"Criticism" begins with an overview of responses to Behn and Oroonoko, from learned and popular writers of her time to Sir Walter Scott and Virginia Woolf, among others. Illustrations and maps are also included. Topically arranged-"Montaigne on America", "The Settling of Surinam", "Observers of Slavery, 1654–1712", "After Oroonoko: Noble Africans in Europe", and "Opinions on Slavery"-these selections create a revealing context for Behn’s unusual story. "Historical Backgrounds" is an especially rich collection of seventeenth-and eighteenth-century documents about colonizers and slaves in the new world.
The editor supplies explanatory annotations and textual notes. This long-awaited Norton Critical Edition of Aphra Behn’s best-known and most influential work makes available the original 1688 text, the only text published in her lifetime. A deeply moving and tragic tale of love and loss, "Oroonoko" stands as one of the first great English novels and a classic of the canon of Western fiction.An alternate cover edition can be found here. Oroonoko is sentenced to death, but he stands stoically while his oppressors dismember him. Oroonoko kills Imoinda, but he is too deep in mourning to carry out their original plan. They discuss their options, and they realize that the only way to escape this world with honor is for Imoinda to die. The lovers plan to kill their oppressor, but Oroonoko is worried at how Imoinda will be treated if he is killed. Their request is denied, so Oroonoko organizes a slave revolt. Imoinda becomes pregnant, and the two petition to be allowed to return to their homeland. The two lovers are surprisingly reunited, and they continue their relationship. Yet he is later betrayed by a friend and is also sold into slavery. Oroonoko carries on with his life without Imoinda. Because of his overwhelming guilt, the king lies to Oroonoko and says that Imoinda has died. When he discovers that she has already lost her virginity, he secretly sells her as a slave. Yet the king also loves Imoinda, and commands that she become a part of his harem. The two young people fall deeply in love with each other and are secretly married. Published in 1688, it follows the tragic love story of Oroonoko and Imoinda, two Coromantin lovers.
"Oroonoko" by Aphra Behn is an important work of western literature.
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