Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.0 AVERAGE
3.0 AVERAGE
Read for class. This is an extremely weird little book.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Blazing World is one of the weirdest books I have ever read. Cavendish’s philosophical utopia is another world inhabited by bear-men, bird-men, worm-men and more species, each with a particular role in a society defined by the number one. One language, one ruler, one religion. I loved it, it was unlike anything you’d expect to be written in 1666, and is also praised for being a science fiction written by a woman, though despite the gender of The Blazing World’s author and empress, the Utopia is expectedly flawed. Cavendish stages her ideal world as a place where women are exiled to the home, with no such position in society (notice how each species I mentioned is prefaced by ‘men’), in addition to a removal of religions aside from Christianity from her society. She suggests the world to be better without other faiths, and though I myself have no belief, I can recognise that a world with no such religious difference where Cavendish condemns alternate faiths cannot be a Utopia. She also self-inserts herself as a great figure of power within her Utopia, using much of it as a platform to share the results of her scientific experiments, many of which being ultimately proven wrong by our modern development. Aside from this, such results were amusing, the characters of the Utopia were charming, and I had an enjoyable time in Cavendish’s brilliant, if not flawed, Blazing World.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
historians will call them spiritual besties commingling in the body of the duchess’s husband
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
I read this because it is ostensibly considered one of the first sci Fi books ever written. The author is a really interesting woman and I enjoyed learning about her, but the book is a mess.
Read for the Literary Life Challenge 2021
18. An Other World Book
Not too long but for sure more of a milestone than an actual groundbreaking work, as it is more philosophical and speculative than aiming to bend conventions of a given genre. It does remind me of so-called early feminist texts like Christine de Pizan at times, as the worth of women's intellectual life and dignity is heavily implied, but Cavendish achieves this by making her Mary Sue into the queen of her Blazing World, where anthropomorphic animals yield to her intellectual curiosity.
18. An Other World Book
Not too long but for sure more of a milestone than an actual groundbreaking work, as it is more philosophical and speculative than aiming to bend conventions of a given genre. It does remind me of so-called early feminist texts like Christine de Pizan at times, as the worth of women's intellectual life and dignity is heavily implied, but Cavendish achieves this by making her Mary Sue into the queen of her Blazing World, where anthropomorphic animals yield to her intellectual curiosity.