Biographies of Margaret Cavendish

It is almost impossible for one to write an objective biography of Margaret Cavendish, without the author's opinion of Cavendish as a person and as a writer coloring the events of her life. Perry's older biography reflects outmoded perceptions of women writers, while the more recent contributions have a more respectful and feminist perspective.

Battigelli explores Cavendish's intellectual life history by placing it within social contexts, a difficult task due to her minimal and problematic social contacts. She argues Cavendish's historical significance based on the same characteristics that have caused most scholars to ignore her, such as her lack of method, embracing of contradictions, and her eccentricity.

This excellent biography written from a feminist perspective includes a chronology of 17th century women's history, a list of other 17th century women writers, a listing of 17th century primary sources, and a useful index. Jones complaint that none of Cavendish's works are in print, is now happily untrue.

This book contains the individual life stories of Margaret Cavendish, Aphra Behn, and Mary Rich. The feelings of 17th century women about their roles in life are almost impossible to study since only middle and upper class, literate women were able to record their thoughts on paper. The section on Margaret Cavendish covers her family and education, courtship and marriage, her "feminine critique of marriage," her vocation as a writer, and her life in exile.

Perry represents the traditional approach to Cavendish, disparaging the quality of her work while "valuing" its mere existence: "Cavendish is an engaging and unusual personality, whatever one may think of her as an authoress" (1). Perry examines her writing as a reflection on her character, and calls "the Life of William Cavendish" Margaret's most important single work.

Web Resources	Margaret Cavendish Critical Works