In what way does this excerpt from Behn’s Oroonoko highlight the work’s position as an early novel: “I do not pretend, in giving you the history of this Royal Slave, to entertain my reader with adventures of a feigned hero, whose life and fortunes fancy may manage at the poet’s pleasure.”?
Explanation
The passage underscores the author's intention to present a truthful account rather than a fictional tale, which aligns with early novelistic efforts to claim realism over pure imagination.