Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (16231673), until recently remembered more as a flamboyant eccentric than as a serious writer, was in fact the most prolific, thoughtprovoking, 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 Cavendishs 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 Cavendishs life and work, and a bibliography of critical essays. Also included are all of Cavendishs epistles To the Reader as well as Other Preliminary Matter from Playes...

Binding: Paperback;298 pages; Publisher: Hopkins Fulfillment Service; Classification: N/A; Weight: 560.89 g; Dimensions: N/A

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