A very modern madman

By Jasper Rees

It’s a story of a mad old man who imagines himself to be a knight errant. On his quests he sees virgins in prostitutes and castles in roadside inns. His adventures have spawned an adjective that describes delusional idealism, typified by the activity of tilting one’s lance and charging at windmills one has mistaken for an army of giants.

For Milan Kundera, the modern era – “and with it the novel”, he adds – is born when Don Quixote rides forth on his nobbly nag Rocinante. “The Adventures of Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes was published in two parts, the first in 1605. By the time the second appeared a decade later, the title’s fame had already spread around Europe and into Spain’s colonies in the Americas. It has since become one of the most influential works in the entire canon of literature. Along with Homer’s “Iliad”, Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, “Don Quixote” is a book that begat multitudes.