The Creation of the Duchess's Imaginary World

The Blazing World

This flow traces how the Duchess of Newcastle turns dissatisfaction with material ambition into an imaginative act of sovereignty.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

An Unbounded Ambition An Unbounded Ambition from "The Blazing World". An Unbounded Ambition A Desire for Rule The Duchess of Newcastle confesses that she wants to become an Empress, a wish she cannot satisfy in the ordinary…

An Unbounded Ambition from "The Blazing World". An Unbounded Ambition A Desire for Rule The Duchess of Newcastle confesses that she wants to become an Empress, a wish she cannot satisfy in the ordinary…

An Unbounded Ambition A Desire for Rule The Duchess of Newcastle confesses that she wants to become an Empress, a wish she cannot satisfy in the ordinary political world. Counsel Reconsidered Immaterial Spirits suggest that she can create a world within her own mind rather than risk life in conquest.

Failed Philosophical Models Failed Philosophical Models from "The Blazing World". Failed Philosophical Models Borrowed Systems The Duchess tries several inherited accounts of the universe, but each model creates difficulties in motion…

Failed Philosophical Models from "The Blazing World". Failed Philosophical Models Borrowed Systems The Duchess tries several inherited accounts of the universe, but each model creates difficulties in motion…

Failed Philosophical Models Borrowed Systems The Duchess tries several inherited accounts of the universe, but each model creates difficulties in motion, order, or intelligibility. Creative Independence Her failures teach her that a ready-made philosophy cannot substitute for her own powers of invention.

A World of Her Own A World of Her Own from "The Blazing World". A World of Her Own Imaginative Construction The Duchess composes a world from rational, self-moving matter and finds it beautiful, varied, and well governed.

A World of Her Own from "The Blazing World". A World of Her Own Imaginative Construction The Duchess composes a world from rational, self-moving matter and finds it beautiful, varied, and well governed.

A World of Her Own Imaginative Construction The Duchess composes a world from rational, self-moving matter and finds it beautiful, varied, and well governed. Authorship as Power Creation gives her an authority unavailable through public office and makes imagination a genuine form of self-rule.

The Empress's Imitation The Empress's Imitation from "The Blazing World". The Empress's Imitation Shared Creation The Empress admires the Duchess's imaginative world and follows her example by creating another within her own mind.

The Empress's Imitation from "The Blazing World". The Empress's Imitation Shared Creation The Empress admires the Duchess's imaginative world and follows her example by creating another within her own mind.

The Empress's Imitation Shared Creation The Empress admires the Duchess's imaginative world and follows her example by creating another within her own mind. Sovereignty Multiplied Instead of competing for one material throne, the friends become rulers of separate inner worlds.

Worlds for Readers Worlds for Readers from "The Blazing World". Worlds for Readers An Invitation The Duchess presents imagined worlds as available to readers who would rather govern themselves than serve another's…

Worlds for Readers from "The Blazing World". Worlds for Readers An Invitation The Duchess presents imagined worlds as available to readers who would rather govern themselves than serve another's…

Worlds for Readers An Invitation The Duchess presents imagined worlds as available to readers who would rather govern themselves than serve another's invention. A Qualified Claim She also insists that her own creations remain hers, connecting imaginative freedom with respect for another creator's sovereignty.

During the Duchess's friendship with the Empress

At the beginning of her world-making

After she abandons the philosophers' patterns

After the Duchess presents her world at court

At the close of the book