Praise of Folly

Erasmus of Rotterdam (c. 1466-1536) is one of the greatest figures of the Renaissance humanist movement, which abandoned medieval pieties in favour of a rich new vision of the individual''s potential. Praise of Folly, written to amuse his friend Sir Thomas More, is Erasmus''s best-known work. Its dazzling mixture of fantasy and satire is narrated by a personification of Folly, dressed as a jester,...