The Blazing World or a Woman’s Attempt to Escape from her Human Condition

Abstract

In Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition (1958), the author states that science is an expression of the human being’s desire to escape from their human condition. Since ‘science fiction’ has ‘science’ itself in its formation, throughout Arendt’s approach we may be able to think of this discipline through the lenses of her reflections on science. Throughout this conception, we will analyze Margaret Cavendish’s The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World (1666). Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673) was a British noblewoman who had the opportunity to receive a better education. She had written several texts, such as poems, philosophical essays, and short stories. The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World is precisely mixed of those genres. We aim to discuss the content of Cavendish’s text as one of the first attempts to create a science fiction book that might reflect the desire of a woman to escape her human condition.