Pohvala ludosti

by Erasmus, Darinka Nevenić-Grabovac (Translator)

The Praise of Folly - Erasmus - Translated by John Wilson In Praise of Folly, sometimes translated as In Praise of More, is an essay written in Latin in 1509 by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam and first printed in 1511. Inspired by Italian humanist Faustino Perisauli's De Triumpho Stultitiae, it is a satirical attack on superstitions and other traditions of European society as well as on the western Church. Erasmus revised and extended the work, which he originally wrote in the space of a week while sojourning with Sir Thomas More at More's estate in Bucklersbury. In Praise of Folly is considered one of the most notable works of the Renaissance and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Nonfiction, Religion, Literature, Essays, History

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1508

About the author

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536), known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian.

Erasmus was a classical scholar and wrote in a pure Latin style. Among humanists he enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works.

Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation, but while he was critical of the abuses within the Catholic Church and called for reform, he kept his distance from Luther and Melanchthon and continued to recognise the authority of the pope, emphasizing a middle way with a deep respect for traditional faith, piety and grace, rejecting Luther's emphasis on faith alone. Erasmus remained a member of the Roman Catholic Church all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church and its clerics' abuses from within. He also held to the Catholic doctrine of free will, which some Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination. His middle road approach disappointed and even angered scholars in both camps.

Erasmus died suddenly in Basel in 1536 while preparing to return to Brabant, and was buried in the Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city. A bronze statue of him was erected in his city of birth in 1622, replacing an earlier work in stone.

Reviews

[Roy Lotz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Praise of Brexit

Folly speaks:

About five hundred years ago, a man named Erasmus decided to publish a book praising me. Unbelievably, no one had this idea before, and none since. Nobody has the time or the inclination—nobody besides Erasmus, that is—to sing my praises, apparently. All the other gods get their encomiums, but not me.

Well, perhaps I should take the neglect as a compliment. After all, isn’t it the height of folly not to acknowledge the role that folly plays in human life? So is not the neglect a kind of compliment, albeit backhanded?

Nevertheless, some folks need some reminding, it seems, especially after what happened the other day. Oh, you know what I’m talking about: the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union. All I’m hearing left and right is how stupid, short-sighted, narrow-minded, and above all foolish it was to vote “leave.” Well, I can’t stand my name being dragged around in the dust any longer, so I’m taking this opportunity to peep up and remind you how much you owe me.

First, let’s follow in Erasmus’s footsteps and take a short trip around Europe. As you might already know, Erasmus may justly be called the first true “European,” since he was such a cosmopolitan fellow and traveled everywhere. Even now, the trans-European student-exchange program is named after Erasmus. You might already know that the most popular destination for the Erasmus program is sunny Spain, where lots of young Britons like to go and get a tan. (Guess they won't be coming anymore!)

Spain’s a lot different now from when Erasmus was alive. Back then, the Inquisition was in full swing and anybody who wanted to hold public office had to prove his “purity of blood,” which meant he didn’t have any Jewish or Muslims ancestors. Nowadays we don’t see that kind of behavior anymore in Spain; the Spaniards decided that it wasn’t such a good idea. But the folks in England apparently disagree: one UKIP candidate, Robert Blay, got suspended after saying his rival “isn’t British enough.” You see, my foolish devotees never disappear, but only migrate!

Yes indeed, Spain is truly different now. Let’s go to the Mediterranean coast to take a closer look. It's a veritable mini-England! We can find British pubs, British radio broadcasts, British supermarkets selling British products. We can see retired old Brits eating baked beans and drinking tea as they take in the southern sun. And we can meet some Brits who have lived here for over a decade, and who still can’t speak a word of Spanish! Yes, and between two pints these same Brits can tell you about how terrible is the EU and how there are too many immigrants in England. Oh, my wonderful followers!

As you might recall, it was around the time Erasmus wrote this book that England decided to leave another international organization: the Catholic Church. And the reasons were, I suppose, similar enough: “We don’t want some Italian Pope telling our king which wife he can or can’t behead!” Thomas More, one of Erasmus’s friends, and to whom this book is dedicated, disagreed with this, and he got beheaded along with the wives. Lots of people didn’t like this, but honestly I can’t say it was such a bad move. Executions are decisive, at least. Some people still agree with this strategy, like the guy who killed the politician Jo Cox. It worked for Henry VIII, so it can work for us!

Let’s fast forward a bit in time, to the glorious British Empire. By Jingo, it was big! It stretched across the whole world! Look at how these colonial officers stroll around Mumbai, Nairobi, Hong Kong, Sydney! You’ve got to admire them. They don’t ask anybody’s permission to go anywhere, they just walk right in with their guns and biscuits. Doesn’t take long to subdue the native population when you’ve got the Royal Navy on your side! Sure, this approach didn’t please everybody. But, hey, it was the high point of British history. Nowadays, they’re a bit more worried about foreign immigrants colonizing them than the reverse.

Now you see what a big role I’ve played throughout history. You see how many decisions and opinions I’ve inspired! Oh, but now I hear some people saying that the world would be better off without me. Sure, Folly is important, they say, but that doesn’t mean Folly is worth praising. Fair enough, I suppose. Yes, maybe I do cause a bit of mayhem in the world. And yes, maybe I take things too far. But consider this: For every bad decision I inspire, I also provide the remedy.

For without Folly, do you think people could overcome the sheer hypocrisy necessary for their decisions? Without me, do you think people could congratulate themselves for shooting their own foot? Without my soothing balm, do you think people could go to bed with a clean conscience after doing harm to the world? Do you think British people could simultaneously praise the heroic strength of their culture while worrying that a few thousand immigrants could totally destroy their way of life?

No! Of course not! And since happiness is the goal of life, and happiness is most easily achieved through folly, I think that, despite whatever decision I inspire, I still deserve a lot of praise.

So long live Erasmus! Long live Folly! And long live Little England!

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

When madness starts talking about humans, it has a lot to say. No one is spared, not even those who believe themselves to be the most learned, those theologians of yesteryear who held the unique interpretation of divine truth. Or these all-around specialists of today who bathe us with their empty speeches. Therefore, what is attractive in this little book, which tries not to take itself too seriously, is the portrayal of society's faults, particularly those of the Renaissance, in crisis and transition, much like our own. If very often the points are blunted by their targets' disappearance, we dream of a new praise of madness, which would show the ridiculousness of our time, but the book would undoubtedly take on far too essential dimensions. Madness is human; it has always been characteristic of man, and it gives life to existence by embellishing it, hiding shit under the carpet, and giving importance to what is not. Not but which encumbers our daily life. Madness is more necessary than wisdom, says Erasmus. So let's be crazy and believe it.

[knig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horatian style satire peppered with innumerable references to Greco-Roman lore which would take a lifetime to decipher: luckily for me, ten days into this Sisyphean task I discovered Phil’s site:

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartb...

Aint the internet great? The reason the above site is such a treasure is not simply because it spoonfeeds the laziest reader the needful (a word usage I picked up in Sri Lanka: love it), but because it resolves the numerous dilemmas a rookie like me has whilst googling the plethora (of nouns, verbs, peoples and places). Take for instance Nereus: Folly has it fools deem themselves as handsome as Nereus. OK then, Nereus……the old man of the sea, has 50 beautiful daughters, precursor to Poseidon, yada yada yada…..no reference anywhere, but anywhere, to this ‘ancien’ ever being young or handsome: he seems to be always oldish, really, whenever he crops up. Except, apparently, according to Homer in the Odyssey, as per Phil’s site above, whereby he is the handsomest of Greeks. (but also, I think, the old man of the sea. Go figure).

I spent half a morning I think, prior to falling over Phil’s site, trying to pinpoint the story of Theophrastus stopping dumb like an ass before an oration: the more I couldn’t reference it, the more ambitious I became: the things I discovered online, I tell you, but none relating to Theophrastus (translated as divine speaker), only to find it a hypocriphical in joke in the 16 c with no attributable source. Well har-de-har.

