There are some intriguing and inspiring real-life creative women mentioned in Siri Hustvedt’s latest novel, The Blazing World, which is about a fictional artist, Harriet Burden, who believes that she does not receive the recognition her art deserves because she is a well-off, middle-aged woman. To remedy the situation, Burden employs three young, upcoming male artists to front her next three exhibitions. The project has some unexpected consequences. I reviewed the novel a few weeks ago.

Here are some of the amazing women who roam The Blazing World:

Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623–1673)
A scientist and writer who dared to publish under her own name at a time when this was not encouraged in women, Cavendish is the author of, among many other writings, the utopian romance The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World (1666). In its epilogue she refers to herself as Margaret I, the ruler of the philosophical world. It is one of the earliest pieces of science-fiction writing. Modern readers can turn to Sylvia Bowerbank’s and Sara Mendelson’s (eds.) Paper Bodies: A Margaret Cavendish Reader (2000) for a taste of the Empress’s work.

Alice Bradley Sheldon (1915 – 1987)
A ‘daughter’ of Cavendish, she was the woman hiding behind the pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr. She wrote feminist science-fiction which was seen as quite masculine until it was discovered a decade after her first publication that she was a middle-aged woman. She was a pioneer in many ways. Widely travelled and well-educated, she was promoted to major in the US Army Air Forces during World War II, ran a business, worked for the CIA, and had an annual literary award named after her pen name: The James Tiptree, Jr. Award. It is given to works of science fiction or fantasy “bold enough to contemplate shifts and changes in gender roles, a fundamental aspect of any society”. It was initiated in February 1991 by science fiction authors Pat Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler. For a biography of Sheldon/Tiptree see James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (2006).

Judy Chicago (1939 – )
The American artist who is responsible for the coinage of the term “feminist art” and whose last name is all her own (she dropped her father’s and her first husband’s names when they both died to become Chicago). In her multimedia artworks and performances she knows how to use her knitting needles as well as her welding torch and incorporates both in her work. In the late 70s, she founded Through the Flower, a non-profit organisation which aims to educate people about women’s achievements in the art world. She is the author of several books, among them one co-authored with Frances Borzello about Frida Kahlo and one on our feline friends, Kitty City: A Feline Book of Hours (2005). Click here for Chicago’s Illustrated Career History.

Sources: Wikipedia, Amazon, The James Tiptree, Jr. Award Homepage, Judy Chicago Homepage, Through the Flower Homepage

Interested in acquiring a copy of The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt? Please take part in my BOOK GIVEAWAY this month and stand a chance of having it (among others) sent to you. Good luck!