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A review by wincher2031
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
5.0
A wonder of worldbuilding and a precursor to SF. Drawing comparison to Thomas More's Utopia, Margaret Cavendish's writing uses the setting of the discovery of another world to wax philosophical more than political. The Blazing World feels vastly ahead of its time, the English being often indistinguishable from writings of the mid 1800s as opposed to the 1600s.
The prose takes on an experimental (for the time) style, using both poetic and prose devices to explore religion, monarchy and the nature of spiritual and material matter and the balance between the two. The inhabitants of the Blazing World are hybrids of animal and man, each given professions based on their genetic presuppositions. This gives way for social commentary, including a lengthy discussion of the place of men and women in society. The description is incredibly rich, Cavendish creates vivid and original images of her created world, the geology is as imaginative as the characters. Here, in 1666, are the seeds which evolved over the centuries into staples of what is now known as classic SF. And not just SF but also meta fiction, for the Duchess herself is a character, referred to with humility (adverse to the wish fulfilment of other self-insert fiction) as being commissioned for a dialogue with the spirits of The Blazing World after the likes of ancient philosophers (Plato and Aristotle) and recent writers of the time (Descartes and Gallileo), highlighting where her self-proclaimed experimental philosophy differs from these writers.
This philosophy being that, when it comes to world building, one cannot rely too heavily on the theories of forerunners because these can just as often restrain ambition as lend to it through applying one's own philosophy.
Thus, Cavendish attempts building separate worlds, using Pythagoras' theorem, Epicuris' opinions and Descartes' rationalism respectively as their bases, but abandons them all in favour of her own invention (and humble admission of failure to fully grasp these ideas): a combination of sensitivity and rationalisation. Worlds must be made and dissolved, through experimentation, for a desired world to be arrived at.
It also serves as a cautionary tale, that if one's fidelity to one's own opinion, without pause to consider reason, is too high, this gives way to both a lack of moderation and unwillingness to better the world around oneself. Even if disagreement is reached at the end of a discussion, at least there has been a discussion and both sides can reach further understanding of each other, as embodied by the material and spiritual, the real world and the Blazing World. Through these metaphors, meta analogies and characters, Cavendish champions the ambition and achievements of the individual's own merit over group mentality.
The Blazing World is a pioneering piece of writing for many fields and genres and, overall, a trip that's well worth taking, it sets both the mind and imagination ablaze with wonderful imagery and complex ideas.
The prose takes on an experimental (for the time) style, using both poetic and prose devices to explore religion, monarchy and the nature of spiritual and material matter and the balance between the two. The inhabitants of the Blazing World are hybrids of animal and man, each given professions based on their genetic presuppositions. This gives way for social commentary, including a lengthy discussion of the place of men and women in society. The description is incredibly rich, Cavendish creates vivid and original images of her created world, the geology is as imaginative as the characters. Here, in 1666, are the seeds which evolved over the centuries into staples of what is now known as classic SF. And not just SF but also meta fiction, for the Duchess herself is a character, referred to with humility (adverse to the wish fulfilment of other self-insert fiction) as being commissioned for a dialogue with the spirits of The Blazing World after the likes of ancient philosophers (Plato and Aristotle) and recent writers of the time (Descartes and Gallileo), highlighting where her self-proclaimed experimental philosophy differs from these writers.
This philosophy being that, when it comes to world building, one cannot rely too heavily on the theories of forerunners because these can just as often restrain ambition as lend to it through applying one's own philosophy.
Thus, Cavendish attempts building separate worlds, using Pythagoras' theorem, Epicuris' opinions and Descartes' rationalism respectively as their bases, but abandons them all in favour of her own invention (and humble admission of failure to fully grasp these ideas): a combination of sensitivity and rationalisation. Worlds must be made and dissolved, through experimentation, for a desired world to be arrived at.
It also serves as a cautionary tale, that if one's fidelity to one's own opinion, without pause to consider reason, is too high, this gives way to both a lack of moderation and unwillingness to better the world around oneself. Even if disagreement is reached at the end of a discussion, at least there has been a discussion and both sides can reach further understanding of each other, as embodied by the material and spiritual, the real world and the Blazing World. Through these metaphors, meta analogies and characters, Cavendish champions the ambition and achievements of the individual's own merit over group mentality.
The Blazing World is a pioneering piece of writing for many fields and genres and, overall, a trip that's well worth taking, it sets both the mind and imagination ablaze with wonderful imagery and complex ideas.