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Fools Are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around the World
In this lively work, Beatrice K. Otto takes us on a journey around the world in search of one of the most colorful characters in history—the court jester. Though not always clad in cap and bells, these witty, quirky characters crop up everywhere, from the courts of ancient China and the Mogul emperors of India to those of medieval Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. With a wealth of anecdotes, jokes, quotations, epigraphs, and illustrations (including flip art), Otto brings to light little-known jesters, highlighting their humanizing influence on people with power and position and placing otherwise remote historical figures in a more idiosyncratic, intimate light.
Most of the work on the court jester has concentrated on Europe; Otto draws on previously untranslated classical Chinese writings and other sources to correct this bias and also looks at jesters in literature, mythology, and drama. Written with wit and humor, Fools Are Everywhere is the most comprehensive look at these roguish characters who risked their necks not only to mock and entertain but also to fulfill a deep and widespread human and social need.
Most of the work on the court jester has concentrated on Europe; Otto draws on previously untranslated classical Chinese writings and other sources to correct this bias and also looks at jesters in literature, mythology, and drama. Written with wit and humor, Fools Are Everywhere is the most comprehensive look at these roguish characters who risked their necks not only to mock and entertain but also to fulfill a deep and widespread human and social need.
420 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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535 people want to read
About the author
Beatrice K. Otto
2 books3 followersInspired by ancient biographies of Chinese court jesters, Beatrice's first book was Fools Are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around the World, which won the American Association of Publishers Award for Outstanding Book of the Year in its class.
She's always loved books and remembers leafing through them even before she could read. Some children's picture and story books, and vivid Time-Life photographic books.
In addition to reading and writing all she can, she is on a mission to highlight bright writing, creating a website to celebrate thousands of moving, striking or amusing quotations and fresh, original phrasing and metaphors, along with the books in which she found them: https://www.writingredux.com. Her reviews on Goodreads are all 5-star because she hasn't the patience to comment on those that don't hit her 'bestellar' standards.
She is now working on a series of adventure stories featuring a fool. This is a new experience as she hasn't written fiction since she was a child - fantastically liberating - you don't need compelling arguments and evidence, just an imagination roaming freely.
See also: https://beatriceotto.com
She's always loved books and remembers leafing through them even before she could read. Some children's picture and story books, and vivid Time-Life photographic books.
In addition to reading and writing all she can, she is on a mission to highlight bright writing, creating a website to celebrate thousands of moving, striking or amusing quotations and fresh, original phrasing and metaphors, along with the books in which she found them: https://www.writingredux.com. Her reviews on Goodreads are all 5-star because she hasn't the patience to comment on those that don't hit her 'bestellar' standards.
She is now working on a series of adventure stories featuring a fool. This is a new experience as she hasn't written fiction since she was a child - fantastically liberating - you don't need compelling arguments and evidence, just an imagination roaming freely.
See also: https://beatriceotto.com
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 16, 2024
Praise the fool!
Hoewel dit werk interessante opmerkingen en verhalen over hofnarren wereldwijd bevat, miste ik op bepaalde momenten wat meer context en een breder perspectief. In een poging te doen om de verschillende aspecten van de hofnar (waarheidsprekende/kritische functie, de verhouding met religie, de link met de poeët...), gaat Otto (volgens mij) voorbij aan de sociale, politieke en economische context waarin de nar zich bevindt. Niet dat dit per se noodzakelijk is om aan te tonen dat de nar een universeel fenomeen is, maar wel om beter te begrijpen waar de nar zoal leefde en inspiratie haalde (buiten de shenanigans van de koning).
Voor de rest lijkt me dit wel een goed boek om inzicht te krijgen in wat een nar concreet deed - en is het voor mij duidelijk dat deze figuur niet veel verschillen vertoont met hoe er vandaag met humor wordt omgegaan. Stand-up comedy, satire, cartoons, improvisatie hebben allemaal kenmerken die ook bij de nar spelen. Humor is een belangrijk middel, en iedereen die humor maakt, zou zich daarvan bewust moeten zijn. Niet kwetsen, maar in de absurditeit de waarheid laten schijnen - dat is volgens mij de belangrijkste verdienste van de nar.
