A 'more precise definition of the soul' from the flights of the soul in The Blazing World and Primero sueño

This study investigates Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World and Sor Juana's Primero sueño (First Dream) in relation to Elisabeth of Bohemia's inquiry about the soul-body union in her correspondence with René Descartes. Elisabeth's question was two-fold, epistemic as well as me...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Seventeenth century Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 819 - 836
Main Author Lee, Siyeon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Durham Routledge 02.09.2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
17th century
Cavendish, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-1673)
Elisabeth of Bohemia
Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680)
Epistolography
female body
Females
Fiction
Literary criticism
Margaret Cavendish
Questions
rational soul
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
vapours
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Summary:This study investigates Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World and Sor Juana's Primero sueño (First Dream) in relation to Elisabeth of Bohemia's inquiry about the soul-body union in her correspondence with René Descartes. Elisabeth's question was two-fold, epistemic as well as metaphysical, and the first aspect remains understudied. Her epistemic question is rendered in gendered terms, seeking a 'more precise' account of a female-bodied soul (like hers), allegedly more susceptible to fits of vapours and eager for philosophical meditations nonetheless. This study argues that Descartes's letters did not adequately address Elisabeth's epistemic question as such and proposes instead to turn to the aforementioned fictions for accounts of the female soul's pursuit of (self-)knowledge, by way of imaginary correspondence between the three early modern women on the rational soul in a female body.
ISSN:0268-117X
2050-4616
DOI:10.1080/0268117X.2024.2387007