Born in 1623, Lady Margaret Cavendish was an outspoken aristocrat who traveled in circles of scientific thinkers and broke ground on proto-feminism, natural philosophy (the 17th-century term for science), and social politics. As far as I am concerned, however, she should always be remembered as one of the first science fiction authors. In her lifetime, she published 20 books; mostly poetry and essays. However, in 1666, she also published The Description of a New World Called the Blazing World.
The Description of a New World Called the Blazing World
The frontispiece for A Description of a New World, Called: The Blazing World, published in 1666. (Photo: Public Domain via Atlas Obscura)
In her book, a woman is kidnapped by a lovesick merchant sailor, and forced to join him at sea. After a windstorm sends the ship north and kills the men, the woman walks through a portal at the North Pole into a new world: one with stars so bright, midnight could be mistaken for midday. A parallel universe where creatures are sentient, and worm-men, ape-men, fish-men, bird-men and lice-men populate the planet. They speak one language, they worship one god, and they have no wars. She becomes their Empress, and with her otherworldly subjects, she explores natural wonders and questions their observations using science.
The good Lady’s imagination helps her foretell a great few inventions and staples of science fiction. The people of the Blazing World, as her universe was called, came in colors ranging from green to scarlet, and had what we might now call alien technology. Cavendish writes that “though they had no knowledge of the Load-stone, or Needle or pendulous Watches,” Blazing World inhabitants were able to measure the depth of the sea from afar; a technology that wouldn’t be invented until nearly 250 years after the book came out.
As if that weren’t enough, Cavendish then describes a fictional, air-powered engine that moves golden, otherworldly ships, which she says “would draw in a great quantity of Air, and shoot forth Wind with a great force.” Yes, she anticipates a jet engine and goes on to describe the mechanics of this steampunk dream world in precise technical detail. All at once, in Cavendish’s world, the fleet of ships links together and forms a golden honeycomb on the sea to withstand a storm so that “no Wind nor Waves were able to separate them.”
In the middle of the story, the Empress is offered the soul of anyone living or dead as a trusted advisor. She rejects Plato and Aristotle, going meta instead: she inserts herself as a character called the Duchess in her own book, and befriends the Empress as “platonic friends.” The Duchess and Empress then learn to create mini-worlds of their own using their thoughts.
Just like all good science fiction, her book fleshes out ideas about the politics and scientific theories of her time. In her literary world, souls can inhabit different bodies, man can’t comprehend God, and souls are genderless, traveling as thoughts on “vehicles of the wind.”
Who was Lady Cavendish?
Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle. (Photo: Public Domain via Atlas Obscura)
Such an unusual book had to have come from an extraordinary person. Growing up during the English civil war, Cavendish had an unusual upbringing for a woman in the 17th century. Described as a “shy” child, she lived for years with other royals in exile. But upon her return to England as a Duchess, she gained entry to a scientific world that most women of her time could not access. Her husband, who was also involved in natural philosophy, supported her interests and connected her with Thomas Hobbes, Robert Boyle, and René Descartes.
Cavendish was recognized as the first female natural philosopher, or scientist, of her time. She was also the first woman to be invited to observe experiments at the new British Royal Society, a forum for scientists, in light of her contributions to natural philosophy in her poems and plays. (Unfortunately, she was the last woman for over a century: a ban on women was soon instituted, lasting until 1945.)
Despite her shyness and “melancholic episodes,” Cavendish challenged society’s view of women, which made her subject to ridicule. She wore her own inventive style of dress and was seen as too outspoken and bawdy for a true Lady. She not only believed in animal rights, she criticized values of her society, including its obsession with constant technological advancement. This, among other beliefs, earned her the nickname “Mad Madge.”
Proto-feminism and Natural Philosophy
None of her peer’s ridicule discouraged Lady Cavendish from participating in natural philosophy. She confidently wrote volumes, sending them to contemporaries in her field. In The Blazing World, written six years after the British Royal Society formed, Cavendish’s protagonists question popular beliefs about the universe and use reason to examine scientific theories. The two main characters are both women, known as the Empress and the Duchess.
Title age and frontispiece from Cavendish’s Grounds of Natural Philosophy. (Photo: Public Domain via Atlas Obscura)
As Cavendish’s critiques of science mingled in her own fictional universe, she imagined a place where women could rule and be respected. She was well aware of the limitations placed on her gender, and as one of the first science fiction authors and characters, she was up for the challenge. “I am not Covetous, but as Ambitious as ever any of my Sex was, is, or can be,” she writes.
The reader is meant to conclude that when the beliefs of others do them no good, they might as well create their own worlds. In this, as in so much more, The Blazing World is still relevant 350 years later.
You can find out more about this extraordinary Lady in a fascinating post by Natalie Zarrelli in Atlas Obscura.
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What a fascinating article on Lady Margaret Cavendish who was ahead of her time on science fiction and gender issues. The concept of a parallel universe that she used in her book seemed like it was taken out of modern times. Thank you for sharing.
