A World of Disorderly Notions: Quixote and the Logic of Exceptionalism

233 Pages·2019·9.006 MB·English

by  Aaron R. Hanlon

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A World of disorderly NotioNs

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World
of
YLREDROSID

NotioNs
h
Quixote and the logic
of Exceptionalism
Aaron R. Hanlon
university of virginia press
Charlottesville and London
University of Virginia Press
© 2019 by the rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
All rights reserved
Printed in the United states of America on acid- free paper
First published 2019
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication data
Names: Hanlon, Aaron r. (Aaron raymond), 1982– author.
title: A world of disorderly notions : Quixote and the logic
of exceptionalism / Aaron r. Hanlon.
description: Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2019. |
includes bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: lCCN 2018044533 | isbN 9780813942162 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isbN 9780813942179 (ebook)
subjects: lCsH: English fiction—18th century—History and criticism—Theory, etc. |
Characters and characteristics in literature | American fiction—19th century—History
and criticism—Theory, etc. | Exceptionalism in literature. | Cervantes saavedra,
Miguel de, 1547–1616. don Quixote. | English fiction—spanish influences. |
American fiction—spanish influences.
Classification: lCC Pr858.C47 H36 2019 | ddC 823/.50927—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018044533
Cover art: From vol. 1 of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes (london: Cadell
& davies, 1818). Proof with etched letters, print by Francis Engleheart,
after robert smirke. (image © trustees of the british Museum)
For Nhi,
crosser of boisterous oceans

A world of disorderly notions, picked out of his books, crowded
into his imagination.
—Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

C o N t E N t s
introduction: tilting at Concepts 1
Part i: the Character of Quixotism
1. Quixotic Exceptionalism 13
2. Anatomy of Quixotism 25
3. Character and Front Matters 30
4. relational Quixotism 41
Part ii: the Character of Exceptionalism
5. Gulliver and English Exceptionalism 53
6. Underhill and American Exceptionalism 68
7. Adams, Farrago, and Civic Exceptionalism 86
8. Arabella, dorcasina, and domestic Exceptionalism 106
9. launcelot and Juridical Exceptionalism 128
10. Knickerbocker and reactionary Exceptionalism 142
11. Marauder and radical Exceptionalism 163
Coda: Quixotism, Phenomenology, Epistemology 181
Acknowledgments 189
Notes 193
Bibliography 207
Index 215