November 2019 – “I leave the Reader to judge and compare ’em”: Computational Explorations of Aphra Behn’s Dramatic Dubia
Mel Evans for the SSEMWG Blog Aphra Behn and her literary works, as is often the case with pioneers, have been subject to extensive criticism and derogation. Accusations of plagiarism, salacious and bawdy content, and poor literary merit were directed at her theatrical, prose and poetic works throughout her lifetime, and subsequent criticism and popular opinion has often adopted a similar stance. More recently, Behn’s achievements have, of course, been increasingly recognised and celebrated as part of the endeavour to rehabilitate and reposition women’s writings in Anglophone literature; Virginia Woolf’s famous eulogy to Behn, as the woman to whom all…