The Female Quixote
Penguin Classics
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
The Female Quixote
Buy for $23.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Donna Banya
-
Kristin Atherton - Introduction
-
By:
-
Charlotte Lennox
Brought to you by Penguin.
This Penguin Classic is performed by Donna Banya, who has appeared on stage in Fairview at the Young Vic and in Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet with the RSC. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Amanda Gilroy.
Beautiful and independent, Arabella has been brought up in rural seclusion by her widowed father. Devoted to reading French romances, the sheltered young woman imagines all sorts of misadventures that can befall a heroine such as herself. As she makes forays into fashionable society in Bath and London, many scrapes and mortifications ensue - all men seem like predators wishing to ravish her, she mistakes a cross-dressing prostitute for a distressed gentlewoman, and she risks her life by throwing herself into the Thames to avoid a potential seducer. Can Arabella be cured of her romantic delusions? An immediate success when it first appeared in 1752, The Female Quixote is a wonderfully high-spirited parody of the style of Cervantes, and a telling and comic depiction of eighteenth-century English society.
Listeners also enjoyed...
People who viewed this also viewed...
The Female Quixote is a witty, charming, and surprisingly modern satire that balances eloquent prose with sharp commentary on romance, gender, and societal expectations. Lennox's writing is graceful and intelligent, carrying the reader through Arabella’s delusions with a tone that is both affectionate and amusing.
The novel’s biggest shortcoming is its repetitiveness. Arabella’s romantic misunderstandings follow a similar pattern throughout, and at times it can feel like the same joke is being retold with slight variations. But even so, the humor holds up, and the consistency of her character provides a kind of rhythm that’s oddly satisfying once you settle into it.
What makes this novel shine is its underlying message—the dangers of confusing fantasy with reality—and the way Lennox crafts that message with both empathy and satire. Arabella is never mocked cruelly; instead, her imagination is treated with a kind of reverent absurdity, making her both ridiculous and lovable. And while the book critiques the unrealistic expectations set by romantic fiction, it does so with such a light and clever touch that it never feels heavy-handed.
Despite its repetitive structure, The Female Quixote is a rewarding read for those who appreciate elegant language, literary humor, and strong thematic resonance. It’s a novel that playfully deconstructs the romantic ideals it so beautifully imitates—and for that, it’s worth the read.
Fact or Fiction or Fact? The Female Quixote and Modern Escapism
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Female Quixote
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.