Ik pleit voor een heropleving van de nar!
Hoewel dit werk interessante opmerkingen en verhalen over hofnarren wereldwijd bevat, miste ik op bepaalde momenten wat meer context en een breder perspectief. In een poging te doen om de verschillende aspecten van de hofnar (waarheidsprekende/kritische functie, de verhouding met religie, de link met de poeët...), gaat Otto (volgens mij) voorbij aan de sociale, politieke en economische context waarin de nar zich bevindt. Niet dat dit per se noodzakelijk is om aan te tonen dat de nar een universeel fenomeen is, maar wel om beter te begrijpen waar de nar zoal leefde en inspiratie haalde (buiten de shenanigans van de koning).
Voor de rest lijkt me dit wel een goed boek om inzicht te krijgen in wat een nar concreet deed - en is het voor mij duidelijk dat deze figuur niet veel verschillen vertoont met hoe er vandaag met humor wordt omgegaan. Stand-up comedy, satire, cartoons, improvisatie hebben allemaal kenmerken die ook bij de nar spelen. Humor is een belangrijk middel, en iedereen die humor maakt, zou zich daarvan bewust moeten zijn. Niet kwetsen, maar in de absurditeit de waarheid laten schijnen - dat is volgens mij de belangrijkste verdienste van de nar.
Ik pleit voor een heropleving van de nar!
February 9, 2016
Am reading this again (first time was about 10 years ago) because over the last few months, trickster figures kept popping up in books I was reading, shows I watched, websites I stumbled across while looking up information for a library patron, and on posters in store windows. This book gives a fascinating overview of tricksters in societies throughout history and around the world. Ironically, characters such as the medieval Yuletide's Lord of Misrule, the mythological Loki or Raven and even our own Wile E. Coyote may be crazy but they keep us sane. A culture that can't laugh at its own foibles is lost.
July 10, 2024
To sum up this book, I would say: Incredibly interesting, but overly ambitious in its scope.
I hate having to rate this so low. Partly because I was so excited to read it, partly because it's very well researched and clearly written with a lot of love for the topic. But it just didn't work for me.
I think the fault lies mostly in the scope Otto chooses to work within. It's basically any fools anywhere, in any court, in any country, at any time period. It's far, far too broad. Like, I get why she would want to do this; if you're arguing that fools and jesters are a universal thing, then you need to be able to show that. But, that leads to the reader being bombarded with examples.
It feels like for every point Otto discusses, we get numerous examples from different countries and time periods. And it gets overwhelming, and repetitive. And because you're not working within a certain time frame or certain geographical location, there is no context for these anecdotes. So every single one has to be introduced individually - often at length. The chapters tend to start off well, with Otto providing an argument or theme, and some analysis. Then it's just anecdote after anecdote after anecdote.
And I guess I had a bit of trouble believing the veracity of some of these anecdotes. This is something Otto addresses in the introduction, but she concludes that "many such anecdotes are perfectly convincing as history when taken in isolation. It is only the duplication that raises doubts" (as similar stories appear across time and place, attributed to different individuals). But to me, many of these read almost like parables, or some sort of fable or story. One story has a jester about to be beheaded by two people (why would you need two?) and he ducks at the last second, and they both decapitate each other instead...
But I don't want to just go on about the negatives. Otto has done some excellent work here. I've become quite interested in fools are jesters myself, so there was still plenty to enjoy here when it was more analysis-driven. It was interesting to see the freedom these men and women had, how often they were truly loved by those they served, and how they could intervene on behalf of someone of lesser status to the ruler. I also liked the discussion about how we can classify a jester or fool, and how they were distinct from tricksters, performers, and musicians - but could have those skills themselves.