Apropos these ‘in jokes’: its bloody damn difficult to know when Erasmus is speaking in vain and when he means it. In referencing Theuth it becomes clear he is satirizing, but what about say Nestor? Is he a good or bad counseller? A wiseman or a fool? The jury is out, so how does Erasmus mean it?

And how does he get away with it all? Why wasn’t he hung drawn and quartered, really, not least for his ‘silenisization’(trademark: just invented this word). A small aside: did I not go barmy looing up the Sileni of Alcibiades only to find eventually that’s the title of another of Erasmus’s booklets. Erasmus is very cheeky like this: references himself at least twice in the text and promotes his other adages and what not. Back to Folly; there is definitely a meme of making the pope say a Sileni figure. So, why didn’t Pope Leo X have an apoplexy and smite and smote him? My own take on this is that Erasmus is so clever and manipulative at being Horatian rather than Juvenalian in his critique that quite, quite likely Pope Leo X probably never thought any of the references referred to him particularly: you know, it concerns some OTHER pope.

Name dropping aside, Folly reads like a dream: Erasmus is brilliantly funny and ironical. Supposedly following in the footsteps of Greek Satirist Lucian, whom, needless to say, I haven’t read yet, but now simply must.

[Henk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly funny and witty, full of hyperbole and inversion, like a literary carnival - 3.5 stars
The chief element of happiness is this: to want to be what you are.
Jan Steen - The World Upside Down:


A real renaissance work, full of allusions to ancient Greece and Rome, and a goddess who tells of her deeds for the world. Folly is definitely not modest and attest all of mankind’s achievements to herself. Hereby she puts herself squarely into everything that makes humans (sometimes infuriatingly so) human. Friendship, kindness, love; the characteristics Folly claims basically distinguish us from an AI.

To convince us she quotes a multitude of sayings (Erasmus his own Proverbs. from the Adagia of Erasums) and ancient literary works to strengthen her case and meanwhile takes on the philosophers, theologians, courtiers, sovereigns and cardinals of his age.

Section 59 shows the true focus of Folly and Erasmus: a scathing indictment of the pope and his greedy, warmongering corruption. Here the link to the world of Thomas More and Wolf Hall, embroiled in the Reformation is most clear.
To achieve this sometimes convoluted explanations of the Bible (which made me think of Foucault's Pendulum arkane explanation of Kabbalah phenomena) are used to support the case, maybe meant ironically by the author?

Section 66 has a very interesting standoff between materialists who search for success and material gains versus the true Christians, close to insanity in their efforts to put the soul and belief first.
It is very clear that Erasmus puts more emphasis and value at the substance of belief over the form of rituals, be it in grammar or in Christianity.

Also quite modernly the praise of (uncritical) self love to help us all deal with cruel rational reality feels kind of self help like.
Finally Erasmus foreshadows William Shakespeare:
And what is all this life but a kind of comedy, wherein men walk up and down in one another's disguises and act their respective parts, till the property-man brings them back to the attiring house.

All in all this makes In Praise of Folly a very interesting book of a famous Dutchman.

[Olga · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Praise of Folly' is a satirical essay in which the 'writer' (Folly) praises itself and despises wisdom and wise men. Thus Erasmus draws the readers' attention to and criticises the numerous human weaknesses flourishing in different spheres of social and professional life.
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'Wisdom makes men weak and apprehensive, and consequently you'll generality find the wise associated with poverty, hunger, and the reek of smoke, living neglected, inglorious, and disliked. Fools, on the other hand, are rolling in money and are put in charge of affairs of state; they flourish, in short, in every way.'
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'Life is nothing but one continued interlude of Folly.'
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'Briefly, no society, no association of people in this world can be happy or last long without my help; no people would put up with their prince, no master endure his servant, no maid her mistress, no teacher his pupil, no friend his friend, no wife her husband, no landlord his tenant, no soldier his drinking-buddy, no lodger his fellow-lodger -unless they were mistaken, both at the same time or turn and turn about, in each other.'
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'But I make such good use of human ignorance and imbecility, playing sometimes on forgetfulness of evils and other times on hope of good, sprinkling in a bit of pleasure here and there, that I bring mankind some relief from their accumulated woes.'

[Flo · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a shame that I wasn't able to connect with this book, since its themes are always fascinating. It depends on the execution, naturally. The praise turned into one awfully verbose torment. I imagined Folly talking to me at some café, an incessant chatter using some annoying little voice, like having Jiminy Cricket inside your ear prattling nonsense with tons of sugar in his system, and me, waiting for a coffee that never comes, watching people through the window as they walk by, alone with their thoughts amid the noise of the street and the silence of their own self-centeredness. I fill your minds with mirth, fancies, and jollities... , she said. And all I wanted was to inject some sanity into her bloodstream so she would shut the hell up.

It's a short work - some gems here and there - but I spent days and days picturing myself turning the last page and freeing myself from such pompous goddess. I read and already forgot most of it. I wasn't even awake to relish its supposedly satirical delights. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for this. But my levels of curiosity are not enough to try this some other time. I only chose to read it now since I'm planning on writing an article on the subject and thought Eramus' essay might be another source of inspiration. It wasn't, but I may use it for articles on monotony and how to lower expectations.


May 06, 18
* Actual rating: 2.5 stars.
** Later on my blog.

[None Ofyourbusiness Loves Israel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lady Folly herself, a goddess with a liquorish tongue and a crown of poppy flowers, half muse and half jester, begins by announcing that she, and not the solemn tribe of philosophers or priests, is the true benefactress of mankind. Born of Wealth and Youth (a genealogy that explains much), and suckled by Drunkenness and Ignorance, she strides onto the stage attended by her nymphs, Flattery, Forgetfulness, Laziness, Pleasure, Madness, and Self-Love, each one indispensable to human happiness.

From her pulpit, she gives the most cheerful defense of idiocy ever written. Without folly, she says, no one would marry, since a clear-eyed view of matrimony would send every lover running for the hills. Without folly, no babies would be born, no families would endure, and no politician would ever risk the ballot. "Marriage," she observes with saintly wickedness, "is the reward of my companion Madness and my handmaid Oblivion." Lovers, she insists, are sustained by her special magic, the ability to overlook one another's defects and confuse delusion for devotion.

She next surveys the lifespan of man as a kind of comic arc of foolishness. Infants are adored because they are foolish, youth is envied for its ignorance, and the old are tolerated only because she kindly restores them to second childhood. "They dote," she says approvingly, "but what is dotage but the recovery of youth?"

Folly then lights into the philosophers. Their brows are furrowed, their stomachs empty, and their prose unreadable. They believe themselves the torchbearers of reason, yet they live in darkness, puzzling over why the flea jumps farther than expected or whether a gnat's buzz signifies the soul. Socrates is mocked for his fatal wisdom, Aristotle for his endless definitions, and the Stoics for imagining that men can be happy without passion, "a kind of happiness fit for statues."

Nor does the clergy escape. The monks, she says, "pray by the hourglass and sin by the calendar." Theologians, those "architects of air," brawl over syllables while forgetting Christ's charity. Bishops chase benefices; popes wage holy wars with unholy zeal; preachers thunder against greed while fondling the collection plate. Folly's barbs are dipped in honey, but they sting all the same. She even mocks the superstitious faithful who think heaven can be bribed with candles and coins, then politely adds that she means no offense, for piety itself, rightly understood, is a sacred folly.

Her mockery extends to the arts of state. Kings and courtiers, she says, rule only by her permission. It is not wisdom but flattery that keeps a throne upright. The prince who listens to truth soon loses his head; the prince who listens to fools enjoys a long and prosperous reign. Even war, she notes, that most murderous of insanities, owes its success to brave stupidity. The wise man weighs the risks and stays home; the fool charges forward and wins the crown.

By degrees, Folly's laughter begins to sound almost devout. The world worships her without admitting it: lovers, scholars, soldiers, even saints owe her their triumphs. But in her final turn she grows solemn. There is, she says, a holier kind of folly still, the divine foolishness of faith. The apostles, mocked as madmen, were her truest disciples; the saints, despised as fools, were wiser than emperors. In a world of self-proclaimed sages, only the Christian who renounces worldly reason and embraces divine absurdity understands the truth.

