Overview

"A biography of the remarkable--and in her time scandalous--seventeenth-century writer Margaret Cavendish, who pioneered the science fiction novel. ""My ambition is not only to be Empress, but Authoress of a whole world.""--Margaret Cavendish Margaret Cavendish, then Lucas, was born in 1623 to an aristocratic family. In 1644, as England descended into civil war, she joined the court of the formidable Queen Henrietta Maria at Oxford. With the rest of the court she went into self-imposed exile in France. Her family's wealth and lands were forfeited by Parliament. It was in France that she met her partner, William Cavendish, Marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a marriage that made her the Duchess of Newcastle and would remain at the heart of both her life and career. Margaret was a passionate writer. She wrote extensively on gender, science, philosophy, and published under her own name at a time when women simply did not do so. Her greatest work was The Blazing World, published in 1666, a utopian proto-novel that is thought to be one of the earliest works of science fiction that brought together Margaret's talents in poetry, philosophy, and science. Yet hers is a legacy that has long divided opinion, and history has largely forgotten her, an undeserved fate for a brilliant, courageous proto-feminist. In Pure Wit, Francesca Peacock remedies this omission and shines a spotlight on the fascinating, pioneering, yet often complex and controversial life, of the multi-faceted Margaret Cavendish."

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9781639366033

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Reviews

"""A fascinating book on a fascinating woman, who was not the crazy duchess of hostile legend, but a daring feminist pioneer.""--Penelope Corfield, historian, education consultant, and President of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies ""A stellar debut. Francesca Peacock is as bold, bright and witty as her subject. Margaret Cavendish sears through every page and so does her blazing world.""--Jessie Childs, award-winning author of The Siege of Loyalty House ""Fascinating.""--William Boyd, award-winning author of seventeen novels ""It's a gripping read, wonderfully researched and puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs. I loved it.""--Kate Mosse, internationally bestselling author of Labyrinth ""Margaret Cavendish's story is one crackling with passion, ambition and scandal, and Peacock's account does it full justice. Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating, this is a sensational debut.""--Alice Loxton, historian and lead presenter at History Hit TV ""This is historical biography as it should be written: intelligent and nuanced, witty and thoroughly riveting. Francesca Peacock not only writes beautifully but approaches the past with the perfect balance of empathy and detachment.""--Lucasta Miller, literary journalist and author of Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph"

"""Fascinating.""-- ""William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart"" ""It's a gripping read, wonderfully researched and puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs. I loved it."" -- ""Kate Mosse, New York Times bestselling author of Labyrinth"" ""This is historical biography as it should be written: intelligent and nuanced, witty and thoroughly riveting. Francesca Peacock not only writes beautifully but approaches the past with the perfect balance of empathy and detachment.""--Lucasta Miller, author of The Bronte Myth and Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph ""A fascinating book on a fascinating woman, who was not the crazy duchess of hostile legend, but a daring feminist pioneer.""--Penelope Corfield, historian, education consultant, and President of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies ""A stellar debut. Francesca Peacock is as bold, bright and witty as her subject. Margaret Cavendish sears through every page and so does her blazing world.""--Jessie Childs, award-winning author of The Siege of Loyalty House ""Margaret Cavendish's story is one crackling with passion, ambition and scandal, and Peacock's account does it full justice. Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating, this is a sensational debut.""--Alice Loxton, historian and lead presenter at History Hit TV"

"""A proto-feminist, science-fiction pioneer, and divisive public figure, Cavendish is endlessly fascinating, and Peacock's debut gives her the rigorous, in-depth treatment that she deserves.""--The Millions ""In 'Pure Wit, ' Francesca Peacock makes a fresh case for the writer Margaret Cavendish's place in the feminist canon. Peacock works hard to situate her subject alongside other iconoclasts. This is probably the first time Cavendish has been likened to David Bowie and bell hooks, and it would no doubt delight her."" --Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review ""Peacock is at her best explaining Cavendish's literary achievements. This extraordinary and contradictory woman--shy, reclusive, and a compulsive exhibitionist, dashing into print at every opportunity as a bulwark against mortality, has a far greater claim on our attention than Virginia Woolf believed. Three and a half centuries after her death at the age of fifty, the world is finally ready to stop being afraid of Margaret Cavendish."" --Ruth Scurr, The Wall Street Journal ""Journalist Peacock debuts with an excellent biography of 17th-century English author and 'proto-feminist' Margaret Cavendish. A nuanced look at the life of a complicated female trailblazer.""--Publishers Weekly, starred review ""Engaging portrait of a significant 17th-century cultural figure. Arts journalist Peacock makes an impressive book debut with a deeply researched biography of Margaret Lucas Cavendish (1623-1673), a poet, essayist, fiction writer, and playwright. A sensitive, nuanced biography of an idiosyncratic woman.""--Kirkus Reviews, starred review ""Fascinating.""-- ""William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart"" ""It's a gripping read, wonderfully researched and puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs. I loved it."" -- ""Kate Mosse, New York Times bestselling author of Labyrinth"" ""This is historical biography as it should be written: intelligent and nuanced, witty and thoroughly riveting. Francesca Peacock not only writes beautifully but approaches the past with the perfect balance of empathy and detachment.""--Lucasta Miller, author of The Bronte Myth and Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph ""A stellar debut. Francesca Peacock is as bold, bright and witty as her subject. Margaret Cavendish sears through every page and so does her blazing world.""--Jessie Childs, award-winning author of The Siege of Loyalty House ""Margaret Cavendish's story is one crackling with passion, ambition and scandal, and Peacock's account does it full justice. Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating, this is a sensational debut.""--Alice Loxton, historian and lead presenter at History Hit TV"

Author Information

Francesca Peacock is an author and arts journalist from London. She writes about books, art, and culture for The Telegraph, The Times, The Spectator, and Prospect, amongst other publications. Pure Wit is her first book.

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