Rewriting the Quixotic Novel in Charlotte Lennox’sThe Female Quixote

Abstract

ABSTRACTCharlotte 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.