Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Oronoko, Ou Le Prince Négre. Imitation de L'Anglois, Nouvelle Dition, Revue & Corrige. Par M. de La Place by Aphra Behn

3 reviews

fieldofhats's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Read for British Literature.

This was one of the more entertaining and exciting texts I have read for my Brit Lit class, though I don’t feel comfortable giving it more than 2 stars. I think this may have been very progressive for the early 18th century, but it’s very racist in the modern sense, which is uncomfortable at the very least. Oroonoko is constantly praised for his western features and interests, and it’s implied that he’s only beautiful because of that. And, through a series of nonsensical contrivances, he is “forced” to kill his wife and then brutally torture himself in a fit of insanity, before he is eventually put to death. This was one of the worst endings I have ever read in a book, period. Aphra Behn was going for an honor-bound duty-or-death type of thing, but it didn’t work because it wasn’t necessary. He didn’t need to kill his wife (or himself, though that’s at least a common literary theme) to take revenge. One might say that this is just a product of its time and that this is how all premodern literature is, but I call bullshit on that. In the literary world Shakespeare, the King Arthur myths, The Canterbury Tales, etc., this was just plain bad.
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waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Its difficult to give this book a star rating. This was assigned to me for a college course that is focused on early British literature. At first, I appreciated the opportunity to read something from a female author and an early example of a traditional novel. However, as the story went on, the content became more and more gruesome, and my enthusiasm for the text vanished.

The story is a very graphic depiction of an enslaved person's life on a plantation in the 1680s. And you get a cross section of everything that comes with that. The last third is especially difficult to get through. From a purely academic perspective, it's a good representation of early white supremacy, colonialism, slavery, the slave trade, racism, bigotry, misogyny, etc. And all within just sixty pages.

Don't read this book if you don't have to.
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bvrealis's review against another edition

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informative tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

Oroonoko altissima rappresentazione letteraria della figura dell’himbo che afferra un’anguilla elettrica a mani nude senza motivo solo per dimostrare di poterlo fare e poi viene ricoverato d’urgenza quasi muore ma lui è felice di aver toccato l’anguilla — questa la mia importantissima analisi accademica del sottotesto 
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