A pleasure – and I couldn’t agree more 🙂
“a place where women could rule and be respected..”
Hmm, there was this one woman named Elizabeth who seemed to do okay in that department, some time before Lady Cavendish was born. Come to think of it, her half sister Mary was Queen even earlier.
And yet, Lady Cavendish was the first and last woman to be admitted to the British Royal Society for 200 years… Looks like it’s different for royalty 🙂
Yes, standards were (and still are) different for those of rank. It no doubt helped that Lady Cavendish was a Duchess.
I found a paper on the Royal Society’s site, written by Joan Mason on the 50-year anniversary of the first admission of female Fellows. It’s at https://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/49/1/125.
Some highlights:
Apparently the Royal Society never did formally ban women. Lady Cavendish visited the Society, but was not actually admitted. The assumption seems to have been that women were excluded under the royal charters that established the Society. In the 1870s some women took part in ‘conversaziones’, which sound similar to Lady Cavendish’s visit. In 1899 Hertha Ayrton even gave a demonstration of her own work. Still, no women were actually proposed for membership until 1902 (Ayrton again). In 1919 the Sex Disqualification Removal Act was passed by Parliament, so it couldn’t be said that any formal ban lasted any longer than that. But it took 26 more years until the first female Fellows were admitted.
Meanwhile, other organizations such as the Royal Entomological Society and the Zoological Society admitted women from the time of their founding, in the 1800s.
That is fascinating; many thanks for sharing! I’ll add it to the post 🙂
Amazing! I love to hear about dead authors who we’ve forgotten or overlooked. When we think of early science fiction we immediately think of HG Wells and Jules Verne. I just discovered Edward Page Mitchell who wrote one of the first time travel stories, before Wells’ The Time Machine. Lady Margaret sounds fascinating!
In that case, you’d love Lucian of Samosata. His book describing a rip to the moon and back, written in the 2nd century AD, pokes fun at popular tall travelling tales, hence its name: True History (my own book’s title, Honest Fibs, was a nod to the old master).
You can find out more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_History
and here:
https://publicdomainreview.org/2013/06/26/lucians-trips-to-the-moon/
Also, here are some more ancient texts that could be described as SF: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10432784/Is-this-the-first-ever-sci-fi-novel.html
Wow, that’s so interesting. Thanks. I will go and try to find more about her now. She sounds an epic lady.
Cheers
MTM
Epic indeed!
Fascinating share Nicholas. 🙂
Thanks! I thought so, too 🙂
🙂
I like her! 😀
Same here 🙂
Totally cool, Nicholas. Way ahead of her time and what an imagination. Thanks for sharing!
A pleasure! Thanks – as always – for reading 🙂
Nice to meet YOU, Margaret Cavendish. Thank you, Nicholas for introducing her. 🙂
The pleasure is all mine 🙂
WOW! I had never heard of her. Thanks for this.
A pleasure! Neither had I, and I thought she was worth a mention 🙂
Cool. Makes me wonder if science fiction is one of the oldest genres of fiction.
I guess it depends on whether you define Homer’s Odyssey as Fantasy or SF. All that talk of gods points to the former, but there are some cool weapons in there as well, so…
I’m never sure what to consider mythology. We see it as fantasy and fiction now, but it was historical and religious back then. Kind of like how future civilizations might look at a few of our tales.
How true. I often wonder what future historians will make of Superman – or any of the Marvel universe, for that matter. And don’t get me started on Buffy or Twilight.
Still, the first clearly SF work I’m aware of describes a trip to the moon and back. Written by Lucian of Samosata in the 2nd century AD, it pokes fun at popular tall travelling tales, hence its name: True History (my own book’s title, Honest Fibs, was a nod to the old master).
You can find out more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_History
and here:
https://publicdomainreview.org/2013/06/26/lucians-trips-to-the-moon/
Also, here are some more ancient texts that could be described as SF: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10432784/Is-this-the-first-ever-sci-fi-novel.html
That’s if the Mayans weren’t writing sci-fi and we’re mistaking it for them showing us their ‘history’. 😀 Movies are another thing that I wonder about. How many future generations will mistake 2001 or The Matrix for real stories.
We do tend to use more visual mediums though. That might reduce the level of confusion.
Or increase it, due to how realistic everything is. I’ll bet you anything that future conspiracy theorists will be discussing the “real” technology of the 21st century 😀
Unless they aren’t even human. We could wipe ourselves out and a new species will find our media. Some future being ends up stumbling onto the Internet and discovers that there was a global species with cities and technology. It is funny how sci-fi always has humans surviving into the far future when it looks like one global disaster could wipe us out with ease.
AI (the movie) springs to mind.
A literary trail-blazer of a popular genre. She deserves wider recognition indeed!
Best wishes, Pete.
Couldn’t agree more 🙂
What a fascinating woman – she was clearly ahead of her time and what an amazing imagination. I’ve always thought sci-fi a more modern genre, but clearly it has a much older history. Great post as always, Nicholas 🙂
Aw, thanks! She sounds like quite the character 🙂