Thus ends her oration: a masquerade that begins as a jest and concludes as theology.

The Praise of Folly pretends to be a joke but ends up diagnosing civilization. It is clever, lopsided, dazzlingly quotable, and at times as smug as the fools it mocks. Erasmus is a Renaissance stand-up comic who happens to have memorized the entire library of antiquity.

What I admire most is the audacity of the premise: to let Folly speak for herself. By doing so, Erasmus avoids sermonizing and turns moral critique into satire, theology into cabaret. The conceit allows him to say everything forbidden to say in earnest, about priests who crave gold, scholars who worship syllogisms, and princes who mistake adoration for virtue, while claiming to be merely joking. That trick still feels subversive.

He shows that human life depends on illusion. People call themselves wise, but their happiness, love, ambition, and faith all rely on self-deception. Without folly, we would be too lucid to live. That paradox, mocking foolishness while celebrating it, is what keeps the work from fossilizing into a moral tract.

Are its ideas still valid? The targets have changed clothes but not nature: scholars now tweet instead of disputing in Latin; bishops trade indulgences for influence; politicians still feed on flattery. Erasmus's vision of a society ruled by vanity and self-importance remains uncannily familiar. His plea for humility, disguised as a festival of nonsense, feels even more radical in an age that equates self-promotion with truth.

If anything, The Praise of Folly has grown sharper with time. Its laughter is still the kind that makes you uneasy, because you realize it is aimed at you too. Erasmus wrote it to amuse a friend, but Folly herself took possession of the quill, and five centuries later she is still laughing, unrepentant, and, alas, right.

[AiK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Прекрасная сатира, дарующая эстетическое удовольствие. Глупость вездесуща и окружает нас повсюду. В человеческом обществе всё полно глупости, всё делается дураками и среди дураков. Можно ли не согласиться: «Мне действительно захотелось подражать риторам нашего времени, которые считают себя уподобившимися богам, если им удается прослыть двуязычными Двуязычные — то есть знающие греческий и латинский языки, наподобие пиявок, и которые полагают верхом изящества пересыпать латинские речи греческими словечками, словно бубенцами, хотя бы это и было совсем некстати. Если же не хватает им заморской тарабарщины, они извлекают из полуистлевших грамот несколько устарелых речений, чтобы пустить пыль в глаза читателю. Кто понимает, тот тешится самодовольством, а кто не понимает, тот тем более дивится, чем менее понимает. Ибо нашей братии весьма приятно бывает восхищаться всем иноземным. А ежели среди невежественных слушателей и читателей попадутся люди самолюбивые, они смеются, рукоплещут и, на ослиный лад, помахивают ушами , дабы другие не сочли их несведущими. »? В каком офисе не так?

Или « Итак, либо нет никакой разницы между мудрецами и дураками, либо положение дураков не в пример выгоднее. Во-первых, их счастье, покоящееся на обмане или самообмане, достается им гораздо дешевле, а во-вторых, они могут разделить свое счастье с большинством других людей. »
Можно было бы больше цитат надёргать, но права на электронные книги, написанные автором 16 века, имеют авторские права – тоже глупость. А перепечатывать вручную не вижу смысла.
Есть и сексистские высказывания. И это тоже глупость, которая свойственна даже мудрецам. За это и снижена оценка, поскольку несмотря на революционность автора в критике религии и схоластики, до признания равноправия женщин и получения образованиями ими его век был еще очень далек.

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let Stupidity Reign
7 August 2016 - Amsterdam

Well, what better book to read when you are in the Netherlands than Erasmus' tributed to stupidity. Okay, I'm sure he is not being serious, though it is difficult to tell at times, particularly when he suggests that by being an idiot one does become healthy, wealthy (but not necessarily wise – actually, that would be quite the opposite). Actually, healthy is probably not necessarily something that comes either, but certainly wealth seems to come to a lot of people who simply don't seem to have all that many brains, and that a lot of people are running around with pieces of paper that seem to claim that they are actually really intelligent, but in reality are complete idiots. Actually, that is not at all surprising because my Dad, who was an academic, has actually confirmed that one thing that academics seem to lack is common sense – they may have a university degree, but they haven't made their way in the school of life where they learn that doing stupid things doesn't necessarily pay off.

Actually, what Erasmus was getting at was that in the Europe of his time it seemed to benefit one a lot more to be stupid than to actually be wise. For instance, there are a lot of philosophers out there that don't seem to have all that much to rub together – actually being an artist doesn't seem to do all that much for you, at least while you are alive: as people seem to suggest, the only famous poet is a dead poet (and I suspect that is also the case when it comes to other artists, unless of course you happen to be Justin Beiber, but then again I guess he goes to prove that Erasmus actually has a point).

Look, everybody could rile against bankers, lawyers, and the like, but the problem is that as long as there is money and trade they are going to be with us – which is probably why Lenin, rather unsuccessfully mind you, tried to do away with commerce. Actually, we need to also consider the world in which Erasmus was running around – it wasn't like today where the bankers, lawyers, and such, would actually be the rulers of the country – that was the job of the aristocrats (the Netherlands was still a couple of hundred years away from becoming a republic) – however they still managed to dig their fingers into anything and everything that they could (and if you wanted to see a prime example of stupidity then you need look no further than the aristocracy). It reminds me of a quote by Kurt Vonnegut – the job of a lawyer is to move money from one point to another and take some for themselves, though the reality is not a bit but as much as they can get away with (they'll take all of it if they can generate enough billing hours).

Yet this is the foolishness that Erasmus is poking fun at – the fact that people are so caught up with the acquisition of wealth that they don't actually see the beauty of the world around them. In fact as long as they can surround themselves in a bubble of niceness (such as the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore – and that is a classic example – the city itself is beautiful, but jump across the straights of Malacca you will see an industrial hell hole – externalising to the extreme), it doesn't matter what goes on outside of their circle of comfort as long as it doesn't disturb that circle. However this is foolishness to the extreme – they want their comfort but comfort doesn't necessarily equate with happiness. I have lived in a big house with a swimming pool, but as soon as all my friends left after a three day party I was all alone again, and it all fell apart as well (and it wasn't as if I had money either – I didn't – it was just that I managed to score a room in a really cool sharehouse, and when I everybody moved out I was left with the entire house to myself).

They say that there is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid people, and I am sure this was going through Erasmus' mind at the time. The thing that makes a person stupid is because they don't ask questions, and the reason that they don't ask questions is because they don't want to seem to be stupid, but by not wanting to appear stupid they make themselves stupid by not asking any questions. At other times the reason they don't ask questions is because they believe that they already know the answer, or if the answer is wrong that is irrelevant because as far as they are concerned if that is their answer then that is the correct answer. Have you ever tried to argue with a stupid person? If you have then you'll know what I mean (though, of course, because we don't accept their answer, and their answer is actually right, then it makes us the stupid person).

The conclusion of the book comes down to a criticism of the church. Like Martin Luther, Erasmus went to Rome and was horrified at what he saw. In fact he completely ruined his career by writing books such as Praise of Folly, however I will leave it at that because I am reading the next section of the book, and I will deal with criticism of then church therein.

[Justin Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

In general, I like to think that there is progress in the arts- that geniuses of a later age are likely to be broader and more engaging than geniuses of an earlier age because they have the example of earlier men and women from which to learn. Lately I've been having a hard time holding onto this belief; that I've finally got around to reading Praise of Folly has made it harder still. Erasmus combines a mildly annoying love of classical literature with an amazing ability to wield irony and social satire. Where are the men and women with this ability today, I ask? Maybe they're all off writing 'deep,' 'profound' novels about the terrifying depths of the human condition or some shit.

On the other hand, PoF has also given me a way to hold onto my knee-jerk modernist/progressive tendencies, because while novelists today are forced, by economics, MFA programs and low expectations, to write guff, Erasmus' audience was Thomas More. The problem, I now see, is not that literature isn't progressing; it's that the readership of literature is regressing. Conveniently, since I teach literature, this gives me a full heart and clear eyes: *I* must *force* the world's readers to advance so that they can once again/for the first time read books this hilariously coruscating and intelligent. To the barricades, Komrad!

