Margaret Cavendish and the Exiles of the Mind

• Published in: Bunyan studies no. 10; p. 97
• Main Author: Spargo, Tamsin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.2001
• Subjects: British & Irish literature; Bunyan, John (1628-1688); Cavendish, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-1673); English literature; Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679); Hooke, Robert (1635-1703); Moores, John
• ISSN: 0954-0970

In Battigelli's analysis, the fictional exploration of The Blazing World and the direct critique of Hobbes' philosophy in Philosophical Letters show Cavendish rejecting the Erastian solution of deferring to an absolute monarch, or any other reforming vision, in favour of a pessimistically conceived political quietism. The shabby treatment of her husband on their return to London in 1660 will certainly, as Battigelli argues, have done little to encourage Cavendish to re-engage with the world, and her post-Restoration scientific writings were presented as the result of a contemplative Neoplatonic stance rather than any sense of returning to the centre. The seriousness of the endeavour sometimes lends the book the tone of an 'authorised' biography that is skating over the awkward aspects of its subject's life, and I would certainly have like to have read more about each phase of Cavendish's life, but at the end of the book, I was convinced of the need to pay a different type of attention to Cavendish's writing, undoubtedly a main aim of the project.