The Rover, 2nd Edition (Broadview Literary Texts) - Softcover

Aphra Behn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551112140 ISBN 13: 9781551112145

Publisher: Broadview Press, 1999

Synopsis

Increasingly Aphra Behn―the first woman professional writer―is also regarded as one of the most important writers of the 17th century. The Rover, her most famous and most accomplished play, is in many ways firmly in the tradition of Restoration drama; Willmore, the title character, is a rake and a libertine, and the comedy feeds on sexual innuendo, intrigue and wit. But the laughter that the play insights has a biting edge to it and the sexual intrigue an unsettling depth. As Anne Russell points out in her introduction to this edition, there are three options for women in the society represented in The Rover: marriage, the convent, or prostitution. In this marriage economy the witty and pragmatic virgin Hellena learns how to survive, while the prostitute Angellica Bianca can retain her autonomy only so long as she remains free from romantic love. It seems that in this world women can only be free by the anonymity of disguise―yet the mask is also the mark of the prostitute. And, paradoxically, disguise is the device that in many ways drives the plot towards marriage.

Enormously popular through the eighteenth century, The Rover is now once again widely performed. Filled with the play of ideas, it is one of the most amusing, entertaining―and unsettling―of comedies.

About this title

About the Author

Anne Russell is Associate Professor of English at Wilfrid Laurier University and a specialist in 17th-century drama.

From the Back Cover

Increasingly Aphra Behn―the first woman professional writer―is also regarded as one of the most important writers of the 17th century. The Rover, her most famous and most accomplished play, is in many ways firmly in the tradition of Restoration drama; Willmore, the title character, is a rake and a libertine, and the comedy feeds on sexual innuendo, intrigue and wit. But the laughter that the play insights has a biting edge to it and the sexual intrigue an unsettling depth. As Anne Russell points out in her introduction to this edition, there are three options for women in the society represented in The Rover: marriage, the convent, or prostitution. In this marriage economy the witty and pragmatic virgin Hellena learns how to survive, while the prostitute Angellica Bianca can retain her autonomy only so long as she remains free from romantic love. It seems that in this world women can only be free by the anonymity of disguise―yet the mask is also the mark of the prostitute. And, paradoxically, disguise is the device that in many ways drives the plot towards marriage.

Enormously popular through the eighteenth century, The Rover is now once again widely performed. Filled with the play of ideas, it is one of the most amusing, entertaining―and unsettling―of comedies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Broadview Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1551112140
• ISBN 13: 9781551112145
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 220
• Editor: Anne Russell