In that spirit, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get better at being a person; just trying to keep track of what Erasmus 'really' means (so Erasmus writes foolishly about the foolishness of St Paul, who advises foolishness...) will raise your intelligence; if you succeed, you're a better woman than I.

As for this edition- I think the annotator makes a bit too much of the 'difficulties' involved in distinguishing between Folly's 'unironic' praise of simple Chrisianity, and her ironic praise of intricate theology. The difference is quite clear: the former *know* that and how they are foolish, and in so doing become genuinely wise; the latter don't know how stupid they're being, and so for all their knowledge, are truly fools. Also, what sort of a world do we live in that needs to annotate Folly's hatred of merchants with "For Erasmus the greed and self-interest of merchants was socially counter-productive." For *everyone* except a few nutbag Randians the greed and self-interest of merchants is socially counter-productive. Mercantile activity might not be bad in itself; greedy and self-interested mercantile activity not only harms people, but, (horror of horrors!!!) distorts the market.

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"Nothing is so trivial as treating serious subjects in a trivial manner; and similarly, nothing is more entertaining than treating trivialities in such a way as to make it clear that you are doing anything but trifle with them." (6-7)

"The old man loves his old woman as the boy loves his girl. This happens everywhere and meets with smiles, but nevertheless it's the sort of absurdity which is the binding force in society." (34)

"What was it which recalled the Roman mob to harmony in teh state when it was plotting violence - a philosopher's speech? Not a bit of it. It was a silly, childish fable made up about hte belly and other parts of the body." (40)

"It's a true sign of prudence... to be willing to overlook things along with the rest of the world." (45)

"What's the harm in the whole audience hissing you if you clap yourself?" (49)

"Among all the votive offerings you see covering the walls of certain churches... have you ever seen one put up for an escape from folly or for the slightest gain in wisdom?" (65)

"The saint will protect you if you try to imitate his life." (66)

"They're quite wrong if they think man's happiness depends on actual facts; it depends on his opinions... real facts often take a lot of trouble to acquire... an opinion, on the other hand, is very easily formed, and it is equally conducive to happiness, or even more so." (70-1)

"The funniest thing of all is when there's an exchange of compliments and appreciation, a mutual back-scratching." (79)

"They insist that it detracts from the grandeur of sacred writing if they're obliged to obey the rules of grammar. It seems a most peculiar prerogative of theologians, to be the only people permitted to speak ungrammatically; however, they share this privilege with a lot of working men." (95)

"Picture the prince, such as some of them are today: a man ignorant of the law, well nigh an enemy to his people's advantage while intent on his personal convenience, a dedicated voluptuary, a hater of learning, freedom and truth, without a thought for the interest of his country, and measuring everything in terms of his own profit and desires." (105)

"As the wise man despises money, it takes good care to keep out of his way." (114)

"I'm a man who despises no one but himself and wants nothing so much as to be at peace with the world." (162)

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, before I read this, I imagined it was satire.

I couldn't have been more wrong! Indeed, after listening to Dame Folly, goddess extraordinaire, I think I will convert myself wholeheartedly to her teachings.

There has never been a more persuasive tract in literature. Hide thy wisdom, folks! There is no greater treasure than to proclaim just how much folly you possess!


It's especially good for churchmen and writers. The former generally do not know they are being made fun of and the latter can derive a sort of sick satisfaction that they, more than any other breed of fools, exemplify the teachings of Dame Folly.

For who else could go about the rest of their lives putting words down for nothing more than faint praise, outright scorn, and little to no money for their extensive efforts?

Exactly.

:)

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erasmus' Folly

I received the Folio Society edition of Erasmus' "In Praise of Folly" some time ago as a gift which gave me the opportunity to reread the work after a first reading many years ago. The Folio Society edition is lavishly put together in a slipcase, with large print, on quality paper, and with beautiful color illustrations and made a lovely gift. For reading purposes, however, this Penguin edition will do just as well. With the exception of the artwork, it includes the same material as the folio edition -- the introductions, translations, notes, and Erasmus' "Letter to Martin Van Dorp". "In Praise of Folly" rewards reading and rereading.

Erasmus (1466 - 1536) wrote the book in 1509 while he was recovering from an illness and revised and expanded the work some years later. He dedicated the work to his friend and fellow-scholar Sir Thomas Moore. The book was translated from the Latin for this edition by Betty Radice (1912 -- 1985) who tutored in philosophy, classics, and English before she became joint editor of Penguin Classics in 1964.

"In Praise of Folly" can be read as a work addressing issues of its time in the Renaissance and Reformation, but the work's significance goes beyond the events of the day. It is a delight to read and still has much to teach.

The work is a satire and a long speech delivered by Folly, the illegitimate daughter of avarice and freshness, in praise of herself and of her pervasive influence on human life. At first, Folly is a satirical figure and the reader and the author aren't meant to like her much. She points out the endless lust, greed, and self-aggrandizement committed under her influence as opposed to the use of reason. Folly talks about the power of sexuality and money-making which are her children. There are sharp, incisive portrayals of in influence of emotion and folly throughout human life from the cradle to the grave. Folly bitingly satirizes professions and nations for their pompousness and partiality to themselves. The book still packs a sting. For example, here is Folly's characterization of my former profession of lawyer.

"Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes."

As Folly proceeds with her speech, she turns gradually to political and religious leaders and academics. The satire becomes more biting as Folly criticizes the ignorance, violence, and greed, and bigotry that she finds in much of the Church and secular leadership of the time. Folly criticizes as well scholastic Aristotelianism and what she sees as its tendency to quibble over minutiae and to ignore the nature of Christianity and the religious life. This portion of the book resulted in a great deal of controversy during Erasmus' lifetime and beyond.

Finally, in the last several pages of the book, Erasmus appears to reverse himself. Instead of criticizing and satirizing the impact of folly on human life, Erasmus seems to in fact praise folly's influence. He alludes to Scripture and to Plato to discuss who wisdom is found in folly and even madness, by which he seems to mean simplicity, humility, and faith, rather than in puffing up one's own self and one's own understanding. With all the learning of the book, Erasmus wants his readers and his Church to return to what he sees as the simplicity of the Gospel and the hope for eternal life. That is the ultimate lesson his "Folly" has to teach.

The book is beautifully written but full of learning and of classical and Scriptural allusions that many readers will find unfamiliar. This edition includes footnotes which explain Erasmus' references in detail. Most readers will find these notes highly useful in getting inside a work which otherwise would be difficult to follow. Among the many writers Erasmus quotes is Virgil. Here is a passage from the book quoting the "Aeneid" with an understanding of folly much like Folly's own.

"Had I a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths,
A voice of iron, I could not count the types
Of fool, nor yet enumerate the names
Of every kind of folly."

Erasmus' 1515 letter to Van Dorp was new to me and is worth reading. Erasmus emphasizes the religious nature of his writing, advises has friend to learn to study the Scriptures in their original languages, and rejects the charge that his satire disrespects religion or specific persons. The letter is a valuable supplement to reading and understanding "In Praise of Folly".

I was glad to have the opportunity to reread this book after many years. It will reward the attention of every thoughtful reader. "In Praise of Folly" deserves its stature as a classic.

Robin Friedman

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

CAN I HAVE AN HALLELUJAH?

“To know nothing is the sweetest life.”—Sophocles (Kindle Locations 263-264)

“Give me any instance then of a man as wise as you can fancy him possible to be, that has spent all his younger years in poring upon books, and trudging after learning, in the pursuit whereof he squanders away the pleasantest time of his life in watching, sweat, and fasting; and in his latter days he never tastes one mouthful of delight, but is always stingy, poor, dejected, melancholy, burthensome to himself, and unwelcome to others, pale, lean, thin-jawed, sickly, contracting by his sedentariness such hurtful distempers as bring him to an untimely death, like roses plucked before they shatter. Thus have you, the draught of a wise man’s happiness, more the object of a commiserating pity, than of an ambitioning envy.” (Kindle Locations 701-706).

