Abstract

CASTRO SANTANA, Anaclara. A Perpetual Stew of Theatrical Extravagance: Science in Aphra Behn’s The Emperor of the Moon. Acta poét [online]. 2023, vol.44, n.2, pp.45-65.  Epub Aug 21, 2023. ISSN 2448-735X.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.ap.2023.2/100x26s473.

Aphra Behn’s The Emperor of the Moon (1687) amuses its audiences with the domestic problems generated by an amateur naturalist who, convinced of the existence of intelligent life on the Moon, is determined to find consorts for his daughter and niece among its inhabitants, with a view to improving humanity. The play is an apposite illustration of its author’s vast knowledge and her scholarly ambitions. The article shows how, through an ingenious deployment of the conventions of popular performative genres, Behn creates a play whose amorphous structure reflects the fascinating (and perplexing) heterogeneity of the science of her contemporaries. It makes the case that Behn demonstrates her intelligence and suggests the relevance of her contributions to fields of knowledge that were increasingly perceived as more serious and thus more unsuitable to be addressed, sensibly and with sophistication, by women.

Keywords : Aphra Behn; Women in Science; Theatrical Farce; Restauration Comedy; Early Modern English Literature.

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