The Utopian Nexus in Don Quixote

Professor Jehenson, well known for her work on pastoral literature, and Professor Dunn, a renowned Golden Age Hispanist, have joined forces. In The Utopian Nexus in Don Quixote, Dunn and Jehenson provide us with an encompassing overview of the theory, terminology, and use of utopian myths current in the century preceding Cervantes. In Don Quixote the monologue on the Golden Age (1.32) and Camacho's wedding (2.20) serve as the point of departure to examine how the ideology of utopian myth sustains the action in the two parts (1605 and 1615).

Dunn and Jehenson build a strong case in favor of their reading of the classic novel by alternating chapters on Don Quixote's chivalric utopia and Sancho's economic utopia through an understanding of socioeconomic realities at the end of the sixteenth century. Both Dunn and Jehenson have written articles about the important myths alluded to in this study. The authors survey the multiplicity of the ideals of abundance and virtuous frugality in the Renaissance. They combine Renaissance sources and twentieth-century theory, particularly Louis Marin, and recent criticism of Don Quixote. European-wide sources for literary, philosophical, juridical, and historical ideas form the backbone of their analysis of Don Quixote, where the events at the Duke's palace are pivotal to the fulfillment of both Sancho Panza's and Don Quixote's utopias. Chapter 7 is noteworthy in its discussion of legal theory and ethics in relation to Don Quixote's actions. The authors note the importance in part 2 of the protagonists' stay in Barcelona, where they are no longer free from the exigencies of the natural order and, consequently, the utopian space is debunked. The necessary extensive bibliography is present and integral to the arguments. Many primary sources are cited from secondary sources.

This study presents a new perspective of Cervantes's sources and idealism in the novel. Dunn and Jehenson offer a close reading of the problematic nature of utopian ideals presented to the characters of Cervantes's novels.