Who knew there was so much to be said In Praise of Folly? Apparently there is.

In his panegyric of that name, Erasmus, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, and sometimes sounding somewhat like H. L. Mencken to my mind’s ear, says it all. He’s converted me. Bring on passion and frivolity. Stuff reason and wisdom.

Erasmus was a heretic’s heretic—as irascible a curmudgeon as they come. Gotta love ’im. But his writing can be more than a bit tedious to read. Long, long, extra long sentences. Counted 235 words in ONE sentence. I remember being scolded if my sentences went beyond twenty words.

Recommendation: Every student—scholastic or autodidact—should welcome exposure to Erasmus. I’m glad I finally got around to reading him.

“Farewell! live long, drink deep, be jolly, Ye most illustrious votaries of folly!” (Kindle Locations 1793-1794)

Open Road Media. Kindle Edition, 1,828 Kindle Locations

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

FOLLY IN PROFUSION, BY ALL MEANS

“Invite a wise man to a feast and he'll spoil the company, either with morose silence or troublesome disputes. Take him out to dance, and you'll swear a cow would have done it better."


An allegory of Folly, Quentin Massys, 1510

“Throw off the shackles this infernal quest for wisdom has put on you, you blasted bores!”

Slightly paraphrased, so goes the core tenet of the gospel that most whimsical of metaphysical entities, Folly – using Erasmus as a vessel - evangelizes to her audience, which - if we can trust the veracity of her words - has huddled together in the town square to hear her speak. At first, apprehension is palpable in the air, but when the lady finally makes her appearance, her sheer outlandish aspect brings delight to all. She has them in the palm of her hand.

What follows is a feverish spectacle.

Fiercely denouncing the detritus that rigid intellectualism unavoidably leads to, as an antidote Folly offers up a passionate apologia for unadulterated joie de vivre, all delivered in a dizzying, bordering on logorrheic, machine gun rhythm.

Consciously self-aggrandizing, Folly is claiming sole responsibility for all the enjoyments and fruits life has provided to us poor, miserable sinners. Simultaneously, and in the most seemingly guileless manner conceivable, our gifted orator effectively is laying waste to the - in 16th century Europe again in vogue - school of thought which was gifted to us by the ancient Greeks.

To her, what matter such studious men as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes? Puh! Drivel! And what about their Roman successors, that famous stoic Seneca, or that "paragon of wisdom", emperor Marcus Aurelius? In their faces she spits! No, she'll take playwrights of comedies and satirists, glorious scribes such as Aristophanes, Juvenal and Apuleius over them any day. Great, salt of the earth type chaps, all. They saw the common sense in giving oneself over to sweet, soothing folly.

Not content with slaying these sacred cows, even she dares to conclude her rant by firing off a critique of the stodgy, yet still powerful, Catholic clergy. Our impish friend might as well have lighted the Pope’s mitre on fire during Midnight Mass on Christmas, and achieve the same effect.

One can only imagine the initial bafflement experienced at all this being flung with such ferocity at a crowd during the height of the early Renaissance. Compared to everything which they had been taught to respect, this is a radical message, just as Jesus' gospel was in its day. But this sure looked like a most unorthodox picture of a messiah, let alone a redeemer.

Additional reservations crop up. After all, folly isn’t supposed to be a good thing, now is it? Isn’t its presumed opposite, wisdom, to be sought wherever it can be found? We call them pearls of wisdom for a reason, don’t we? Pearls are pristine, beautiful, perfected smoothness, something to be treasured. And if not for any immediate practical reason, isn’t its acquisition, its exchange with others, a deep pleasure of its own?

On each and every count, “no!”, Folly exclaims. It spells doom for every chance at emotional, spiritual, even material prosperity. Be foolish, be unthinking, act impulsively, and earthy paradise is yours. If you do, you'd be adhering to the original Christian message to boot, and be rewarded in the afterlife as well, she adds, setting the minds of her fellow Christians at ease.

Jesus' apostles, to her, weren't deep thinkers ( and were never supposed to be), but instead acted instinctual, like a child would. They merely saw a simple truth being revealed to them, and found peace and contentment from that alone, no further inquiry was needed. Shooting above their station, trying to be more than they were, to know more than they did, didn't even cross their minds. Fools? Perhaps. Yet, on the whole, deliriously happy, even in the most dire of circumstances, such as during the early persecution of their sect.

As a panegyric, In Praise of Folly is nothing short of exemplary, even if you don't remotely agree with its premise. But it can only be considered as such, when taken at face value. It's never entirely clear whether one should do so.

A first suspicion arises when a subtle undercurrent of irony is detected, precisely because of the exaggerated, almost baroque delivery. It is as if Erasmus, rightly foreseeing controversy, is deftly using the form of satire, just in case he is threatened with excommunication or worse. For that reason too, if a finely balanced, systematically laid out philosophical text is what you seek, this most assuredly isn’t any of the kind. It's exceedingly rambling at times. But by Jove is it joyful, bitingly funny, endlessly insightful, speaking of those all-important, perennial human truths.

And isn't it exactly this approach which, if the one addressed willingly opens himself up to it, is the spark needed to ignite, to force him to reassess his most cherished of virtues? For a former - now gratefully reformed - idolater of wisdom, it did just that.

We'll end on a sweet note. Folly, my darling, I misjudged you and, most shamefully, even derided your works in the past, thoughtless grinch that I am. For this grievous error amends have to be made. Let's have a drink - my treat, promise! - get bloody sauced, and be joined in merriment together.

Huzzah!

[Parinaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

از جمله کتاب هایی بود که باید زودتر از این‌ها می‌خواندمش.
کتاب در قرن شازدهم میلادی منتشر شد _ پس از دوران سیاه قرون وسطا و استبداد و بیداد مذهبی آن‌روزها_ با این‌حال چیز‌هایی که در آن توصیف شده آن‌قدر به وضع حالای جامعه‌ی ما نزدیک است که در طول خوانشش با خودم می‌گفتم امکان ندارد که پنج قرن پیش نوشته شده باشد.
صد حیف که در این شرایط باید خودمان را به دیوانگی بزنیم و با دیوانگی بگذرانیم؛
《بنابراین، ای دوستان و هواخواهان دیوانگی، خوش باشید، کف بزنید، خوش بیاشامید، و سلامت زندگی کنید.》


پ.ن:
آیا ما در دوران قرون وسطایی جدیدی زندگی می‌کنیم؟
مشکل چیست؟ ما پسرفت کرده‌ایم یا کتاب برایمان نو است؟

[Marco Simeoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parla la Saggezza; Ops, Scusate! La Follia

Erasmo da Rotterdam parlando a Tommaso Moro, definisce questo libro come un "esercizio di stile".
Se ne sto parlando dopo quasi 5 secoli dalla sua pubblicazione ritengo che più di esercizio si possa parlare di lezione.
Usando l'ironia e mascherandosi dietro l'antropomorfizzazione della pazzia, Erasmo spazia toccando aspetti della società del '500 (così simile a quella dei giorni nostri) facendoci scoprire il punto di vista dell'escluso, del diverso, del particolare. È un'arringa difensiva con il ghigno, uno sberleffo tramutato in parole usando come scudo l'inattendibilità di un folle. Ed è proprio quando non abbiamo da perdere nulla e siamo liberi di esprimerci senza subire conseguenze che vengono dette le migliori verità.
Divide i capitoli in tematiche; ponendo sotto la lente d'ingrandimento, volta per volta, la nobiltà, la religione, l'arte. Ho trovato difficoltà nel seguire i riferimenti ai nomi dell'epoca. Per il resto è un testo incredibilmente attuale.
Sicuramente da leggere.

[david · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Even the wise man must play the fool if he wishes to beget a child.”

A little background, if you please. This was written in the same century as Shakespeare and Cervantes, check. He lived in the Netherlands, check. His father was a Catholic Priest, check. He was an ordained Roman Catholic priest, check. He is considered the point man for the early ‘humanist movement,’ check. He wrote this in a week while hanging with his friend Thomas More, the ‘Utopia’ guy, check. He never visited the Czech Republic, check. Waiter, check?

