Praise of Folly (Penguin Classics)

Book Description

A satire on the pretensions of Erasmus's contemporaries in the Church and philosophy

Customer Reviews:

A modest disclaimer .......2005-01-12

"It is not wisdom to be always wise, and on the inward vision close the eyes" That is Santayana's wisdom. To play with it a bit ," It is not foolish always to be a fool, and on the outward shows and games of mankind make endless mockery. For who is the fool in the one place we are all to go?"
I remember reading this work in graduate school. A dutiful plodder wondering why I was not laughing out loud and being so amused. Rather I was falling asleep inside and finding the dull complaints of Erasmus a kind of spiritless exercise in predictable dumping on all things.
Alas, I am usually apologetic about not understanding works generations of mankind consider classics. But in this case I will make a modest disclaimer. This one is not in my eyes a great one, not even a very good one.
And now to another complaint. The great tolerant Erasmus who could see the folly of human greed and vanity and prejudice everywhere was himself quite vain and greed and prejudiced in regard to one very small minority of 'Europeans' who can claim to be the most persecuted people in the history of mankind. Why should I sing the praises of someone who hates me?
The bootsteps of Nazism march to the tune that Erasmus and Voltaire the two great ' liberators' of European mankind sing.
I have no praise for Erasmus folly and his wickedness in this.

A Modest Satire.......2004-05-28

Praise of Folly is what it was intended to be, a modest satire, not a masterwork. Erasmus was an interesting and accomplished man - one of the lights of his age. However, this work, written, basically, on a lark for his good friend, Thomas More, is a little difficult for the modern reader but is still, at times, quite humorous. Unlike the work of Jonathon Swift (many years later) there's little reason to read this unless you're a student of the period.

Perhaps there is hope for us all........2003-03-25

Granted this is pretty dry reading. Erasmus may not be the greatest writer. This does make for a turgid evening if one plans or desires to read it from cover to cover in one sitting. That said, Erasmus rode (if not found himself starting) the beginning wave of the great reformation. In his writings (which bear a not so slight foreshadowing to the great C.S. Lewis) Erasmus gives hope for all of us sinners in the guise of wit. An important addition to any library of classical literature.

Couldn't finish it!.......2003-02-22

Sorry, I tried several times to read this book. I hunted for passages that might interest me. Unfortunately, all I found was [the author] blowing his own horn. But then fantasy and science is about all that interests me. I'm sure someone with a historical bent would find this tale exhilarating.

This fool is too wise.......2003-01-23

To say the book has less than perfect unity in tone, as was written in the introduction, pg xv, is an understatement. The reader is never sure whether it is Folly or Erasmus who is talking. Perhaps for the goddess of Folly, contradictions and inconsistencies are the very follies desired - how are we mortals to tell?

And that is what we have here - all the inconsistencies, as, for example, mentioned in pages xiv-xv of the introduction again, that Erasmus wrote with the learned sophistry he denied schoolmen, philosophers, courtiers, theologians and monks. It's almost like Lao-Tzu and his Tao-Te Ching which includes the famous "The name that can be named is not the eternal name; the Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao," only to have a later poet, Po Chi-Yi, quip about the 10,000 word effort to say what cannot be said in the first place. Yes, he did say at the end that 'I hate an audience that won't forget,' but that's not a courtesy he proffered to his opponents, of whom the criticism by Erasmus seems caviling, carping and nitpicking. He should have emulated his inpiration, Lucian with his 'philosophers for sale,' and made points simple like that here. It would be unfair, though tempting, to think that Erasmus took Quitillian to heart (pg. 81, 'what can't be refuted can often be parried in laughter') and disguised his voice in silly chaos for what has not been thought out cogently.

So, one is not quite sure whether wasting away a life in idleness, corruption or avarice as priests, bishops and monks are wont to do is the same kind of folly as the folly that comes from the innocence of the simple minded people or children, since Erasmus never quite made it crystal clear. Do we praise folly here but condemn it otherwise - without unity of tone and consistency of the vantage point of the writer, the whole thing just becomes a mess of confusion.

Customer Reviews:

Renascence Man.......2005-08-29

Robert Adams' translation is great and helps feature Erasmus wit and wisdom with modern usage, with plenty of footnote explanation of period literature. Erasmus' satirical writing is amusing and insightful of the political and social thinking of his time. Amazing to read how little has changed intellectually over 500 years.

"Great Guide to Enter the Mind and Times of Erasmus".......2001-05-22

This edition has "some" of Erasmus' most influential works; namely, "The Praise of Folly", the political "Complaint for Peace", "Forewords to the Latin New Testament", "Julius Excluded from Heaven", the "Colloquis", and excerpts from his finest letters. These works are selected more to understand the humanistic side of Erasmus rather than the scholarly doctrinaire who labored for the peace of christendom. With these selections - entailed by fotenotes, the editor's prefaces, and critcical commentaries - this edition will invariably enhance a more intimate impression of the mind of Erasmus at the dawn of the reformation.

Understanding Erasmus.......2000-03-25

I managed to stumble across Erasmus while reading William Manchester's "A World Lit Only By Fire", and was beyond intrigued by such a character as described that I had never even heard about. Of course, Erasmus had been mentioned in my presence often, but never in a direct context. So I pick up this book, hoping to find out what the deal was and what I was missing.

