Abiographyoftheremarkable--andinhertimescandalous--seventeenth-centurywriterMargaretCavendish,whopioneeredthesciencefictionnovel.“MyambitionisnotonlytobeEmpress,butAuthoressofawholeworld.“--MargaretCavendishMargaretCavendish,thenLucas,wasbornin1623toanaristocraticfamily.In1644,asEnglanddescendedintocivilwar,shejoinedthecourtoftheformidableQueenHenriettaMariaatOxford.Withtherestofthecourtshewentintoself-imposedexileinFrance.Herfamily’swealthandlandswereforfeitedbyParliament.ItwasinFrancethatshemetherpartner,WilliamCavendish,MarquessofNewcastle-upon-Tyne,amarriagethatmadehertheDuchessofNewcastleandwouldremainattheheartofbothherlifeandcareer.Margaretwasapassionatewriter.Shewroteextensivelyongender,science,philosophy,andpublishedunderherownnameatatimewhenwomensimplydidnotdoso.HergreatestworkwasTheBlazingWorld,publishedin1666,autopianproto-novelthatisthoughttobeoneoftheearliestworksofsciencefictionthatbroughttogetherMargaret’stalentsinpoetry,philosophy,andscience.Yethersisalegacythathaslongdividedopinion,andhistoryhaslargelyforgottenher,anundeservedfateforabrilliant,courageousproto-feminist.InPureWit,FrancescaPeacockremediesthisomissionandshinesaspotlightonthefascinating,pioneering,yetoftencomplexandcontroversiallife,ofthemulti-facetedMargaretCavendish.
