ical universe, a fact that Cavendish was obliged to confront to he degree she failed to achieve the stature and prestige of literary fame that she so strongly sought. She seems to have been a self-absorbed, self-promotional, and highly ambitious writer who rather tirelessly engaged in the project of getting her books read and favorably reviewed by eminent men of letters. Extravagant of manner and dress, "Mad Madge," as she was called, was not much inclined toward egalitarianism as it might be conceived of in the modern period. However, this did not prevent her from casting her critical eye on her milieu with a view toward making an idiosyncratic case for transforming it into an ideal type.
The principal mechanism for this case was a work of fiction titled The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World, Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, the Duchess of Newcastle. The personal and literary ambition embedded into this original title of the publication is plain. However, it also tacitly suggests, at least in part, why
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