The Praise of Folly and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions) [Paperback]

Desiderius Erasmus (Author), Robert M. Adams (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393957497 | ISBN-13: 978-0393957495 | Publication Date: October 17, 1989 | Edition: Critical edition

This Norton Critical Edition provides a wide selection of Erasmus’s writings, translated from the Latin into fresh, modern English.

Besides the celebrated Praise of Folly, Robert M. Adams has included the political "Complaint of Peace," the brutal antipapal satire "Julius Excluded from Heaven," two versions of Erasmus’s important preface to the Latin translation of the New Testament, and a selection both serious and comic of his Colloquies and his letters.  Adams has made these selections to emphasize the humane, rather than the doctrinaire, side of the first and arguably greatest humanist.

Critical commentary is provided in essays by H. R. Trevor-Roper, R. S. Allen, J. Huizinga, Mikhail Bakhtin, Paul Oskar Kristeller, and Robert M. Adams.

Also included are a Chronology of Erasmus’s life and a Selected Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin (translation)

About the Author

Robert M. Adams was Professor of English (Emeritus) at the University of California at Los Angeles. He was the author of many books, including Ikon: John Milton and the Modern Critics; Strains of Discord; Proteus, His Lies, His Truth: Discussion of Literary Translation; The Land and Literature of England; and Shakespeare—The Four Romances. In addition to the Norton Critical Edition of Utopia (he was translator and editor of the First and Second Editions), Professor Adams was editor of five other Norton Critical Editions, including The Prince by Machiavelli, Candide by Voltaire, and The Praise of Folly and Other Writings by Erasmus, the texts of which he also translated. He was a founding editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Critical edition edition (October 17, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393957497
• ISBN-13: 978-0393957495
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Latin
  • #61 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > European

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a fascinating man!, March 24, 2008

By 

Jeffrey Van Wagoner (Gilbert, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Praise of Folly and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

I stumbled upon Erasmus while reading Durant's Reformation volume of the Story of Civilization, and later while reading Johnson's History of Christianity. Both authors were rightly impressed with the great influence he had on the Christian world prior to and during the time of the reformation. I had previously known that Luther and Calvin were the major players in the reformation but hadn't realized that so many characters prepared for it and also tried to temper the violent outcomes. Erasmus stood out for me as an intriguing person that I wanted to learn more about. As a result, I purchased this book to get a sample of his writings.

This book of just over 300 pages contains as its major work "The Praise of Folly". This satirical gem has Folly incarnated as a type of a classical goddess discussing the virtues of folly and using various classical and everyday examples to justify why folly is such a good thing. Fortunately, the compiler has footnotes to explain the classical references to those not familiar with most of them; this helped me a lot.

There follows the brilliant anti-war piece entitled "The Compliant of Peace", where peace is embodied and complains of how he is abused and neglected. Then follows two forewords to his groundbreaking Latin translation of the Greek New Testament, explaining why he did this. I hadn't realized how intense the opposition was. After that we have the hilarious "Julius Excluded from Heaven"; an imagined conversation between Pope Julius and St. Peter at heavens gate. I can see why it was initially published anonymously.

The next section includes four of his Colloquies; very well written and bringing out some good points. Three letters are also included including one defending his Praise of Folly, another describing his travels, and another to a high ranking Bishop. The final section includes six essays of varying interest discussing Erasmus.

I loved Erasmus' writing style and though the compilation a very good introduction to his writing. Adam's translation was very clear. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more of Erasmus and sample his writing.

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Great Guide to Enter the Mind and Times of Erasmus", May 21, 2001

By 

Johannes Platonicus (South Bend, Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Praise of Folly and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

This edition has "some" of Erasmus' most influential works; namely, "The Praise of Folly", the political "Complaint for Peace", "Forewords to the Latin New Testament", "Julius Excluded from Heaven", the "Colloquis", and excerpts from his finest letters. These works are selected more to understand the humanistic side of Erasmus rather than the scholarly doctrinaire who labored for the peace of christendom. With these selections - entailed by fotenotes, the editor's prefaces, and critcical commentaries - this edition will invariably enhance a more intimate impression of the mind of Erasmus at the dawn of the reformation.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thin on secondary materials, February 8, 2009

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pandajama - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Praise of Folly and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

The other reviewers have praised Erasmus, and, well, duh. Anyone still in print after 500 years probably had some profound and interesting things to say.

But I suspect most people looking at this edition will be doing so in the hope it will contain the variety of secondary materials commonly found in the usually excellent Norton Critical Editions. In that respect I was disappointed with this volume. It does an excellent job of selecting from Erasmus's works, but a poor one, in my opinion, of including secondary literature.

I like what is there, I just want more.