Episode Summary
Executive Summary: The transcript is a long-form Stuff You Missed in History Class episode about Aphra Behn: her likely origins, her possible role as a spy, her trip to Suriname, her uncertain politics on slavery, and her career as one of the first English women to make a living by writing. It also includes listener mail about the 1937 New London school explosion, focusing on a family connection and a question about whether the school had a basement.
Main Topics: Aphra Behn’s uncertain early life and origins (Priority: 5/5): The hosts explain how little is conclusively known about Behn’s birth, family, and education, noting that later biographers reconstruct her life from fragments and her own writings. England’s Civil Wars, Restoration, and Behn’s political context (Priority: 5/5): Behn’s life is placed against the upheavals of the English Civil Wars, Cromwell’s rule, and the Restoration, which shaped the opportunities and risks available to her. Suriname trip and the creation/interpretation of Orinoco (Priority: 5/5): The episode discusses Behn’s 1663 trip to Suriname, how it informed Orinoco, and the challenges of reading the work as either autobiographical or proto-abolitionist. Spy work in the Second Anglo-Dutch War (Priority: 5/5): The transcript details Behn’s espionage for Charles II’s government under the code name Astraea, her Antwerp mission, her dealings with William Scott and William Corney, and her financial and professional setbacks. Behn’s literary career and reputation as a pioneering woman writer (Priority: 5/5): After her spying career, Behn built a writing career as a playwright, poet, and novelist, insisting on control over her work and becoming one of the first women in English literature to earn a living from writing. Later reception, feminist recovery, and moral backlash (Priority: 4/5): The episode traces how Behn was condemned for licentiousness after her death, then revived in the 20th century as an important feminist literary figure by writers like Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. Listener mail on the New London school explosion and historical memory (Priority: 3/5): A listener shares a family connection to the New London explosion and asks about the school’s basement; the hosts discuss the ambiguity of survivor memory, terminology, and the difficulty of reconstructing old events.
Key Arguments: Aphra Behn’s life is unusually difficult to reconstruct because surviving documentation is sparse, and much of what is “known” comes from later biographers, inference, and readings of her fiction. Her connection to the Culpeppers likely improved her educational and social access, but her exact family background remains uncertain. Behn’s writings, especially Orinoco, may be sympathetic to enslaved people, but the text still reflects the racist assumptions of 17th-century English society; it is best described as at most proto-abolitionist. Her espionage mission in Antwerp appears to have been ineffective and financially damaging, showing both her precarious position and the government’s lack of support for her. Behn became significantly more successful as a writer than as a spy, and she was unusually deliberate about retaining rights to her plays and publishing them for income. Her work frequently explores gender, cross-dressing, and sexual ambiguity, which became signature themes across her plays, poetry, and fiction. Modern reassessment of Behn frames her as a groundbreaking woman writer, even though earlier critics dismissed her on moral grounds. The New London school explosion illustrates how collective memory can preserve details that remain historically uncertain or contradictory, such as the meaning of “basement.”
Data Points: Approximate birth year: c. 1640 - The hosts identify Aphra Behn’s likely birth period. Suriname trip year: 1663 - Behn traveled to Suriname in her early 20s. Return from Suriname: 1664 - She came back to England the following year. Second Anglo-Dutch War start date: March 4, 1665 - The war provided the backdrop for Behn’s spy work. Debtor’s prison return date: Spring 1667 - After her failed/fruitless espionage mission, she reportedly ended up in debtors’ prison. Theater debut date: September 20, 1670 - The Forced Marriage, or The Jealous Bridegroom opened on this date. Number of plays written: 19 - The hosts say Behn wrote 19 plays. Plays staged during lifetime: 17 - Most of her plays were performed while she was alive. Number of fiction works: 16 - The transcript states she penned 16 works of fiction. Age at death: About 50 - Behn died on April 16, 1689, roughly fifty years old. Death date: April 16, 1689 - Her date of death. English Civil Wars death toll in England: almost 200,000 - The hosts cite this as part of the upheaval of her childhood era. Interregnum years: 1649 to 1660 - Period between Charles I’s execution and Charles II’s restoration. Great Plague year: 1665 - Mentioned as one of the disasters affecting London during Behn’s adult life. Great Fire year: 1667 - London had recently been through the Great Fire when Behn restarted her life as a writer. New London explosion fatalities: about 300 - Mentioned in listener mail about the 1937 school explosion.
Pivotal Quotes: "probable first woman in English literature known to have made a living as a writer" — Narration/hosts: Describing Aphra Behn’s historical significance as a professional writer. "I think of a basement as a thing you can walk down to on stairs that has like a full Ceiling above your head" — Tracy B. Wilson: Discussing the ambiguity of the New London school structure in listener mail. "for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds" — Virginia Woolf (quoted in transcript): A key line cited in the discussion of Behn’s feminist legacy and later reception.
Implications: Listeners get a model of how historians handle thin evidence: cautiously, with multiple possible interpretations. The episode also shows how Behn’s legacy was reshaped from scandalous writer to feminist icon, while the listener mail segment highlights how memory can outlast certainty.