Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) was one of the first prolific female science writers. As the author of approximately 14 scientific or quasi-scientific books, she helped to popularize some of the most important ideas of the scientific revolution,...

Margaret Cavendish was one of the first prolific female science writers. As the author of approximately 14 scientific or quasi-scientific books, she helped to popularize some of the most important ideas of the scientific revolution, including the...

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, first Duchess of Newcastle, remains one of the most remarkable authors of the mid seventeenth century. Praised by the influential philosophers and university faculty of her day, ridiculed by contemporary literati and later...

Cavendish, Margaret(1623?–1673) Margaret Cavendish was born into the Lucasses, a family of English gentry. She does not seem to have had an education that was in any way remarkable for a young woman of her time. Indeed, she reports that while...

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623 – 15 December 1673), was an English aristocrat and a prolific writer. Born Margaret Lucas, she was the youngest sister of prominent Royalists, Sir John Lucas and Sir Charles Lucas. She...

Anna Battigelli. Margaret Cavendish and the Exiles of the Mind. Lexington: UP Kentucky, 1998. xii + 180 pp. $32.00 (cloth). ANNA BATTIGELLI'S intellectual biography of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623?-73), focuses on her commitment to "the life of the mind." Battigelli...

The history of early modern political thought have indicated the importance of theories of contract obligation. The 17th century debates about these theories must be enriched to further understand its meanings. margaret Cavendish's short prose romance, 'The Contract,' is an example of such political...

In the following essay, Smith traces Cavendish's conflicting depictions of herself in her autobiography to the tension between the traditional ideal of feminine silence and Cavendish's desire to give voice to her own life-story.

In this essay, Sullivan compares Cavendish's Life of William Cavendish with Thomas Sprat's "Life of Cowley, " highlighting the influence of gender on the form and style of biographical writing. She asserts that Cavendish's use of extensive detail, heightened emotional pitch, and temporally sequenced narrative creates a human "life story " that contrasts with Sprat's objective analysis of his subject's contribution to society.

Below, Grant focuses on Cavendish's early works written during the years of her exile, emphasizing the broad range of Cavendish's literary output and tracing the source of her highly imaginative literary creations to her own life experiences and aspirations.