Margaret Cavendish

The Blazing World Margaret Cavendish

The Blazing-World (or The Description of a New World Called The Blazing-World) is a 1666 work of prose fiction by the English writer Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle. The novel is a forerunner of science fiction and is a fanciful depiction of a satirical, utopian kingdom in another world that can be reached via the North Pole. It is the only known work of utopian fiction by a woman in the 17th century, as well as an example of what we now call 'proto-science fiction' - although it is also a romance, an adventure story, and even autobiography. The story starts when a young woman enters this other world, becomes the empress of a society composed of various species of talking animals, and organizes an invasion back into her world.