• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.261-280
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• 2007

This paper attempts to examine how woman's role defined by the public discourse took issue with private desires of an individual woman in Tabitha Gilman Tenney's Female Quixotism (1801). Tenney borrows and transforms the ideas of quixotism and picaresque from Don Quixote, which involve an inherent paradox in the post-Revolutionary America. The Republican Ideology emphasized women's crucial role as guardians of family virtue and molders of republican citizens. Therefore, women were not allowed to travel outside of the domestic space as freely as a male picaro could do. In fact, the"adventures"depicted in the novel are constituted of a series of courtship in which Dorcasina, the heroine, unceasingly tries but fails to find a husband fit for her romantic idea about love and marriage formed by novel reading. However, the process shows that a variety of socially disadvantaged groups as well as women were excluded from the public space of the post-Revolutionary America. This half-a-century quest does not end with a conventional happy marriage, but Dorcasina finds herself a disillusioned old maid, resigned to a life of charity. Yet the ending exposes social contradictions inherent in early Republic of America, by showing how an individual woman's life was prescribed and limited by the dominant public discourse.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.22
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• pp.51-72
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• 2011

The economic decline coincided with the crooked political path of Spanish monarchy that has been on an almost permanent state of war. The Spanish empire was divided and consequently, general impoverishment spread throughout the whole country quickly. Nevertheless Spanish culture reached the climax, especially in the field of painting. Spanish paintings of 17th century are basically religious based on concept of Baroque, whose theme is usually the immaculate conception or mysterious figures of saints. Velaquez, Mrillo, and Ribera are the main painters who represented the trend of this time. Despite having fame as religious court painters, they painted subjects from low society such as beggars in rags, dwarves, jesters, or the poor child. They reflected an optimistic expression and an awe for human being in their paintings greatly. In this paper, we are dealing with three main representative painters of Baroque era whose theme was a picaresque character. This character was one of the axes that coexisted with royals and nobles in 17th century of Spain. The art works that are dealt in this paper serve as materials for historial values and through them we can observe the atmosphere of decline that dominated Spain of the time.