This encomium, a word that he uses frequently, will take you a couple of hours to read. It is probably a hundred or so dense pages, although it is a skip in the park when compared to More’s “Utopia,” which has been read.

There are references to everything and everyone. These include the ancient Greeks, the Philosophers, the mythological Gods, Homer, Virgil, and a whole lot of ranting about Christ and the Church.

It is absolutely a satirical examination of society in general, at times it is wickedly funny, but he was not an Apologist. And no one can hide under his words; from Euripides to Seneca and the Stoics to the Pope.

His story is told through a doppelganger, Folly, a female who has little patience for pretense or hypocrisy, as her name would suggest. And since all is folly, nothing serious can stand in its way. This has significant merit. He is pugnacious and he vilifies all professions; lawyers, kings, artists, priests, scientists, soldiers, scholars, writers, all who would claim that their work has importance and weight.

He makes the plausible argument that all is folly, and that the serious folk waste away their health and their lives stuck in the miasma of their over inflated occupation's value and its worth.

He shows no mercy. It is quite impressive to ponder the quiddities and the zeitgeist of the time through one set of eyes.

If you have a few hours and want to hear another side of the story of life, this is inexpensive and short. It has been translated into many languages, so if that lends credence to this philippic, well, there you are.

To this reader, it holds no more weight than any other treatise. It is one man’s opinion.

You may, permission unnecessary, become a disciple of the god of Folly, without shame. And, in fact, with Praise.

[Rıdvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben çok beğendim. Bilemiyorum nasıl tarif edeyim bu kitabı. Ciddi manada ağır bir kitap. Bir alt yapı istiyor. Öyle "hadi bi kitap okuyayım havam olur biraz hem sarı sarı güzelde bir şekli var" diye alıp okuyabileceğiniz bi kitap değil. 15 dakika sonra atıverirsiniz kenara valla.

Dolayısıyla benimde çok vaktimi aldı okumak. Zaten kitabın yarısı açıklamalardan oluşuyo neredeyse. Çevirmen hanım elinden geleni yapmış sağolsun. Ağır ağır okuyunca zaman alıyo ama anlıyorsunuzki Erasmus bize çok önemli bir ders veriyor.

"Delilik iyidir". Mutluluğun peşinden koşuyorsanız bilinçlisinizdir. Bir plan program yapar kendinize hedefler koyar ve peşinde koşarsınız. Ancak söylemesi ayıp nah yakalarsınız!

Zira mutluluğun önündeki en büyük engel bilinçtir. Delirdiğiniz gün mutlu olursunuz ancak akılla ömrünüz boyunca asla mutlu olamazsınız. Mutluluk dediğiniz şey zaten deliliğin ta kendisidir ki planlı bir şekilde deliremezsiniz:)

Sizi kandırmaya çalışanlar vardır hayatta. Neredeyse herkes size kandırmaya çalışır. Dolayısıyla aslında bütün dünya birbirini kandırmaya çalışıyordur. Herkes bir başkasının önüne yem atar. Herkeste bu yemlere atlar. Mutlu olacaklarını zannederler. Özellikle modern zamanlarda bu işler böyledir. Başkalarını izler, onlar gibi olmak ister, onlar gibi olunca mutlu olacağınızı zannedersiniz, ancak onlarda mutlu değildir, bilmezsiniz.

Sizi en çok kandırmaya çalışanlar, dinciler, hukukçular, doktorlardır. Söylediklerinin tamamı yalandır, tamamı. Ancak siz genede kendinizi onların kollarına bırakırsınız.Onlarsa binbir yalan söylerler ve ne sağlığınızı koruyabilirler, ne hakkınızı savunabilirler, ne de öbür dünyanızı kurtarabilirler. Siz ise ancak onlara kobay olursunuz.

Delilerse korkmaz, utanmaz, üzülmez. Onlar hep mutludurlar. Siz ise hep birşeyleri kaybetme korkusuyla yaşar, zaman zaman kaybeder ve sonunda da çok üzülürsünüz. Çünkü o küçük kafalarınızın içinde gereksiz akıllarınız vardır. Mutluluğa giden yoldaki belki de tek ve en büyük engeliniz...

[sAmAnE · Rating 3 out of 5]

اراسموس کشیش کاتولیک و منتقد بود. وقتی پادکست مارتین لوتر رو گوش میدادم متوجه شدم به طور غیرمستقیم لوتر، شاگرد اراسموس محسوب می‌شده. محور نوشته‌هایش اتحاد و دوری از جنگ و آزادی عقیده بود که نوشته‌هایش توسط واتیکان اکثرا سوزانده شد. معروف‌ترین اثرش هم در ستایش دیوانگی است. با زبان طنز استبداد مقامات مسیحی را مورد انتقاد قرار داده... در ۸ روز کتاب نوشته شده و مورد استقبال قرار گرفت...

[Petar · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Pohvala ludosti" počinje kao šaljiva poruga društvu 16. veka, a završava sa lepom porukom. Između ostalog, knjiga je svojevrsna ispovest Ludosti kojom Erazmo propagira lično gledište na tadašnju Crkvu, na apsurd i irelevantnost njenih ceremonija, na problem stvorenog jaza između crkvenjaka i svetine i upliva materijalizma i koristoljublja u crkvene redove. Ukazavši na prave vrednosti hrišćanstva, Erazmo ističe značaj hitne crkvene reforme i vraćanja primordijalnim hrišćanskim vrlinama.

3+

[Paul Haspel · Rating 5 out of 5]

In praising Folly, Desiderius Erasmus is challenging all of us to recognize the folly in each of us. With a sharp wit that is informed by an ethic of humanistic compassion, Erasmus in his essay In Praise of Folly (1511) combines thoughtful philosophic meditation with trenchant social criticism, all in a manner that is extraordinarily fun to read.

Desiderius Erasmus himself is a fascinating individual with whom to spend some time. A Dutchman (his full name, in Latin, was “Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus,” or “Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam”), he is one of Holland’s first great writers – a philosopher and theologian whose work resonates with extraordinary intellectual breadth and depth.

A Roman Catholic priest, Erasmus embodied the ideas of Christian humanism – the concept that Christianity, rather than following the medieval habit of despising everything human as weak and sinful and grotesque, could draw from the values of the then-new Renaissance, and could celebrate what is good and noble in humankind. He was called “the Prince of the Humanists,” and his friends within the Northern Renaissance included fellow humanists like Sir Thomas More.

Erasmus dedicated In Praise of Folly to his friend More, asking, with evident amusement, “[W]hat injustice is it that when we allow every course of life its recreation, that study [of folly] only should have none?” (p. 3). He adds, in a jab at some Church officials, that “you’ll meet with some so preposterously religious that they will sooner endure the broadest scoffs even against Christ Himself than hear the Pope, or a prince, be touched in the least” (p. 4). Anticipating perhaps that his essay might hit too close to home with some of his readers, Erasmus adds that “he that spares no sort of men cannot be said to be angry with anyone in particular, but with the vices of all. And therefore, if there shall happen to be anyone that shall say he is hit, he will but discover either his guilt or his fear” (p. 5).

In Praise of Folly proper is spoken by a personified Goddess of Folly, who asks the reader, “[W]ho can set me out better than myself, unless perhaps I could be better known to another than to myself?” (p. 7) Here, Erasmus is having great fun with a literary trope that had already become tiresome and well-worn by the end of the medieval era, though people were still writing in this vein as late as John Bunyan in 1678’s Pilgrim’s Progress: the allegorical representation of the pursuit of a virtuous life through personification of virtues and vices – Christina Chastity triumphing over Lydia Lust, and so on. Subtle, it is not.

Erasmus’ Folly works in that vein, but in a spirit of mischievous fun, as opposed to Bunyan’s stern, Puritanical, and oh-so-earnest didacticism – urging the reader to have a bit of fun seeing the folly in everyone. Sometimes, Folly sounds almost Franklinian in her fondness for pithy, Poor Richard’s Almanack-style proverbs, as when she informs us that “Folly is the only thing that keeps youth at a stay and old age far off” (p. 16). Duly noted, ma’am.

