"Just as it's the height of triviality to treat serious matters in a trivial way, so there's nothing more delightful than finding that some trifles have been managed so that they turn out far from trivial." 5

"Two obstacles chiefly prevent us from acquiring knowledge of things: diffidence, which beclouds the mind, and fearfulness, which prevents us from trying anything that looks hazardous. But how gloriously folly liberates us from these two encumbrances! Few men realize how many different benefits can come from not being ashamed or afraid of anything." 27-28

"If a rock falls on your head, that's definitely painful. But shame, infamy, scorn, and ill words do harm only so far as they are felt; if one isn't aware of them, they do no damage at all." 31-32

It started with a dream.
I was getting a ride from someone and they drove me through the alleyway to access the rear parking lot of a large building that was a bar. I mean a pub. As I got out and walked to the rear entrance, i noticed the adjacent building to the left was a charnel house, where the offal and waste parts were burned. The entire scene was hell and ruin, burned black everywhere. I was surprised the pub was sound and there was some concern about it being so close. A blood gutter ran between them and the stench of blood was thick.
As I entered the pub, I noticed mostly wooden fixtures and behind the bar I noticed some writing prominently on the wall behind it, high and in bold letters. It was in a different language but I laughed at how clever and true it rang. That's when I noticed a friend there and greeted him loudly and with the most loving familiarity, "Erasmus!" It's not a common name in my area and this may be the first time I had encountered it.

This was in a similar vein in my discovery of George Bernard Shaw, as they were linked in a special way later. I was not in any special place in that dream, but I received an image of George Washington as in a portrait, then a scene from the movie Beethoven of the big St. Bernard dog, followed by a memory of the cover of Shawshank Redemption. The three words came very clearly and distinctly and I woke with them on my lips and quickly wrote them down, confused as I was at the time. A web search led me easily to Erasmus by just his name alone and I was fortunate that it was not another Erasmus it led me to. As for Bernard Shaw, it couldn't have been more specific.

What was the link? Their work on the education of children. How contrasting both views! I think I have already made a review of both. This, the praise of Folly, was entirely different and I enjoyed a great part of it. The 3rd part seemed to derail itself and much of the looseness is lost to what I think was sincere criticism Erasmus was reserving and which, through Folly, was finally able to express. It paints a dire picture and you can see how Luther rode this wave of discontent for many things to drive his schism. It was a widely distributed work and one could possibly say it cleared the ground for how widely Protestantism reached the world, though you could hardly say the general population read it as most who did were schooled in Latin or Greek, in which this work was written. It became, mostly, a barb to theologians so much so that you would hardly believe Erasmus considered himself one or held this type of learning in the HIGHEST regard, and his greatest held title. The Letter to Dorp, included in the translation by Clarence Miller, sheds much light as being one of Erasmus' letters of defense for the work.
The work was enjoyable and ridiculous, but truly inaccessible to any audience without the footnotes because the work is an endless stream of references to classical works and myths which most of the world (myself included) are completely ignorant to. It was still enjoyable and almost gives one an inside perspective of the 'elite' setting of scholars of this age and the things which they held in controversy. You could build an entire classical education by obtaining every work referenced in this little book alone. It makes one want to learn Latin and Greek and Hebrew.

'Not if I had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths,
A voice of iron, could I survey all kinds
Of fools, or run though all the forms of folly'

so funny! and got me to think of my academic pursuits in a different way.
when is folly being serious (or being erasmus)? i think when "folly" really means "humility". erasmus understands what makes up true Christianity and brings to new light the term "fools for Christ". his lack of tolerance for superficiality, spiritual or otherwise, is a breath of fresh air in a world that can get too wrapped up in appearances and the approval of others.

I had a really good time reading this. Made me feel like I was jester-maxxing again. Anyways, I thought the way this attacked basically everything and everyome (including the church) in 1507 is fantastic. I was conflicted with Folly a little bit though. It almost seemed like Erasmus actually meant that it was a goddess of Wisdom disguised as Folly (foolishness) to entertain those with the message which sounded silly but always contained messages that Erasmus would have actually considered to be truths. This makes further sense because at this time, Jesters/Fools were often very goofy but very intelligent and could pass off saying potentially offensive or risky things that were actually true simply because they were funny about it. Additionally, the intro to the book has Erasmus relating Folly to his friend Thomas More (bc Moria is Greek for Folly and More sounds like Moria) who we know to be very intelligent but not very foolish. Anyways this was super fun to read even though some messages don’t fit modern feminism (but obviously thats to be expected with a text from the 16th century).

Erasmus is on my heroes short list. This book is not the reason why nor the other writing, 'Against War'. The biting satire is of such an obvious low hanging fruit type that the books seem to morph into self parody and the irony fell flat. I usually love old books such as this one, but to me this one falls flat.

I instantly fell in love with the writings of Erasmus. His wit is a joy to read. what he writes is as useful today as it was on his time.

The Praise of Folly: Really more of a biting than a funny satire. Erasmus, though he expounded a liberal, tolerant version of Christianity, was still very much a Christian humanist, as opposed to the half pagan renaissance humanists in Italy, and it shows. I'm sure this made for uncomfortable reading both for the leaders of the Italian Renaissance and the ultra conservative/formulaic/superstitious monastic faction of the church.

