{"product_id":"the-blazing-world-9780648595205","title":"The Blazing World","description":"\u003ch2\u003eThe Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePublished in 1666, \u003cem\u003eThe Blazing World\u003c\/em\u003e stands as one of the first Western works of Science Fiction. In its assertion that all animal flesh is made of rational matter (including that of the female body) Margaret Cavendish wrote the only 17th century text of its kind - a book of gendered natural philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCaught in frost at the North Pole, Cavendish tells the story of a woman who is saved by crossing over from our world, to a whole new Utopia. Amongst gems and stars she finds a city of half-human half-beast scientists. Worm-Men, Bear-Men, Bird-Men and Fish-Men welcome her to their land. Together they toil in their investigations, describing Nature afresh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eEarly Science Fiction and Natural Philosophy\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis groundbreaking work combines speculative fiction with philosophical inquiry, creating a narrative that questions the nature of consciousness and reason across species. Cavendish's vision of a parallel world populated by hybrid scientist-creatures serves as both entertainment and serious philosophical discourse on the nature of intelligence and matter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eProto-Environmental Themes and Technological Prophecy\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCavendish predicted motors, submarines and nautical machinery long before these technologies came to exist in the present. As more than just a work of fantastical invention, \u003cem\u003eThe Blazing World\u003c\/em\u003e is important for its portrayal of invention itself. Enlightenment technology is described here as a recourse to protect the world. All of it. The feeling and reasoning matter of all animals, minerals, trees and plants is significant for its proto-environmentalism and for its path-setting form: philosophy as poetry; science as poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eA Landmark in Feminist Literature\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis 17th century text stands alone in its treatment of female intellectual authority and bodily autonomy. The narrative centers a female protagonist who becomes empress of an alternate world, engaging directly with scientific inquiry and natural philosophy—domains typically closed to women in Cavendish's era.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Formling","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50493603709202,"sku":"9780648595205","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c41942a5-dc69-4cfd-9c72-4d474a4f6b18.jpg?v=1748527845","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-blazing-world-9780648595205","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}