Margaret Cavendish’s Imaginative Reproductions

Abstract:In this article, I discuss Margaret Cavendish’s consideration of reproduction and birth across several texts, then focus on her imaginative vision for reproduction outside of the maternal body in her science fiction. In The Blazing World (1666), a material gum allows an aged body to be wholly rejuvenated, while in Grounds of Natural Philosophy (1656), fleshy beds offer external wombs for the same purpose, both over the course of nine months. Examples of similar reproduction abound in science fiction today, and as a progenitor of the genre, we find many such examples across Cavendish’s science fictional writings.