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The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays Margaret Cavendish

The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays By Margaret Cavendish

The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays by Margaret Cavendish


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Summary

A valuable collection from an extraordinary writer, "The Convent of Pleasureand Other Plays raises important issues about women and gender.

The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays Summary

The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays by Margaret Cavendish

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673), until recently remembered more as a flamboyant eccentric than as a serious writer, was in fact the most prolific, thought-provoking, and original woman writer of the Restoration. Cavendish is the author of many poems, short stories, biographies, memoirs, letters, philosophical and scientific works (including The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing World, the first work of science fiction by a woman), and nineteen plays. "The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays collects four of Cavendish's dramatic works that are among the most revealing of her attitudes toward marriage and her desire for fame. Loves Adventures (1662) centers on a woman succeeding in war and diplomacy by passing as a man. Similarly, the heroine of Bell in Campo (1662) rescues her husband at the head of an army of women in this tale of a marriage of near equals. The Convent of Pleasure (1668) proposes a separatist community of women and has received attention for its suggestion of lesbian sexuality. The Bridals (1662), a more typical restoration comedy satirizing marriage, rounds out the collection. Edited with notes and annotation by Anne Shaver, "The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays also contains a timeline, biography and bibliography of the Duchess, an appreciation of Cavendish's life and work, and a bibliography of critical essays. Also included are all of Cavendish's epistles To the Reader as well as Other Preliminary Matter from Playes (1662), and Cavendish's original preface to Plays Never Before Printed (1668). A valuable collection from an extraordinary writer, "The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays raises important issues about women and gender.

The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays Reviews

Her introductory material places its initial emphasis upon biographical narrative _ an invaluable context in which to understand Cavendish's work, and most especially her dramatic writing, which is obsessed by the cultural anxieties surrounding the female intellectual of high birth who seeks a more public identity. -- Andrew Hiscock Review of English Studies

About Margaret Cavendish

Anne Shaver is Lorena Woodrow Burke Professor of English at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Additional information

GOR005581569
9780801861000
0801861004
The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays by Margaret Cavendish
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Johns Hopkins University Press
1999-06-18
296
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays