Abstract
Using Theodor Adorno's theory of the essay form as critique of ideology, this article reads Margaret Cavendish's The World's Olio with specific reference to her predecessors in the form, Montaigne and Bacon. Cavendish's articulation of contradictory perspectives in the same work has been explained as rhetorical play, a habit of arguing both sides of the question or a refusal of synthesis and conclusion. By contrast, this article suggests that the essay form's characteristic hybridity - at once authoritative and exploratory - enabled Cavendish to negotiate oppositional views that were inconsistent with her subject position as the devoted wife of an exiled royalist general.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-16 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Prose Studies |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1999 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Literature and Literary Theory
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The essay form as critique : Reading Cavendish's the world's olio through Montaigne and Bacon (and Adorno). / Suzuki, Mihoko.
In: Prose Studies, Vol. 22, No. 3, 1999, p. 1-16.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The essay form as critique
T2 - Reading Cavendish's the world's olio through Montaigne and Bacon (and Adorno)
AU - Suzuki, Mihoko
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - Using Theodor Adorno's theory of the essay form as critique of ideology, this article reads Margaret Cavendish's The World's Olio with specific reference to her predecessors in the form, Montaigne and Bacon. Cavendish's articulation of contradictory perspectives in the same work has been explained as rhetorical play, a habit of arguing both sides of the question or a refusal of synthesis and conclusion. By contrast, this article suggests that the essay form's characteristic hybridity - at once authoritative and exploratory - enabled Cavendish to negotiate oppositional views that were inconsistent with her subject position as the devoted wife of an exiled royalist general.
AB - Using Theodor Adorno's theory of the essay form as critique of ideology, this article reads Margaret Cavendish's The World's Olio with specific reference to her predecessors in the form, Montaigne and Bacon. Cavendish's articulation of contradictory perspectives in the same work has been explained as rhetorical play, a habit of arguing both sides of the question or a refusal of synthesis and conclusion. By contrast, this article suggests that the essay form's characteristic hybridity - at once authoritative and exploratory - enabled Cavendish to negotiate oppositional views that were inconsistent with her subject position as the devoted wife of an exiled royalist general.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=61149245583&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=61149245583&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01440359908586682
DO - 10.1080/01440359908586682
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:61149245583
VL - 22
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Prose Studies
JF - Prose Studies
SN - 0144-0357
IS - 3
ER -