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The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World, better known as The Blazing World, is a 1666 work of prose fiction by English writer Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle. It has been described as an early forerunner of science fiction.

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. This volume contains 3 of her works about the role of women.

"Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) is a fascinating figure who is getting increasing attention by historians of philosophy these days, and for good reason. . . . She's an interesting advocate of a vitalist tradition emphasizing the inherent activity of matter, as well as its inherent perceptive faculties. She's also the perfect character to open students (and their teachers) up to a different seventeenth century, and a different cast of philosophical characters. This is an ideal book to use in the classroom. The Philosophical Letters (1664) gives us Cavendish's view of what was interesting and important in the philosophical world at that moment, a view of philosophy as it was at the time by an engaged participant. There are few documents like it in the history of philosophy. Deborah Boyle's Introduction provides a very accessible summary of Cavendish's natural philosophy, as well as good introductions to the other figures that Cavendish discusses in the book. Boyle's annotations are not extensive, but they are a great help in guiding the student toward an informed reading of the texts." --Daniel Garber, Princeton University

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English aristocrat, philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction-writer, and playwright during the 17th century. In "The Blazing World", a woman from our world is kidnapped by a suitor on a boat, his plan goes awry, the boat's crew dies, and the woman is transported to another world as she rounds the Earth's pole. The world she is transported to is the eponymous and fantastical Blazing World. There she becomes empress of the Blazing World through marriage. The core plot unfolds in a space scarcely larger than its summary. The empress and Cavendish herself later interact, mediated by spirits. The women become fast friends, platonic lovers, and travel to each other's worlds. "The Blazing World" is a feminist work. It was written by a female author in the 17th century under her own name, to an audience of women, about women characters discussing topics of natural philosophy in a fantastical setting. The work is subversive, exploring Platonic love in scenes which feature without judgement homosexuality, androgyny and polyamory.

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.

First published in 1666, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle’s Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World is the first fictional portrayal of women and the new science. In Blazing World, Cavendish depicts her heroine, the Empress, in multiple roles. The Empress is leader of a dreamlike utopian world reachable through the North Pole, filled with talking animals and intelligent hybrid creatures. She establishes a royal society of scientists, initiates learned conferences, interrogates existing knowledge, and spends her days speculating on natural philosophy. She also forms a lively intellectual collaboration with the “Duchess of Newcastle,” a female character summoned from Earth. A companion volume to Cavendish’s important Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, Blazing World is the first science-fiction novel known to have been written and published by a woman, and represents a pioneering female scientific utopia. This Broadview Edition includes related historical materials on the new science and Cavendish’s role in the intellectual world of her time.

The Oxford English Literary History is the new century's definitive account of a rich and diverse literary heritage that stretches back for a millennium and more. This volume covers 1645 to 1714, which saw the rise of new media forms, and transformations in performance spaces, bookselling, and the concept of authorship.

"Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673) is a fascinating figure who is getting increasing attention by historians of philosophy these days, and for good reason. . . . She’s an interesting advocate of a vitalist tradition emphasizing the inherent activity of matter, as well as its inherent perceptive faculties. She’s also the perfect character to open students (and their teachers) up to a different seventeenth century, and a different cast of philosophical characters. This is an ideal book to use in the classroom. The Philosophical Letters (1664) gives us Cavendish’s view of what was interesting and important in the philosophical world at that moment, a view of philosophy as it was at the time by an engaged participant. There are few documents like it in the history of philosophy. Deborah Boyle’s Introduction provides a very accessible summary of Cavendish’s natural philosophy, as well as good introductions to the other figures that Cavendish discusses in the book. Boyle’s annotations are not extensive, but they are a great help in guiding the student toward an informed reading of the texts." —Daniel Garber, Princeton University

"Margaret Cavendish's philosophical work is at last taking its rightful place in the history of seventeenth-century thought, but her writings are so voluminous and wide-ranging that introducing her work to students has been difficult—at least until this volume came along. This carefully edited abridgment of Observations upon Experimental Philosophy will be indispensable for making Cavendish's fascinating ideas accessible to students. Marshall's Introduction provides a helpful overview of themes in Cavendish's natural philosophy, and the footnotes contain useful background information about some of the texts and philosophers that Cavendish mentions. The additional selections from Descartes, Hobbes, Boyle, and Hooke also help contextualize Cavendish's views." —Deborah Boyle, College of Charleston