The Complaint of Peace: A bit too idealistic for me, or, at least, idealistic within Christian bounds. (No Christian should make war! But if you have too, at least fight the Turks.) Not his most moving work.

Two Forewords to his New Testament Translation: It was very interesting to see the contrast between pre-Reformation Erasmus - "everyone should read the New Testament, it's instantly understandable" - and post-Reformation Erasmus - "you should read the New Testament but you need to be really careful about doing it correctly". I prefer the message of the first foreword but it's very interesting to see how his stance evolved in the 1520s.

Julius Excluded From Heaven: This was much funnier than Folly, and still quite satiric. Probably my favorite of his works, despite my appreciation for Julius' patronage of Raphael and Michelangelo. He might not have been as much as a humanist as Leo or Clement, but he was an okay pope by me. I can understand why he was very much politically unpalatable to Erasmus, though, and he does a marvellous job of poking fun at poor Julius and Renaissance politics in general.

Excerpts from The Colloquies: Interesting to see his thoughts. The exegesis isn't really my cup of tea but I very much enjoyed The Abbot and the Learned Lady.

Excerpts from his correspondence: Interesting to get a picture of the times, but not really my cup of tea either.

Reading, watching, or listening to something weighted down with the label "Classic" attached to it is always an interesting, and somewhat fraught, experience. Music, film, the visual arts more generally, and literature, all share the issues of changing tastes and the evolution of technologies for producing and "consuming" the work.
The first three of these largely, although certainly not completely, escape the problem by partaking of features which are rooted in humanity's deep evolutionary past. While specific elements are heavily influenced by culture, the basic mechanics of seeing developed long ago and this shared heritage allows us access to the aesthetics of other peoples from other times.
Literature, however, because it is rooted in written language, a relatively recent invention, presents seriously daunting challenges. First among these, obviously, is one's complete inability to appreciate even the greatest imaginative works presented in a language one doesn't speak or read. The would-be reader is left with only one of two remedies: learn the language or rely on translators. Neither of these approaches is entirely satisfactory. The first because of time constraints, I find my brain less than helpful when it comes to performing the task - the idea of learning Russian in order to read Dostoevsky, ancient Greek to read Homer, and 16th century French to tackle Montaigne, is daunting to say the very least.
The second option is a better solution, yet presents its own issues. The translator must perform an incredibly delicate balancing act worthy of Icarus. Concentrate on the literal meaning of the words in the manuscript too mechanically and never achieve flight, or attempt to illuminate and emulate the deeper meaning of the text and run the risk of incinerating one's wings and ultimately drowning in a sea of absurdities.
Reading The Praise of Folly reminds me of these difficulties. Perhaps my translation was faulty. It's possible the translator was attempting to reproduce the cadences and tropes of Latin, and Erasmus' own idiosyncratic method of writing. Either way, the experience was work. I'm glad I did it, but it was a task.
I tried to remain focused on the author's underlying goal - a general case being made that humans obviously worship the goddess Folly above and beyond all other gods. Indeed, the deities themselves worship her. Folly herself makes her case, providing a myriad of examples and, by the close, the reader finds she cannot be gainsaid.
Frankly, we're all idiots, hopelessly addicted to foolishness and stupidity.

I enjoyed the Praise of Folly and Julius Excluded from Heaven. The Abbot and the Learned Lady and some of the other Colloquies were mostly of historical interest--meaning, I think the Colloquies are not great as dialogues or little plays. The letter to Dorp is helpful for understanding Folly. His letter to Rhenanus was fascinating for its description of how terrible travel was in his era. All of the critical commentary are good or great, and much more interesting and useful than reading Wikipedia.

The greatest fool is he who believes himself to be wise

Hard for me not to crush on Erasmus: cosmopolitan, pacifist, menippean. Learned in ancient writings, interested in allegiance to neither reformation nor counter-reformation, but rather in democratization of Scripture through vernacular translation simultaneous to the construction of critical editions of Scripture in original languages. Not however to be approached casually--he expects the reader to get the jokes and keep up with him. Some minimal knowledge of the ancient literatures and philosophies is necessary--the Norton is as usual inconsistent--it is cautious to footnote the plot of The Odyssey but is unable to muster even the slightest explanation of Timon.

Text here is The Praise of Folly, supplemented by The Complaint of Peace, a bunch of dialogues (satirical and doctrinal), letters, and appended modern essays. Supplementals enhance value of principal text. Modern essays are a mixed bag; standout is Bakhtin, naturally, whereas the editor's essay, while informative, is politically philistine. Principal text augmented also by period graphics, including great cover by Holbein. As with all Norton Criticals, sufficient merely for an undergraduate course or faking one's way through cocktail party chatter with true experts on the subject (provided there's enough to drink).

Very much a classic, required reading for all educated persons, The Praise of Folly is saturated with several layers of irony, so it's hard to know exactly what it's doing. Certainly a joke on St. Thomas More, as it is very much a mock encomium, and Greek title is Morias Enkomium. Text takes on everyone: the crazed, the aged, power, poverty, law & lawyers, medicine, war, and so on. Could be read as part of the long rightwing tradition of jeremiad that alternately despairs and rages when all that is solid melts into air--but I personally think that E is too sophisticated for all that.

Go read now lest ye remain benighted.

I'm only reading two chapters from this book: The play "Julius Excluded from Heaven" and "The Complaint of Peace." So far, I like what I've read. He's very funny. AND everyone loves a pacifist, right?