Fabulous Foolishness (Praise of Folly) A modern, readable translation in easy English for everyone

Fabulous Foolishness
>Most translations of this book are hard to read and not meant for the general public: old-fashioned sentences, Greek proverbs nobody knows, theology arguments only a specialist can follow. That is a pity, because in 1511 this was a best-seller and people laughed their heads off.

So I made a new one. It is plain, modern English, as if Erasmus were telling the jokes today. Where a joke needs knowledge nobody has any more, I found an equivalent. Greek sayings became English sayings. A few jokes now involve Harry Potter, The Matrix and the Grinch. So I made a new one, in plain, modern English, as if Erasmus were telling the jokes today. As far as I could find, it is the only modern, readable, easy English translation that exists.

I cut the parts that only confuse: difficult mythology, long jokes about medieval theology, long chains of Bible quotations. Nothing is hidden, though. Every cut is marked with a number in the text and printed at the back. So you can always check what I left out.

There is a short preface about Erasmus himself, so you know why this book got him in trouble and why it still matters.

I am Dutch, from Gouda, like Erasmus, and I learnt my Latin at the same school in Gouda as Erasmus did, if you are interested. The translation is from the 1624 Leiden edition. It is a free translation that choses meaning over exact words.If you want to know why people laughed, start here.