TAKING LIBERTIES: REVISITING BEHN'S LIBERTINISM

摘要

This essay casts new light on Behn's relation to the materialist philosophy of Lucretius and to the circle of wits around the Earl of Rochester, who were its chief professors. Behn was attracted to the powerful charm of the libertine voices of men like Rochester and Thomas Creech, the translator of Lucretius, yet was also well aware of the male violence inherent in their ethos and of the problematic consequences of libertinism for women. The essay analyses the use and meaning of the word a??charma?? in a variety of her poems and in The Rover (1677), showing how Behn substituted the bewitching attractiveness of the rake's voice by the rapture created by her verse, whose magic calls up the a??charmsa?? of both physical and poetic form. Like the involuntary and mechanical sexual attraction Lucretius's followers believed in, poetry, too, in its metrics and numbers, is an embodiment of Lucretian atomism, but, as an aesthetic pleasure, it is an acceptable alternative for women to the wayward and volatile sexual a??charmsa?? of the rakes. For Behn, lyrical poetry is a a??charma?? or talisman that creates a magical enchantment and will never fail or disappoint her.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true,"ui_click":true}; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09699082.2011.646861