My entire view of the middle ages changed practically overnight. Do not miss the fact, people: Erasmus was THE deal. Erasmus makes Luther look like a limp little hothead. Erasmus is Jim Carrey to Voltaire's Carrot Top. Erasmus drows the candle of Aristophanes with a roaring torch. The ultimate critic, the ultimate wit, and the ultimate reason in an age of insanity. Without this fantastic book I may have passed a second 18 years without Erasmus as an inspiration. The pure genius and subtlety of truly the most underappreciated scholar of all time is laid out glowingly. Why did I waste my time with "Mandrake" and "Candide" when "In Praise of Folly" does the same job a thousand times better? Why on earth do we pay attention to Martin Luther, the most incompetant and ridiculous "reformer" of all time, when Erasmus was doing everything twice as good at exactly the same time?

Book Description

Witty, influential work by one of the greatest scholars of the Renaissance satirizes the shortcomings of the upper classes and religious institutions. Required reading for humanities classes, this literary gem is ripe with vignettes and caricatures — with Folly, a metaphor for stupidity, the centerpiece. Unabridged republication of the John Wilson translation.

Customer Reviews:

Erasmus.......2005-09-02

Desiderius Erasmus was surely the most logical and objective viewer of Europe's plight in the early 16th century. He was a reformer without being an extremist, and a Catholic without being a slave to superstition or conservatism, truly the quintessential intellectual.

One of the best books of Literary Renaissance.......2003-12-29

In Praise of Folly (Encomiun Moriae in Latin) was written in 1509 by the Dutchman Erasmus of Rotterdam when he was guest to his English famous friend Thomas More,or Morus if you prefer, the author of the celebrated book Utopia. Given internal religious strife in Europe, and England was in no exception mood, these were pretty much dangerous times and many heads rolled and were to roll, More"s included, due to the persecution by Henry VIII. Whatever was to be said about the nettlesome religious matter had to be done with extrema caution in order to avoid the perilous verdicts of the Holy Tribunal.

Along with Thomas More, Desiderius Erasmus was one of the most important representatives of the Renaissance literary movement in northern Europe and what was casually presented by Erasmus as a booklet inspired by a casual play of words with the surname More (which is almost equal to Moriae, madness in Greek), was in fact an attempt to salvage what should be rescued of the Classical Greek Antiquity in Erasmus' opinionated argument and incorporated in the Christian thought of the time. Beneath an almost non-descript façade was an issue of utmost significance to the evolution of the so-called Natural Sciences, that were to benefit from advances of recent discoveries in Physics, Chemistry and later on Biology, but which were hindered to evolve by the so-called aristotelian taint inherited by the Scholastic medieveal tradition so dear to the traditionalist Catholic Church, a task difficult in itself but which Erasmus easily outdone with a satyrical style that offended no one, preserving all the respect to the Church hierarchy and its dogmas and, most importantly, the figure of Jesus Christ.

The book is in fact a small one but the reader is much rewarded by the richness of its content, where the author takes him by his hands and strolls with him trough ancient Greek and Roman mithology in a verbose prose at the same time easy, vigorous and stimulating, where one is impressed by the author's astounding erudiction, as if he was a northern true inheritor of the Tuscan Dante Aligheri (the Divine Comedy) in this purpose. This is certainly one of the best literary works of late Renaissance and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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MORIAE ENCOMIUM; OR, THE PRAISE OF FOLLY

Manufacturer: Heritage Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000B797NS

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In praise of folly;: With illustrations after Hans Holbein, together with a life of Erasmus and his epistle addressed to Sir Thomas More
Desiderius Erasmus
Manufacturer: Peter Smith
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Binding: Hardcover

Holbein, Hans | ( G-I ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007EIT3Y

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The Praise of Folly
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam
Manufacturer: Walter J. Black
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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H96Y5Y

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THE COLLOQUIES OF DESIDERIUS ERASMUS CONCERNING MEN MANNERS AND THINGS. 3 VOLUME SET,; AND IN PRAISE OF FOLLY. MATCHING VOLUMES
DESIDERIUS ERASMUS
Manufacturer: GIBBINGS
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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SEXJHY

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Ecstacy and the Praise of Folly
M. A. Screech
Manufacturer: Duckworth Publishing
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ASIN: 0715610449

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Ecstasy and the Praise of Folly
M. A. Screech
Manufacturer: Duckworth Pub
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ASIN: 0715613618

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Erasmus in praise of folly,
Desiderius Erasmus
Manufacturer: Reeves & Turner
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ASIN: B00085CDFC

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This comprehensive set of two CD-ROMs provides a complete guide to bankruptcy: United States Bankruptcy Courts; U.S. Bankruptcy Court Publications, Forms, and Statistics; Bankruptcy Basics; Bankruptcy Case Opinions; United States Trustee Program; Bankruptcy Trustees; Bankruptcy Code; Bankruptcy Reform Act; Bankruptcy-Related Legislation and Activities of the 108th Congress; Chapter 7, 9, 11, 12 and 13 Bankruptcies; District Bankruptcy Courts; and Financial Privacy in Bankruptcy.

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This digital document is an article from Florida Bar News, published by Florida Bar on March 1, 2003. The length of the article is 335 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Bankruptcy training conference set.
Publication: Florida Bar News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2003
Publisher: Florida Bar
Volume: 30 Issue: 5 Page: 43(1)

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Congress set to propose insurance regulation.: An article from: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management

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Congress set to propose insurance regulation.: An article from: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management
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Citation Details
Title: Congress set to propose insurance regulation.
Author: L.H. Otis
Publication: National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 24, 1990
Publisher: The National Underwriter Company
Issue: n52 Page: p6(2)

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