The Invention of Don Quixote

Is it with a touch of irony that Simon Jenkins wrote his ode to the importance of Don Quixote in the Times today, following hard upon Bush's 2nd inaugural? Perhaps. In any case, it is an absolutely wonderful piece, and a fitting tribute to Cervantes and his Man from La Mancha.

Check out the column here. It reaches its greatest heights in the final paragraph:

Somehow I shall survive without Einstein. I can drive spaceship Earth without knowing the workings of the atom. But I cannot do without my icon. I raise my glass to the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance, Don Quixote of La Mancha, as he trots across the plain of life in search of self-fulfilment. He knew that reason would triumph, but he also knew that reason was not enough. Quixote’s epitaph ran: “It was his great good fortune to live a madman and die sane.” Amen to that.