Aphra Behn 
Oroonoko, the Rover and Other Works 

When Prince Oroonoko s passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko s noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn s visit to Surinam, Oroonoko (1688) reflects the author s romantic view of Native Americans as simple, superior peoples in the first state of innocence, before men knew how to sin . The novel also reveals Behn s ambiguous attitude to African slavery while she favoured it as a means to strengthen England s power, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.