Review of “In Praise of Folly” by Desiderius Erasmus
Genre: I would say the best way to categorize this book is as a satirical essay.
Why did I read it? I learned about it while reading a history book about the reformation. Having read it as part of a book club with a couple of friends I definitely had a lot of enjoyment getting different perspectives on the matter, mostly that it is a god awful read.
Would I read it again? Honestly I would love to read it again as I probably missed a lot of the jokes and references given the book was written around 500 years ago.
Would I recommend it? I would definitely recommend it however maybe it would be better to watch a movie version or a Youtube analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DGCh_Y9i4I or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK8c8TblSPs because honestly it wasn’t the easiest read. I would recommend this book to people that want something different and rewarding.
Themes that resonated with me? The foolishness of most if not all people and satire.
Emotions/thoughts/memories from book? Humorous, confusing, tons of classical references so get your Greek/Latin mythology straight.
Writing style: Great sense of humor and is very bold to write this during a time of the reign of a very powerful church.
Notes: This books reminds of the sense of humor of George Carlin and Stephen Colbert. Folly is a satirical character similar to the Colbert Report or Borat in that Erasmus proves his point by being a caricature of people he disagrees with. George Carlin was similar in that he took on the system as a whole. Erasmus and Carlin both disagreed with the power of the system but also the ridiculousness of people who just go along with it. Take his skit about stuff and how much we all just buy and lug around stuff everywhere. Instead of just having less stuff and simplifying our lives we just keep on loading up our lives with more stuff. I would have less stuff if it wasn’t for my sneaker and sports equipment obsession. Just like 500 years ago things were really messed up you can make the argument now things are quite messed up. Back then the Catholic Church and the pope controlled everything. Now it is the corporations, the billionaires (Bernie accent) and the wonderful trade of lobbying. Erasmus proved his points using a wicked sense of humor, irony, and a limitless amount of references to classical literature and myth.
My biggest takeaway: This was not an easy read as most of the book was so packed full of classical references that I need to look stuff up every couple of sentences and even then didn’t always make sense. That being said the part that I did understand was quite funny and surprisingly relatable to our time. My goal would be to watch a movie or Youtube analysis like the ones I put above to really understand better. Sometimes to really dive into a story you need to see it in different Mediums, pun intended.