ABSTRACT

Among early m odern women writers who have been “rediscov­ ered” in the last decade or so, Margaret Cavendish has attracted heightened critical attention, especially for the apparent contra­ dictions in her self-presentations as royalist and feminist, as soli­ tary genius and happy wife. In a now classic article on Cavendish, Catherine Gallagher has argued that “Toryism and feminism con­ verge because the ideology of absolute monarchy provides, in particular historical situations, a transition to an ideology of the absolute self.” 1 In examining Cavendish’s authorship practices, James Fitzmaurice has shown how she carefully constructed her authorial persona as one devoted at once to “fancy” and the “fam­ ily,” in order to secure the protection she needed in “a society that tolerated women writing but was deeply suspicious of women publishing.”2