At other points, Folly defends herself in a manner that would make one think that she’s been reading Quintilian’s treatises on classical rhetoric – as if she were preparing to defend herself in a Roman court. She asks the reader, in Jupiter’s name, “[W]hat part of man’s life is that that is not sad, crabbed, unpleasant, insipid, troublesome, unless it be seasoned with pleasure – which is to say, folly?” (p. 14) Beyond that, she suggests that Folly has positive and substantial benefits, breeding tolerance for one’s own faults and for those of others: “[I]f you should exclude me, there’s no man but would be so far from enduring another that he would stink in his own nostrils, be nauseated with his own actions, and himself become odious to himself” (p. 25). Thus doth Folly mellow us all, and make us more accepting. By contrast, “Invite a wise man to a feast, and he’ll spoil the company, with either morose silence or troublesome disputes” (p. 29).

Erasmus even pokes fun at the rationalism that was so characteristic of Renaissance thinkers like himself, particularly when his Goddess of Folly suggests that there is a sort of symbiotic relationship between knowledge and folly: “[T]here are two main obstacles to the knowledge of things – modesty that casts a mist before the understanding, and fear that, having fancied a danger, dissuades us from the attempt. But from these folly sufficiently frees us, and few there are that rightly understand of what great advantage it is to blush at nothing and attempt everything” (p. 32). Folly, it seems, sets us free; folly gives us courage.

I thought of Shakespeare when I heard Erasmus say, “And what is all this life but a kind of comedy, wherein men walk up and down in one another’s disguises and act their respective parts, till the property-man brings them back to the attiring house” (p. 29). How quickly, when I read those words of Erasmus, my mind turned to William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It (c. 1601), in which the melancholy philosopher Jaques – just the kind of out-of-sorts “wise man” whom Erasmus’ Folly regularly denounces for excessive seriousness – states that “All the world’s a stage,/And all the men and women merely players;/They have their exits and their entrances;/And one man in his time plays many parts…” Interesting to wonder if Shakespeare might have read In Praise of Folly, either during his education in Stratford-upon-Avon or after finding it in a London bookshop.

At the same time, In Praise of Folly is not all fun-and-games satire, as Erasmus demonstrates when his Goddess of Folly talks about how she is worshipped as a goddess. While it’s true that no one has built a temple to her, and that no one burns incense or sacrifices a goat on her behalf, Folly states confidently that “I conceive myself most religiously worshipped when everywhere, as ’tis generally done, men embrace me in their minds, express me in their manners, and represent me in their lives, which worship of the saints is not so ordinary among Christians” (p. 56).

It is at this point that Erasmus proceeds to some of the serious subject matter of his satirical essay, pointing out problems that he sees occurring at that time in the practices of the Catholic Church that he serves:

How many there are that burn candles to the Virgin Mother, and that too at noonday when there’s no need of them! But how few are there that study to imitate her in pureness of life, humility, and love of heavenly things, which is the true worship and most acceptable to heaven!...Nor am I yet so foolish as to require statues or painted images, which do often obstruct my worship, since among the stupid and gross multitudes those figures are worshipped for the saints themselves. (p. 56)

Erasmus, with his thorough classical education, would have known that candles had been an important part of the worship of pagan deities like Isis and Apollo in pre-Christian Rome; and it clearly troubles him to see Christians of his time paying more attention to the candles that are burned for Mary of Nazareth than to the moral example of her life – or more reverence to statues of saints than to the way those saints lived.

Similarly, Erasmus also little patience with the rhetoricians of his time; like the Sophists in Plato’s dialogues, they seem more interested in using technique to win arguments than in seeking the truth. The Goddess of Folly says of these rhetoricians that “if they want hard words, they run over some worm-eaten manuscript and pick out half a dozen of the most old and obsolete to confound their reader, believing, no doubt, that they who understand their meaning will like it better, while they who do not will admire it the more by how much the less they understand it” (p. 9).

Erasmus and his Goddess of Folly are equally impatient regarding the self-important disputation that they see going on among the learned clerics of early-16th-century Europe. More that 300 years before, Saint Thomas Aquinas had won fame and renown for reconciling Church teachings with the philosophy of Aristotle; but after Aquinas’ time, lesser thinkers had developed Scholasticism into a self-important, technique-focused mode of disputation on abstruse questions that would do nothing to help the average Christian believer – how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, that sort of thing. Hence the emphasis with which Erasmus’ Goddess of Folly denounces these Scholasticists:

Here they erect their theological crests and beat into the people’s ears those magnificent titles of illustrious doctors, subtle doctors, most subtle doctors, seraphic doctors, cherubin doctors, holy doctors, unquestionable doctors, and the like; and then throw abroad among the ignorant people syllogisms, majors, minors, conclusions, corollaries, suppositions, and those so weak and foolish that they are below pedantry. (p. 77)

For all the protests that he lodges, however humorously, against practices that he sees in the Catholic Church of his time, Erasmus was no Protestant, even though he lived and wrote in a time when the intellectual energies of the Reformation were stirring (Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses at Wittenberg just six years after Erasmus wrote In Praise of Folly). Like his friend Sir Thomas More, Erasmus remained faithful to the Catholic faith to which he had dedicated his life, and sought to reform the church from within.

Yet the questing intellectual energy that informs In Praise of Folly says much about the questioning spirit of the time in which it was written, and about Erasmus’ rigorous humanism. Enjoy the humor of it, but remember as you read that Erasmus was deeply concerned about serious issues of his time, as most great satirists are.

[Jorge · Rating 4 out of 5]

A través de quinientos años nos llega la voz certera e irónica de una figura del Renacimiento: Erasmo de Rotterdam (1466-1536), quien sin él quererlo contribuyó con sus observaciones vertidas en esta obra a la Reforma Protestante emprendida por Lutero (1483-1546) algunos años después, ya que este último tomó algunas ideas de la obra del sabio holandés.

Erasmo crea una especie de ensayo en forma de monólogo y quien habla es un personaje muy singular: la locura. Pero la locura entendida, o al menos así lo entendí yo, como la necedad, la candidez, la estulticia, la insensatez; quien habla es un personaje sin pretensiones, ni ínfulas de grandeza, al contrario es alguien humilde, despreocupado, sin malicia e inspirado por la naturaleza.

Desde esa postura, Erasmo crítica acremente a la sociedad de su tiempo que en esencia sigue siendo la misma que quinientos años después. En especial se ensaña con los gobernantes, los eruditos y el clero. Pero también nos pone en su perspectiva particular la condición humana, dejándonos ver que es mejor vivir “engañado” o en la ilusión que en la amarga realidad.

En la parte final el autor hace su particular interpretación de las Sagradas Escrituras y él encuentra una afinidad natural de la religión cristiana con la “locura” y nos dice que esta religión parece relacionarse mucho menos claramente con la sabiduría. Para muestra basta un botón:

“Padre, perdónalos porque no saben lo que hacen.”

[thefogweaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maestralno delo koje vecina, na zalost covecanstva, ne moze da razume.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

And what is all this life but a kind of comedy, wherein men walk up and down in one another's disguises and act their respective parts, till the property-man brings them back to the attiring house. And yet he often orders a different dress, and makes him that came but just now off in the robes of a king put on the rags of a beggar.

4.173 stars

Before popping a sleeping pill and chugging a Sam Adams I read most of this as our plane headed east across the Atlantic. Donald Trump and John Whittingdale serve to this text's centrality. I awoke and finished the book on foreign shores with an eye to the hegemonic (possibly the GCHQ?) and a love for our all so human failings. This is a must for all lovers of Rabelais and Burton. The musing does become a bit edged towards theology, but overall it is a delightful skewering of our arrogance, our biological exceptionalism, our humble fate as fuckwits.

[Serafim Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pessoalmente, não é o género de livros de aprecio.
Apesar de tudo, muito actual.