And of course, some of the anecdotes were very entertaining. It was neat to read about the 'real' Tyll Eulenspiegel, who appears as Tyll Ulenspiegel in Daniel Kehlmann's Tyll - probably the best book I read last year. Definitely happy Kehlmann decided to re-work that character a little bit for the novel! And, Otto is certainly successful in showing that fools were universal - they appear all over the place, at different time periods, and yet generally function in a very similar way.
Truthfully I can't give it more than two stars because I was almost angry reading this at times. But there is a good book in here. It's just buried under anecdotes.
I hate having to rate this so low. Partly because I was so excited to read it, partly because it's very well researched and clearly written with a lot of love for the topic. But it just didn't work for me.
I think the fault lies mostly in the scope Otto chooses to work within. It's basically any fools anywhere, in any court, in any country, at any time period. It's far, far too broad. Like, I get why she would want to do this; if you're arguing that fools and jesters are a universal thing, then you need to be able to show that. But, that leads to the reader being bombarded with examples.
It feels like for every point Otto discusses, we get numerous examples from different countries and time periods. And it gets overwhelming, and repetitive. And because you're not working within a certain time frame or certain geographical location, there is no context for these anecdotes. So every single one has to be introduced individually - often at length. The chapters tend to start off well, with Otto providing an argument or theme, and some analysis. Then it's just anecdote after anecdote after anecdote.
And I guess I had a bit of trouble believing the veracity of some of these anecdotes. This is something Otto addresses in the introduction, but she concludes that "many such anecdotes are perfectly convincing as history when taken in isolation. It is only the duplication that raises doubts" (as similar stories appear across time and place, attributed to different individuals). But to me, many of these read almost like parables, or some sort of fable or story. One story has a jester about to be beheaded by two people (why would you need two?) and he ducks at the last second, and they both decapitate each other instead...
But I don't want to just go on about the negatives. Otto has done some excellent work here. I've become quite interested in fools are jesters myself, so there was still plenty to enjoy here when it was more analysis-driven. It was interesting to see the freedom these men and women had, how often they were truly loved by those they served, and how they could intervene on behalf of someone of lesser status to the ruler. I also liked the discussion about how we can classify a jester or fool, and how they were distinct from tricksters, performers, and musicians - but could have those skills themselves.
And of course, some of the anecdotes were very entertaining. It was neat to read about the 'real' Tyll Eulenspiegel, who appears as Tyll Ulenspiegel in Daniel Kehlmann's Tyll - probably the best book I read last year. Definitely happy Kehlmann decided to re-work that character a little bit for the novel! And, Otto is certainly successful in showing that fools were universal - they appear all over the place, at different time periods, and yet generally function in a very similar way.
Truthfully I can't give it more than two stars because I was almost angry reading this at times. But there is a good book in here. It's just buried under anecdotes.
January 8, 2010
As of February 7th I've only read about 50 pages of this book. It's about the history of the court jester around the world, not just in Europe. Because I am only interested (for now) in court jesters and fools in Spain, France, and Italy from the 14th - 17th centuries, only half the work is of much use to me.
March 14, 2020
A well researched book with an interesting topic! At the same time, It's quite unorganized and full of unnecessary details, which makes it hard to comprehend and enjoy.
February 13, 2024
i already know fools are everywhere. i feel one inside me.
February 7, 2025
This book simply doesn’t need to exist. It was expensive ($40 for a paperback) and is such a mess it might give you a brain aneurysm. Every other sentence you’re jumping centuries or parts of the world. No cohesiveness whatsoever. Could’ve probably cut half of the text out as well considering it’s direct quotes. Guess there’s a reason this is impossible to find in my local bookstores.
March 25, 2012
Fascinating history of jesters and their amazing ability to appear across the globe throughout history whenever a humor-deprived leader needed to find the funny.
January 23, 2018
Pretty fascinating history of Jesters from around the world.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews