The Blazing World
About this audiobook
In 1666, as Sir Isaac Newton is developing differential calculus and Robert Hooke suggests that the force of gravity can be measured utilizing the motion of a pendulum, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, published The Description of A New World, Called the Blazing-World, better known as The Blazing World.
A young Lady is kidnapped by a visiting merchant who is enchanted with her. Through divine interference, the ship is beset by a storm and everyone but the Lady perishes. Blown up to the North Pole, she inadvertently passes into to another world, the Blazing World, where she is almost immediately made supreme ruler. As the Lady begins to exercise her will, Cavendish lays out her own utopia and discusses a wide range of scientific, political, social, and religious topics. But when a war breaks out in her home world, what will the Lady do with all power of the Blazing World behind her?
An adventure tale, a romance, and a work of proto-science fiction, this seventeenth-century utopian novel touches on alchemy, the occult, religion, and natural philosophy while exploring such issues as science, gender, and power.
About the author
Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623–1673) was an English aristocrat, a prolific writer, and a scientist. Her writing addressed a number of topics, including gender, power, manners, scientific method, and philosophy. Her utopian romance, The Blazing World, is one of the earliest examples of science fiction. She is singular in having published extensively in natural philosophy and early modern science.
Gabrielle de Cuir, award-winning narrator, has narrated over three hundred titles and specializes in fantasy, humor, and titles requiring extensive foreign language and accent skills. She was a cowinner of the Audie Award for best narration in 2011 and a three-time finalist for the Audie and has garnered six AudioFile Earphones Awards. Her “velvet touch” as an actor’s director has earned her a special place in the audiobook world as the foremost producer for bestselling authors and celebrities.
