Books by Margaret Cavendish

A young women is kidnapped and made Empress of The Blazing World. Taking root in this new community, she adapts to the culture and ways of the alien population, exploring the vast universe with their help.But when an invasion looms, she undertakes the role of a military leader. Will our protagonist follow in the footsteps of Earth’s Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar? And more importantly, can she conquer the land she once called home?Serving as the only known female work of utopian fiction in the 17th century, Margaret Cavendish’s quick witted and insightful novella weaves adventure, romance and autobiography in one impressive epic.Ideal for fans of Apple TV’s hit adaption of Isaac Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ series. Scare seekers will also admire 2021’s fantasy horror-thriller ‘The Blazing World’, inspired by Cavendish’s text. ‘The Blazing World’ is a must read for utopian fanatics who dare to question it all.Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, (1623-1673) was an English philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction writer and playwright. Spending most of the English Civil War in France, she wrote in her own name during a period when most female writers remained anonymous.Celebrated today as the first female writer of utopian and science fiction, her work spans topics of gender, power, scientific methods and philosophy. ‘The Blazing World’ remains as one of the earliest works of science fiction today.Challenging the contemporary belief that women were inferior to men, Cavendish advocated for women’s education and became the first woman to attend a meeting at the Royal Society of London.

The Blazing World is one of the most fascinating, unusual and astonishing pieces of literature in the English language. Written in 1666 by Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle, the story follows a young woman who is transported to a world of animal-people, becomes their empress, and eventually leads an invasion back into her own world, complete with bird-man bombardiers and submarine ships. The tale involves spirit possession, astral projection, the many-worlds theory, and an interdimensional otherworldly queer romance that is centuries ahead of its time. Featuring numerous full-page and spot illustrations, and housed in an elaborately die-cut and embossed slipcase, this is an heirloom edition designed to be a work of art in its own right. With an introduction by Brooke Bolander. 9x12", 138 pages.

"From the second edition, published in 1668, in London, by A. Maxwell."

Margaret Cavendish's 1668 edition of Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, presented here in a 2001 edition, holds a unique position in early modern philosophy. Cavendish rejects the Aristotelianism which was taught in the universities in the seventeenth century, and the picture of nature as a grand machine which was propounded by Hobbes, Descartes and members of the Royal Society of London, such as Boyle. She also rejects the views of nature which make reference to immaterial spirits. Instead she develops an original system of organicist materialism, and draws on the doctrines of ancient Stoicism to attack the tenets of seventeenth-century mechanical philosophy. Her treatise is a document of major importance in the history of women's contributions to philosophy and science.

The writings of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, are remarkable for their vivid depiction of the mores and mentality of 17th century England. Yet paradoxically, she was probably unique for her time in the extent to which she herself transcended the rigid categories of gender and class that defined most people's lives.

This major contribution to the series of Cambridge Texts includes the first ever modern edition of the Divers Orations of Margaret Cavendish, together with a new rendition of her classic imaginary voyage, A New World called the Blazing World. Susan James provides all of the usual student-friendly editorial features.

A valuable collection from an extraordinary writer, "The Convent of Pleasureand Other Plays raises important issues about women and gender.

Flamboyant, theatrical and ambitious, Margaret Cavendish was one of the seventeenth century's most striking figures: a woman who ventured into the male spheres of politics, science, philosophy and literature. The Blazing World is a highly original work: part Utopian fiction, part feminist text, it tells of a lady shipwrecked on the Blazing World where she is made Empress and uses her power to ensure that it is free of war, religious division and unfair sexual discrimination. This volume also includes The Contract, a romance in which love and law work harmoniously together, and Assaulted and Pursued Chastity, which explores the power and freedom a woman can achieve in the disguise of a man.