Masques, Lies and Seduction: Aphra Behn’s Authorial Construction in Oroonoko

Abstract

Abstract: Aphra Behn’s construction of the paradoxical female writing authority in Oroonoko is closely related to the Restoration stage and the discourse of the early novel. This paradoxical nature is first revealed in the image of the masqued courtesan on the Restoration stage. This figure is objectified while still possessing the power of producing self-images. Then, within the pattern of the fact/fiction ambiguity of the early novel, Behn reveals the intimate relationship between fiction and the feminine. The novelist is not only a truth recorder but also a seducer and liar. The image of the masqued woman is a metaphor of the text’s mechanism of seduction. Also, as a woman/novelist, she is sentimental and lacks capacity in action. This, however, offers her a proper position of emotional participation and writing. Her inability to secure her footing in reality only instigates her ambition in writing. But in spite of her lyrical elements in the narrative, there is still reflection upon the texts’ fictionality.

Key words: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, female novelist, fiction

Ren Yuan. Masques, Lies and Seduction: Aphra Behn’s Authorial Construction in Oroonoko[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2019, 41(2): 99-113.

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