is edited with an introduction by Janet Todd.

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 view of native peoples as noble savages in 'the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin'. The novel also reveals Behn's ambiguous attitude to African slavery - while she favoured it as a means to strengthen England's rule, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.

This new edition of Oroonoko is based on the first printed version of 1688, and includes a chronology, further reading and notes. In her introduction, Janet Todd examines Aphra Behn's views of slavery, colonization and politics, and her position as a professional woman writer in the Restoration.

Little is known of Aphra Behn's (1640-1689) early life. She was probably born in Kent, and in the early 1660s claims to have visited the British colony of Surinam. She turned to literature for a living, producing numerous short stories, 19 stage plays and political propaganda for the Tories.

(P) Penguin Audio 2020

Reviews

Goodreads review by Andy on October 08, 2025

I read this book because I was interested to see what Behn - the first known professional female writer - had to offer. I went into it with low expectations - I've never enjoyed a single book that was published before 'Pride and Prejudice' - so I wasn't surprised to find myself praying for it to end......more

Goodreads review by Bill on November 22, 2019

A 17th century precursor to the novel, "Oroonoko" condemns slavery not so much for its intrinsic evil but because it can oppress a man of true nobility--a man like the African prince Oroonoko. It is well written, moves briskly, and provides a fascinating contemporary glimpse not only of the slave tr......more

|| 4.0 stars || This is an anti-slavery novel written in the 17th-Century by the very first professional female author; for that reason alone I would already consider this to be a historically interesting and admirable piece of writing. However, it is not for that reason alone that I am glad to have......more

Goodreads review by Fabian on November 10, 2019

What I LOVED: that the love story is Vivid & the plot is Alive. But all this matters not when placed on the other side of the spectrum where Misery is Aware and Dismemberment is the ultimate form of Destruction. I was left wowed. A Must!!......more

Goodreads review by 🫶🏻 on January 27, 2022

uni reading feels like worms are eating my brain whilst i'm simultaneously trying to create world peace......more