Publication
Naxos AudioBooks (2020)
Original publication date
1752
Collections
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Romance. HTML: The Female Quixote completely inverts the adventures of Don Quixote. While the latter mistook himself for the hero of a Romance, Arabella believes she is the fair maiden. She believes she can fell a hero with one look and that any number of lovers would be happy to suffer on her behalf..
User reviews
LibraryThing member elephant_issues
Arabella is the daughter of a reclusive nobleman who, cut off from the outside world, learns about society and social expectations by reading the romances and romantic histories in her deceased mother's library. Comic antics ensue when she is courted by a young man, who finds himself subjected to a
This is an extremely funny and accessible 18th-century novel that had me laughing out loud at several points. Inevitably, the joke of Arabella's skewed perceptions gets a little old over the course of a novel more than 300 pages long, but not enough to detract much from the enjoyment it provides.
Show More
series of baffling rules that seem perfectly natural to Arabella, but have the unfortunate side effect of making her look like a complete lunatic in the context of "real" society.This is an extremely funny and accessible 18th-century novel that had me laughing out loud at several points. Inevitably, the joke of Arabella's skewed perceptions gets a little old over the course of a novel more than 300 pages long, but not enough to detract much from the enjoyment it provides.
Show Less
LibraryThing member puglibrarian
I can't be the only person who didn't see this book as anti-novel reading! This is one of my favorite books ever and to me it makes a point about the lack of female education at the time (Hey, even the value we place on female education now!) and the way that women were often kept totally separate
It is hilarious how she gets so many things wrong, but it's even more interesting that she has the strength of personality to get people to go along with her. They might think she's loony but even her suitors start to learn to read her gestures and play along with how she wants her life to be. The end is pretty disappointing, but until then, Arabella does shape at least part of her own world, like the queens in the books she loves. It's pretty fantastic, really.
I love seeing the influences this book must have had on Northanger Abbey (I can't imagine it didn't) and even Emma, a bit, as well as some influence on the up and coming gothic genre. I'd give this book more stars if I could.
Show More
from 'real life'. Like children being moved from one parent to another (father to husband). Of course, since Arabella knows nothing of the world, and her father is not the involved parent of the year, she's going to latch onto the thing that gives her the most pleasure and a look into romantic relationships and adventure. It is hilarious how she gets so many things wrong, but it's even more interesting that she has the strength of personality to get people to go along with her. They might think she's loony but even her suitors start to learn to read her gestures and play along with how she wants her life to be. The end is pretty disappointing, but until then, Arabella does shape at least part of her own world, like the queens in the books she loves. It's pretty fantastic, really.
I love seeing the influences this book must have had on Northanger Abbey (I can't imagine it didn't) and even Emma, a bit, as well as some influence on the up and coming gothic genre. I'd give this book more stars if I could.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bhowell
This is a highly amusing and clever book, a clear jab at the inadequacy of female education in the authors time but it is hard going in places.
LibraryThing member amerynth
Charlotte Lennox's "The Female Quixote, or The Aventures of Arabella" is a somewhat amusing tale of a woman who lets her romantic notions rule the day with disastrous results.
The heroine of the novel, Arabella, has lived a reclusive life and has been fed a steady diet of romantic French novels,
I liked the book overall-- at times it felt a little tedious. It was hard to believe anyone would be interested Arabella because she was so completely idiotic at times. I found the book got more amusing as it went on (perhaps because I was finally getting used to the style it was written in.) Glad I read this one (though I liked Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" which has a similar premise a lot better.)
The heroine of the novel, Arabella, has lived a reclusive life and has been fed a steady diet of romantic French novels,
Show More
which she comes to believe are factual illustrations of love. When she comes of age to marry, she mistakenly believes that most men are out to steal her away and ravish her. Her ardent suitor Glanville is apparently the most patient man on the planet and willing to put up with this since Arabella is pretty.I liked the book overall-- at times it felt a little tedious. It was hard to believe anyone would be interested Arabella because she was so completely idiotic at times. I found the book got more amusing as it went on (perhaps because I was finally getting used to the style it was written in.) Glad I read this one (though I liked Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" which has a similar premise a lot better.)
Show Less
LibraryThing member japaul22
This novel was written in the 1750s and is a satire of Don Quixote. The main character, Arabella, is a beautiful, charming, wealthy woman who unfortunately grows up very isolated and therefore reads too many French historical romances about ancient Greece and Rome which she believes in completely.
Show More
This leads to many humorous situations as she is courted by her cousin who her father intends for her to marry. I really enjoyed the first third of the book, but after a while the humor started to be the same over and over and got a little old. All the men in the book think she's crazy but don't care because she's beautiful and wealthy. I think this is worth reading, especially as an example of women writing in the 1700s. It's genuinely funny and entertaining. It was also obviously an example to Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, a book I love. Show Less
Media reviews
Upon the whole, I do very earnestly recommend it, as a most extraordinary and most excellent Performance.
Language
Other editions
The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox (Paperback)