ABSTRACT
The appearance in 1752 of Charlotte Lennox's Female Quixote brought a new figure to the attention of the English reading public: the female literary Quixote. There are special difficulties involved in being a female Quixote in a society that limits a woman's access to mobility, autonomy, and self-determination. This chapter demonstrates the ways in which Lennox and other authors overcome these difficulties to create female Quixotes who become vehicles for fantasies of female power and importance. It examines the ways in which female power is redirected, corrected, or undercut by characters who attempt the heroines' seduction or reform. Both Quixotes use literary precedent as a mechanism to protect their illusions. Much of the pleasure of both books, indeed, comes from observing the ingenuity with which the protagonists sift and twist their literary sources in order to come up with an explanation that accommodates their romantic vision and prevents reality from obtruding itself upon their notice.
