Rewriting the Quixotic Novel in Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21400157 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jessica Kane (University of Michigan), J G Kane (University of Michigan, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 56-69 |
| Publication date | 2023-02-10 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Style (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0039-4238 • E-ISSN: 2374-6629 |
| Publisher | The Pennsylvania State University Press (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.5325/style.57.1.0056 |
| OpenAlex | W4323366288 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 11 |
Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote is a gender-bent version of Cervantes’s Don Quixote, and its protagonist Arabella believes the world is like her romance novels. While most critics see the novel as a triumph of reason over romance, this article argues that it is in fact a rewriting of the quixotic genre: rather than awakening to reason, Lennox’s quixote instead molds the world to her romantic expectations. Building on Jodi Wyett’s feminist reading of the text, this article uses both the methods and impact of Arabella’s “mimetic influence” (in Aaron Hanlon’s words) to demonstrate her narrative agency and ultimate success. By resisting genre norms, the novel also resists the social expectations those norms rely on. In Lennox’s hands, the quixotic genre becomes a demonstration of the power of idealistic fiction and the imaginative women who read it
Agency (philosophy) · Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Power (physics) · Reading (process) · Rewriting · Romance · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Literature: history, themes, analysis · Philosophy · Themes in Literature Analysis
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |