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Desiderius Erasmus, Clarence H. Miller: Praise of Folly (2008, Yale University Press)

218 pages

English language

Published May 9, 2008 by Yale University Press.

ISBN:
978-0-300-15723-9
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3 stars (1 review)

6 editions

Brave writing for its time

3 stars

The introductory essay in my copy of Pride And Prejudice declared that that book was one of the few classics continually reprinted because people actually want to read it rather than being obliged to study it. I suspect that The Praise Of Folly is more likely to fall into the second camp. I can imagine that it was considered shockingly satirical to the learned classes in the early 1500s, but I found it more long-winded than laugh-a-minute. Erasmus imagined a personification of the goddess Folly and she gives us a long speech identifying all the ways in which she is of unique benefit to mankind. For a goddess however, I didn't think her character displayed much femininity!

Where this book gets particularly interesting is in its last third when Folly turns her attention from ancient Greek and Roman examples to attacking the greed and behaviour of Christian clergy in western …