[Simona Cosma · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Doar prostia încetineşte scurgerea tinereţii şi alungă nesuferita bătrâneţe", scrie Erasmus din Rotterdam către prietenul sau Thomas Morus, în preambulul acestei lucrări.
O critică amuzantă, minuţioasă şi foarte sinceră a societăţii umane, făcută de zeiţa Nebunia, un personaj efervescent şi extrem de bine dispus, care nu se fereşte să înfiereze, într-un lung şi picant monolog, teatralitatea şi formalismul, ipocrizia şi dublele standarde, cu accente deosebite asupra filosofilor şi, mai cu seama, a teologilor vremii.
Spre finalul lucrării, tonul zeflemitor este abandonat şi este înlocuit de cea mai serioasă analiză teologică, desprinzând o concluzie dură, amară, dar extrem de reală:
"Stă scris în primul capitol al Eclesiastului: "Numărul proştilor este nesfârşit". Şi în acest număr nesfârşit nu sunt oare cuprinşi toţi muritorii, în afară de câţiva, pe care mă îndoiesc să-i fi văzut vreodată cineva la faţă? Ieremia o spune încă mai răspicat în capitolul zece: "atunci se arată omul cât este de prost cu ştiinţa lui". El atribuie înţelepciunea numai lui Dumnezeu şi lasă prostia tuturor oamenilor. Spusese doar ceva mai sus:"înţeleptul să nu se laude cu înţelepciunea lui". Şi de ce să nu se laude, cuvioase Ieremia? Pentru că, răspunde el, n-are niciun fel de înţelepciune. Şi mă întorn la Eclesiast. Când acesta strigă: "O, deşertăciune a deşertăciunilor! Totul este deşertăciune!, credeţi că a înţeles altceva decât ce am spus şi noi, anume că viata întreagă nu-i decât o amăgire a Prostiei? Şi astfel întăreşte lauda lui Cicero, care n-ar putea fi repetată îndeajuns: "Pământul este plin de proşti". Mai zice iarăşi acelaşi înţelept Eclesiast: "Prostul se schimbă ca luna, înţeleptul este statornic ca soarele", vrând în ăst chip să arate că toţi oamenii sunt nerozi şi că numai lui Dumnezeu i se cuvine numele de înţelept."

[Alp Turgut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erasmus'un "ahmaklık"ın ağzından bizlere sunduğu tamamı hiciv olan eseri "Deliliğe Övgü / The Praise of Folly", ünlü yazarın Cicero'nun meşhur sözü "İnsanların çoğu ahmaktır"ı esas alarak tüm insanlığı zekice bir şekilde eleştirdiği gerçekten oldukça özgün bir eser. Özellikle son çeyreğinde başladığı İncil ve din eleştirisiyle zamanının çok ötesinde bir kitap olan "Deliliğe Övgü", kendine has diliyle alışması başta zor ama okudukça değer kazanan bir yapıt. Dini kullananları oldukça ağır bir şekilde eleştiren Erasmus'un tarihten ve İncil'den verdiği örnekler epey yerinde. Kısaca, "kutsal kitaplarda bile insanların ahmak olduğunun savunulduğu bu dünyada nasıl bilgeliğin güzel bir şey olduğunu savunursunuz" diyen Erasmus'un sanki bir tiyatro sahnesini andıran yergili diline hayran kalmamak elde değil. Okunması gereken felsefe eserlerinden biri olmakla beraber okumadan önce Antik Yunan (Platon, Aristoteles) ve Roma (Cicero, Marcus Aurelius) felsefesinin önemli örneklerini okumakta fayda var.

01.11.2016
İstanbul, Türkiye

Alp Turgut

http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...

[StefanP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ljudski život je neka vrsta komedije u kojoj ljudi igraju svaki pod svojom maskom i svaki svoju ulogu, dok ih reditelj ne odvede sa pozornice.

Molim Boga da me ludilom spase, jer se prokletim razumom ne umjedoh spasiti.
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Ludaci i dijeca uvijek govore istinu.
Umberto Eko

O, vi nebesnici, podarite mi ludilo! Ludilo da najzad u samoga sebe vjerujem.
Fridrih Niče

Samo ti znaš moju ludost.
Isus Hrist - u mističnim psalmima kada se obraća ocu.

Ono što je ludo u boga, vrijedi nego sva pamet u ljudi.
Apostol Pavle

Srce je mudrih ljudi u kući gdje je žalost, a srce bezumnih u kući gdje je veselje.
Solomon

I evo odmah na početku da vam kažem da ne miješate ludost i glupost. Bog je bio previše milostiv kada nam je podario nebeska dobra, a u ta dobra leži i Ludost. Ona je podarena, a glupost nije. Dakle, ludost je svojstvena svim ljudima dok glupost mi docnije hvatamo i u tome nastaju sve nedaće ljudske. Roterdamski nam je u ovom dijelu predočio koliko je važna ludost po jedinku.

Zar ne kažu neki kako je mudar čovjek onaj koji ima velikog iskustva; a evo da vas pitam, zar ludak nema najviše tog iskustva? Ludak hrli kroz život samo njemu znanom intezitetu, ne zazire od smrti, ne haje za brige i nevolje koje ga prate i ne zavarava se nadom u buduću sreću. Njega ne odvraća od bilo kakve namjere ni stid (jer ga nema) ni opasnost (jer ne razmišlja). Dok pametan vodi život vita contemplativa dotle je ludak skloniji životu vita activa i tako je kadar da stiče mudrost tj. uči se u nevolji. Pogledajte kako samo lijepo i mladoliko izgledaju ti ludaci jer ludost ih drži u mladosti koja zaista brzo prolazi, a s druge strane zaustavlja starost koja stiže neumorivo. Shodno tome, može se reći da su ludaci daleko srećniji; ne znači li to da se sreća krije u ludosti? Roterdamski je najviše kritikovao Stoike, naročito Seneku. On je smatrao da Seneka mudracu uskraćuje strast i time mu uskraćuje da bude čovjek, nego tako od njega stvara nekog novog boga koji nikada nije bio niti će ikada postojati. Kao da mumificira čovjeka u kome nema ništa ljudskog. Isto je tako i Niče isticao da treba i strasti da dođu do izražaja, taj Dionizijevski, iracionalni momenat. Eto to je dobročistvo, ili pak ne dobročinstvo ludosti?

Sve je začinjeno ludošću, ona nas održava u životu, štaviše, ona čini da je život podnošljiv. Treba da budemo slavni poklonici Ludosti. Zapljeskajmo za Ludost!

[Burak Taşcı · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erasmus Aydınlanma çağının çekirdeğini oluşturan hümanizma ruhunun tohumlarını atan, aydınlanmanın öncül figürlerinden biri. Deliliğe Övgü ise kendisinin tabiriyle pek ciddi olmayan, dostu Thomas Morus'u keyiflendirmek için kaleme aldığı bir metin. Bir anlayış kırılıp yerine bir başka anlayış ikame olurken yazılmış ve döneme sinmiş değişim rüzgarlarının bütünüyle hissedilebileceği bir klasik Deliliğe Övgü. Tarihin en büyük zihin kırılmasının izdüşümlerinden biri olan bu eseri okumak bana göre okuyucuya "bir kitap okudum hayatım değişti" dedirtecek kitaplardan. Erasmus bu eserde başta Hıristiyanlığın köklerini aldığı Stoa düşüncesi olmak üzere, "bilgeliğe", çileciliğe, hazzı yok sayan birçok muhafazakar değere saldırıyor. Ama buna karşın Hıristiyanlığı bir öz olarak kabul ediyor ve kendisi açısından bir "gerçek dindarlık" tarifi yapıyor. Hiciv, güldürü ve felsefenin bir arada kullanıldığı eskimemiş, eskimeyecek bir yapıt.

[Josefina Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muhteşem bir yapıt nasıl olduda bunca sene bu eseri gözden kaçırmışım bilmiyorum elimin altında bulunması gereken bir eser bir değil binlerce defa okumak isterim. yakın zamanda blogda yazacam detaylıca.