by Desiderius Erasmus (Author)
In the tradition of "fool literature" produced by the ferment of new ideas that directly preceded the Protestant Reformation, Dutch priest, humanist, and scholar Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) composed The Praise of Folly in 1509. Under Folly's mask, Erasmus boldly attacked the abuses of church and state, and pilloried the faults of those he saw around him: idle superstition, pedantry, religious hypocrisy, and human foolishness. In this elegant translation from the Latin by John Wilson, the reader can savor a great work of satire, which, in the classical tradition, chastises human beings for their follies and excesses, not with a rod but with a smile.
Number of Pages: 196
Dimensions: 0.54 x 8.48 x 5.35 IN
Publication Date: May 01, 1994