Hallucination Of John Dramani Mahama NDC Administration Has Led The Country To Brink Of Disaster (1)  

I do not know how many of the readers of this column have read two articles which appeared separately, one in the DAILY GRAPHIC Wednesday, October 26, 2016 written by Auntie Elizabeth Ohene titled: “In search of good news” at page 10 and the other in DAILY GUIDE of Saturday, October 1, 2016 written by Uncle Cameron Duodu titled: “Beware, 'Generalissimo John Mahama! Both writers at one or the other in the history of this Country edited the DAILY GRAPHIC and suffered “impeachment” They all had to spend most of their useful professional lives in United Kingdom and both stringed for he authoritative BBC. So they two personalities have a wealth of experience which I will advise my readers not to just find time to read their columns but make every effort to read those two articles I have mentioned.

There are some of the readers of this column who undoubtedly have got tired with my references to Don Quixote. Don Quixote ( /ˌdɒn kiːˈhoʊti/ or /ˌdɒn ˈkwɪksoʊt/ ; Spanish: [doŋ kiˈxote] , formerly [doŋ kiˈʃote] ), fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (Spanish: El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha [el iŋxeˈnjoso iˈðalɣo ðoŋ kiˈxote ðe la ˈmantʃa] ), is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra . Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published, such as the Bokklubben World Library collection that cites Don Quixote as authors’ choice for the “best literary work ever written”.

The story follows the adventures of a hidalgo named Mr. Alonso Quixano who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry , undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world, under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza , as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthy wit in dealing with Don Quixote’s rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood . Don Quixote, in the first part of the book, does not see the world for what it is and prefers to imagine that he is living out a knightly story. Throughout the novel, Cervantes uses such literary techniques as realism , metatheatre , and intertextuality . It had a major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas ‘ The Three Musketeers (1844), Mark Twain ‘s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and Edmond Rostand ‘s Cyrano de Bergerac (1897), as well as the word “ quixotic “. Arthur Schopenhauer cited Don Quixote as one of the four greatest novels ever written, along with Tristram Shandy , La Nouvelle Héloïse and Wilhelm Meister .

I cannot vouch that both Autie Elizabeth Ohene and Uncle Cameron Duodu both read Don Quixote before writing their pieces.

As I sit in front of my computer, I have been suffering from a bout of malaria for the past three days. One thing I should not do when I get malaria is to sit in an air conditioned room. However, some “Salvation Army” duties have forced me during the last two days into air conditioned rooms. I meet people who are avid readers of this column and new converts. So I felt it would be unfair to them not to type something for their sake. So readers I should be forgiven for unusually short nature of the article. I hope God willing I will be in good health to come back fully. So long.

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By Kwame Gyasi