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readwithruby's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
He was basically just a hater.
laiareadsbooks2's review against another edition
3.0
3 estrellitas porque aunque esté de acuerdo en la mayoría de cosas que dice y sea muy interesante, el estilo que utilza es muy pesado y encima es un misógino.
big_dreamer's review against another edition
3.0
Per carità, non discuto il valore dell'opera, però è un po' pesantuccio, soprattutto a causa dei numerosi riferimenti classici che non tutti conosciamo.
bastiliest's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Es war sehr schwer zu lesen aber auch sehr interessant wie er seinen Zeitgenossen den Spiegel vor gehalten hat.
kasmolenaar's review against another edition
5.0
Met ontzettend veel plezier gelezen. De vele referenties, voornamelijk richting de oudheid, zijn voor een leek soms lastig te volgen,* maar met een beetje geduld leest het boek verrassend modern en scherp weg. Erasmus oogt als een prettig denker.
*Deze editie is voorzien van een overzichtelijk register - het register heeft herhaaldelijk uitkomst geboden.
*Deze editie is voorzien van een overzichtelijk register - het register heeft herhaaldelijk uitkomst geboden.
tristansreadingmania's review against another edition
4.0
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!
“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!
legallyde's review against another edition
I can’t rate this book. It’s brilliant obviously, but it was SO HARD to read. This is purely my fault for my lack of classical training in rhetoric and the fault of the grammatical differences in our time periods. Once I found a study guide online that explained many of the obscure (to modern me) references it was much more enjoyable. Erasmus is far too advanced for this to be a fun read but I’m glad I finally made myself do it.
the_jesus_fandom's review against another edition
3.0
Ja, ik kan wel inzien dat dit aardig wat ophef veroorzaakt zal hebben. Ook tegenwoordig zouden er nog genoeg mensen boos worden als ze zo werden uitgemaakt voor dwazen. Ik denk dat de satire tegenwoordig niet meer zo’n ongewone vorm is, dus ik vond het na een tijdje wel wat saai worden. Het werd erg voorspelbaar. Ik moest me er echt toe aanzetten om het leuke ervan in te zien, al lukte dat dan ook wel.