{"product_id":"quantitative-literary-analysis-of-the-works-of-aphra-behn-words-of-passion-hardcover","title":"Quantitative Literary Analysis of the Works of Aphra Behn: Words of Passion - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eLaura L. Runge\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAphra Behn (1640-1689), a prolific and popular playwright, poet, novelist, and translator, has an extensive corpus of literature that plays a key role in literary history as the work of a female author. Based upon word counts, \u003cem\u003eQuantitative Literary Analysis of the Works of Aphra Behn\u003c\/em\u003e chronicles Behn's obsession with the mystery and power of love and early modern passions through her entire oeuvre. Love, for Behn, is an external power, sometimes figured as the boy god Cupid or an abstraction, that enters the body with pain and pleasure and leaves the victim searching for understanding. The book follows two threads of argument: one using quantitative measures to indicate passages for significant close reading of preferred language and the other focused upon her use of small words like \u003cem\u003ethou\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003esir\u003c\/em\u003e, or \u003cem\u003esaid\u003c\/em\u003e. Situating her writings in the conflicts of Early Modern discourses on the passions, the book demonstrates that Behn's language reveals generic patterns for representing love that include a warning about its potential to destroy the body and condemn the soul. Taken as a whole, Behn's literary production is an extraordinary examination of the early modern concept of love at a moment of change in the language and meaning of the passions.\u003c\/p\u003e Each chapter focuses on one type of writing: poetry, drama, and prose. Her poetry conjures love as an extremely powerful, disabling force, conveyed through the eyes, ears and hands, and acting on the heart and soul. The recipient of love's force is essentially passive except for the need to reflect and decide if the love is worthy or to regret the passion after abandonment. Language from the pastoral mode structures her love poetry; the shady greenery and responsive nature provide a context of ideal love in a golden age with the everlasting fulfilment of mutual desires or a suitably moody place to die. The physical progression of love remains the same in her drama: an external force entering the body with pain and sweet desire stimulating the power of reason to preserve honor and determine the quality of desire. The trail of betrayed lovers and broken vows in her comedies testifies to the prevailing force of love. In the dramatic context, love is unsurprisingly comic and active. Operating in the same way on the body, Behn's stage version of love is overblown, farcical and stagey. In her prose, the genre of writing most noted for her amatory style, Behn once again adopts the configuration of love as a powerful and mysterious external force operating on passive victims who respond in conversations with their hearts. Opposite to the succinct style of Behn's love poetry, love in her prose is characterized by amplitude and repetition. It shares with poetry, however, love's contradictory nature, and her love aphorisms have the balanced antithesis of her verse. Each chapter also features a unique comparative study that illustrates Behn in a specific context. The poetry chapter compares Behn's \u003cem\u003ePoems Upon Several Occasions\u003c\/em\u003e to a corpus of six contemporary poetry collections by Ephelia (1679), the Earl of Rochester (1680), Nahum Tate (1684), Anne Killigrew (1684), Edmund Waller, fifth edition, 1686, and Philomela or Elizabeth Singer Rowe (1696). The Drama comparison includes plays by Thomas Killigrew, William Davenant, John Dryden, Thomas Shadwell, George Etherege, Edward Ravenscroft, Thomas Durfey, Thomas Otway, Thomas Southerne, and Mary Pix. Behn's Fiction corpus is compared to \u003cem\u003eAretina\u003c\/em\u003e by George McKenzie (1660), \u003cem\u003eThe Blazing World\u003c\/em\u003e, by Margaret Cavendish (1668), \u003cem\u003eFive Love-Letters to a Cavalier\u003c\/em\u003e translated by Roger L'Estrange (1678), John Bunyan's \u003cem\u003eThe Pilgrim's Progress\u003c\/em\u003e (1678), \u003cem\u003eThe Princess of Cleves\u003c\/em\u003e by Madame de La Fayette (1679), Don Tomazo by Thomas Dangerfield (1680), \u003cem\u003eThe Royal Loves\u003c\/em\u003e, by Mademoiselle (Anne) Roche-Guihen (1680), \u003cem\u003eThe Martyrdom of Theodora and Didymus\u003c\/em\u003e by Roger Boyle (1687), \u003cem\u003eIncognita\u003c\/em\u003e by William Congreve (1692) and \u003cem\u003eThe Inhumane Cardinal\u003c\/em\u003e by Mary Pix (1696).\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLaura L. Runge is a professor of English at the University of South Florida. She specializes in women's writing of the long eighteenth century, digital humanities, and book history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 294\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.81 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 09, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42099659571335,"sku":"9781839982002","price":188.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/493966b4fdbc6e7951eb6ad4817673bd.webp?v=1732376412","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/quantitative-literary-analysis-of-the-works-of-aphra-behn-words-of-passion-hardcover","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}