The Praise of Folly
by Desiderius Erasmus · Moriae Encomium
Assigned by 3 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1511
- Era
- Renaissance
- Form
- Satire
- Language
- Latin
- Length
- Short · 130 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendPraise of Folly, translated by Betty RadicePenguin Classics, 1993Standard translation with A. H. T. Levi's notes and Erasmus' letter to Dorp defending the book.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
A mock oration written in a week at Thomas More's house in London, in which Folly, a goddess, steps up to praise herself. She claims credit for everything that makes life bearable, from marriage and birth to self-love and friendship, then turns on the professions, grammarians, poets, lawyers, philosophers, theologians, monks, princes, bishops and popes, whose self-importance she exposes. In the last section she argues that Christianity itself is a kind of folly and that the happiest are those who are fools for Christ.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Praise of Folly are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
