serious and comic

In this splendid Norton Critical Edition there is plenty of Erasmus: The Praise of Folly (including illustrations by Hans Holbein), The Complaint of Peace, Two Forwards to the Latin Translation to the New Testament, Julius Excluded from Heaven, excerpts from The Colloquies and a few letters. There is also a selection of critical commentary as well as a chronology and a short selected Bibliography.

The selections of Erasmus' writings give the reader the opportunity to sample the different facets of this 16th century scholar who wrote almost exclusively in Latin. He wrote passionately about the need to take religion back to the scriptures and put it in the hands of the people, and away from the dead intellectuals in the universities. He wanted to turn the catholic church from the path of over reliance on indulgences, pilgrimages, and ritual and so came into conflict with mendicant clerics and theologians. In his introduction to his translation of the New Testament he says:

"I absolutely dissent from those people who don't want the holy scriptures to be read in translation by the unlearned - as if, forsooth, Christ taught such complex doctrine that hardly anyone outside a handful of theologians could understand it, or as if the chief strength of the Christian religion lay in peoples ignorance of it. perhaps the state secrets of kings have to be concealed, but Christ wanted his mysteries to be disseminated as widely as possible. I should prfer that all women, even of the lowest rank, should read the evangelists and the epistles of Paul.........."

It is as a satirist that Erasmus is most often read and enjoyed today and the full text of "The Praise of Folly" will still provide some amusement as all classes of society come in for criticism in this lively essay. Oh to be a fool says Erasmus, how blissful this would be, but always listen to a fool because even a foolish man says something to the point. Erasmus launches into his critique with gusto and no one is spared, here is what he says about the theologians:

"perhaps I ought to pass over the theologians in silence and just not go near that open sewer, or touch that stink weed. They are a class of men so arrogant and irritable that they are likely to attack me by squadrons with their six hundred conclusions and force me into a recantation: then if I refuse they'd promptly have me up as a heretic............For they cocker up their own self esteem, as if raising themselves to a seventh heaven, and from that vantage point look down on the rest of the human race as so many dumb beasts crawling on the ground......"

Julius Excluded from Heaven is another biting satire. Pope Julius II had recently died and Erasmus imagines him appearing at the gates of heaven and demanding to be let in. Julius boasts of his irreligious behaviour while he was Pope, how he sold various offices to the highest bidder, how he used his position for his own and his families advantage, how he made war against fellow Christians etc.....

Erasmus was a popular figure, his writing was witty and to the point. He was also excellent company and well liked by friends in high places, but having said all that I wondered how he could have got away with the satires that he wrote. What protected him from charges of heresy while he was alive.

I was particularly keen to read the Critical commentary in this Norton Critical edition to see if the essays would enhance my appreciation of Erasmus. H R Trevor Roper's essay is typical of the historian, broad brush strokes and some startling assertions paint a lively picture of Erasmus and his legacy. R S Allen in "The Transatlantic Renaissance" shows how Erasmus as a representative of the Northern European renaissance was influenced by the Italian renaissance and this filled in some background to his works. There followed an extract from J Huizinga's biography, which I have previously read, but would be useful material for readers wanting to get an idea of the character and mind of Erasmus. Up next was an extract from Mikhail Bakhtin's [Rabelais and his World] which dealt with Medieval and Renaissance folk humour and this proved to be a gem. It grounded Erasmus writing in the long tradition of satire and comedy that was an essential part of medieval life. Bakhtin says that this stream of writing, play acting and comedy ran concurrently with the serious issues of Church services and law making and was often practiced by the same people. For me it shone a light on Erasmus' satires and convinced me that in this climate they would have been read and enjoyed by those very same people that were subjects of the satires.

There were two further essays one of which explored the wide definitions of humanism and provided more useful background material. All in all this Norton Critical Edition is extremely successful in presenting some important texts of a writer who may not be widely known to the general public and the essays provide enough background to enhance the appreciation of both the man and his works. A five star book. ( )

This is a timeless book and in a sense still modern. We could use just a little of it in disturbing times ( )