With the aim of examining the postcolonial applications of Aphra Behn's re-entry into the literary canon, the editor presents this edition as a collection representing the nexus of very specific articulations of literary, cultural, and political tropes produced by various writers and adapters from 1695 through 1999. The volume begins with a general introduction. It then presents seven 18th-century versions of the play and one poem, ending with 'Biyi Bandele's late 20th-century drama. All texts are supplemented by original paratextual commentary, if that is known, and prefaced by a brief editorial commentary setting out pertinent biographical, bibliographical, theatrical, and historical context not covered in the general introduction. The tradition of stage adaptations of Oroonoko, most of them keyed to Southerne's drama rather than to Behn's initial novella, clearly shows the responsiveness of this series to studies of authorship, gender, genre and theatricality, class, race, and, especially, the British response to the Atlantic slave trade, and, thus, to the enduring relevance of these plays in modern literary and historical scholarship.

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.