Schenkel, Elmar
“G. K. Chesterton: The Return of Don Quixote”. In: Cervantes in the English Speaking World. (Estudios de literatura 96) Kassel 2005,
pp. 162-180.

G. K. Chesterton’s (1874-1936) novel The Return of Don Quixote (1927), like The Flying Inn (1914) or The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), belongs to his so-called “quixotic works” which all conduct a similar experiment by re-introducing the Middle Ages into the twentieth century. In this novel, the role of Don Quixote is given to more than one character just as there is more than one quest. Chesterton’s belief in distributism, a third way between the economic systems, is debated and linked to medieval thought, and industrial capitalism is judged by the modern Don Quixote. The quest for a reconstruction of society is accompanied by the quest for a particular red colour, another link to medieval culture. This paper attempts to show how Chesterton’s novel uses quixotic comedy to throw into relief the blind spots of modernity.