bears: men, women, and children; strange language
foxes: wild-geese: satyrs: they can all understand each other, but can the Lady understand them?
- Emporer of the Blazing World (published 1666)
- html article on cavendish
- linked article access from BSU
- ships made of gold and leather?
- Emperor’s palace
- gates at every half mile
- like slave narrative and travel narrative: the Lady is perceived like a goddess, and she has learned their language by this point well enough to tell what they are saying
- precursor to Aphra Behn, Lady Montague, etc. telling details in comparison to what is familiar in Europe (England); orientalization of different culture
- list of men page 133
- description of the elements (wind, snow, etc) page 138-139
So far it seems as if Cavendish is relating the structure of the Blazing World while trying to explain the things that her contemporaries don’t understand. She is delving into science, nature, religion, politics, and architecture. It seems as if no subject is of limits to her critical eye, and no answer seems too outlandish for her to propose as her questions solution. Each group of experts exhibits the qualities that she thinks are necessary to understand their particular facet of technology. For example the bird-men are the nature/science guys. They talk about the wind and the snow, etc. So their animal characteristic seems to go with their human occupation. I am not sure if there is anything to that idea, but so far it seems to hold true. See how it unfolds.
Reason Breeds Insanity 