Mad Madge
the extraordinary life of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, the first woman to live by her pen
by Katie Whitaker
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"For a seventeenth-century Englishwoman, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, did the unthinkable - she dared to publish and to live proudly as an writer. And despite the scandal her writing life caused, she eventually published twenty-three volumes, ranging from Poems and Fancies, the first book of English poetry published by a woman under her own name, to The Blazing World, the first work of science fiction by a woman.
But she ended up labeled "Mad Madge of Newcastle" by later generations who too easily accepted the disparaging opinions of her shocked critics, who had portrayed her as nothing more than a bizarre eccentric. Now in Mad Madge, Katie Whitaker rescues Margaret from this caricature, and gives us a complete picture as she really was - an imaginative, ambitious and pioneering woman."--BOOK JACKET.
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Subjects
British, English Authors, Women and literature, English Women authors, Biography, History, Newcastle, margaret cavendish, duchess of, 1624?-1674, Authors, biographyPeople
Margaret Cavendish Newcastle Duchess of (1623?-1673), Margaret Cavendish Newcastle Duchess of (1624?-1674)Places
Europe, Great BritainShowing 5 featured editions. View all 5 editions?
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Mad Madge: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, royalist, writer and romantic
2003, Chatto & Windus
in English
070116929X 9780701169299
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Mad Madge: The Extraordinary Life of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, the First Woman to Live by Her Pen
August 1, 2003, Basic Books
in English
0465091644 9780465091645
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5
Mad Madge: the extraordinary life of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, the first woman to live by her pen
2002, Basic Books
in English
046509161X 9780465091614
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Book Details
Published in
New York
Table of Contents
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 393-406) and index.
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Work Description
Margaret Cavendish's life as a writer and noblewoman unfolded against the backdrop of the 17th Century English Civil War and Restoration.
Pursuing the only career open to women of her class, she became a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Henrietta Maria. Exiled to Paris with the Queen, she met and married William Cavendish, Marquis of Newcastle. Once there, Margaret did something unthinkable for an Englishwoman in the 1600s: she became an author in her own right.
Margaret published twenty-three volumes in all, starting with Poems and Fancies, the first book of English poetry published by a woman under her own name. Among her better-known scientific and philosophical writing is also a science fiction novel, Blazing World, another indication she lived ahead of her time. Her critics were shocked, labeling her "Mad Madge of Newcastle" in an effort to taint her reputation for future generations.
Mad Madge is a satisfying, well-researched biography of a fascinating woman and a glimpse back in time to the cultural challenges of female writers.
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| January 26, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
| February 13, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | remove fake subjects |
| July 22, 2017 | Edited by Mek | adding subject: In library |
| June 17, 2015 | Edited by Sandra Powell | Added new cover |
| December 10, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |