A Glorious Fame
The Life of Margaret Cavendish,
Duchess of Newcastle 1623-1673
Bloomsbury 1988
Margaret Cavendish was the first English
woman to write specifically for publication
and to consider herself primarily
a writer. She cloaked her crippling shyness in
extravagant dress and an exotic
public persona. A feminist long before her time, she
believed in sexual equality, criticised
the role that society assigned to women and
even questioned the institution
of marriage. Although she, like virtually all women of
her time, had little formal education,
she wrote, with atrocious spelling, stories,
poems, essays, 'fancies’ and scientific
and philosophical treatises.
So controversial was her reputation
that when she visited London crowds lined the
streets to watch her pass. She was
a solitary, gifted and outlandish figure.
