A satire from the 16th century told from the perspective of Folly herself, and a criticism against pretentiousness and those who take themselves and their world too seriously. Life is made bearable by a bit of irrationality, a bit of foolishness. Do not let fear of understanding put you off from reading this. The language is certainly playful (which I loved), but it is not overly difficult to make sense of. Having some basic knowledge of Greek gods/deities will help a lot, and some familiarity with the Bible for the final third, but other than that it is fairly straightforward. The opening third was the strongest and funniest, the rest felt a little repetitive, as if the point had already been made. The narrator as a personification of Folly was certainly fun, but I do question how closely she represented "Folly" or "Madness" as it was understood in Erasmus' time.

Good book to start the spring with. I can see how it captured back in the day, but it is a bit dated now

Very sarcastic at the beginning which was a bit hard to follow and understand, but later on it gets better. The writer smartly and sarcastically criticizes the church community and papacy. The satire was clear and done in a smart and very knowledgeable way.

3.75

Necesito volver a leer esto para darle un mejor rating, pero bueno.

'Daarom kan ik die ene haan nooit genoeg prijzen, Pythagoras. Nadat hij in zijn eentje alles was geweest: filosoof, man, vrouw, koning, burger, vis, paard, kikker, ik geloof zelfs spons, vond hij geen wezen rampzaliger dan de mens, omdat al het andere tevreden is met de grenzen die de natuur stelt, alleen de mens de grenzen van zijn lot te buiten wil gaan.'

Om Erasmus zelf te quoten:

"De volksmond heeft het bij het bij het juiste eind als er zo vaak over de Brabanders gezegd wordt dat bij andere mensen het verstand met de jaren komt, maar dat zij naarmate ze dichtbij de ouderdom komen dwazer en dwazer worden. En tegelijk is er geen ander volk dat zo uitbundig gezellig is!"

Gedurfde woorden voor een Rotterdammer.

Difficult reading because of the many references to roman and greek examples. Rather boring, I must say. But of course, historically very interesting.