A Social History of the Fool

A Social History of the Fool
Author: Sandra Billington
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2015-03-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0571299997

Who is the Fool and what does he mean to us? Pre-1900 scholars thought him a Renaissance fashion, a continental import of note in the British Isles only between 1486 and the 1630s, per his appearances in Shakespeare's plays. However, as Sandra Billington shows in this pioneering study, the Fool has been with us from medieval times and has worn many guises: village idiot and sophisticated comedian, embodiment of Satan and God's own jester. He has managed, as Billington notes, 'to inspire or infect our thinking for at least eight hundred years'.

Fools Are Everywhere

Fools Are Everywhere
Author: Beatrice K. Otto
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2001-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0226640914

In this lively work, Beatrice K. Otto takes us on a journey around the world in search of one of the most colorful characters in history—the court jester. Though not always clad in cap and bells, these witty, quirky characters crop up everywhere, from the courts of ancient China and the Mogul emperors of India to those of medieval Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. With a wealth of anecdotes, jokes, quotations, epigraphs, and illustrations (including flip art), Otto brings to light little-known jesters, highlighting their humanizing influence on people with power and position and placing otherwise remote historical figures in a more idiosyncratic, intimate light. Most of the work on the court jester has concentrated on Europe; Otto draws on previously untranslated classical Chinese writings and other sources to correct this bias and also looks at jesters in literature, mythology, and drama. Written with wit and humor, Fools Are Everywhere is the most comprehensive look at these roguish characters who risked their necks not only to mock and entertain but also to fulfill a deep and widespread human and social need.

Ivan the Fool

Ivan the Fool
Author: Andreĭ Sini︠a︡vskiĭ
Publisher: Glas New Russian Writting
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: Christian sects
ISBN: 9785717200776

...the characters and symbolism in Russian fairy tales could be called Origin of the Russian Psyche. ...masterly and extremely readable...

Fools and Jesters at the English Court

Fools and Jesters at the English Court
Author: John Southworth
Publisher: The History Press
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2011-11-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0752479865

Fools have been a feature of virtually every recorded culture in the history of civilization, making significant contributions to the development of early theatre and literary drama. This book offers a reign by reign chronicle of English court fools.

Fools and Idiots?

Fools and Idiots?
Author: Irina Metzler
Publisher:
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2018-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780719096372

"... The book demolishes a number of historiographic myths and stereotypes surrounding intellectual disability in the Middle Ages and suggests new insights with regard to 'fools', jesters and 'idiots'.

Four Fools in the Age of Reason

Four Fools in the Age of Reason
Author: Dorinda Outram
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2019-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813942020

Unveiling the nearly lost world of the court fools of eighteenth-century Germany, Dorinda Outram shows that laughter was an essential instrument of power. Whether jovial or cruel, mirth altered social and political relations. Outram takes us first to the court of Frederick William I of Prussia, who emerges not only as an administrative reformer and notorious militarist but also as a "master of fools," a ruler who used fools to prop up his uncertain power. The autobiography of the itinerant fool Peter Prosch affords a rare insider’s view of the small courts in Catholic south Germany, Austria, and Bavaria. Full of sharp observations of prelates and princes, the autobiography also records episodes of the extraordinary cruelty for which the German princely courts were notorious. Joseph Fröhlich, court fool in Dresden, presents more appealing facets of foolery. A sharp salesman and hero of the Meissen factories, he was deeply attached to the folk life of fooling. The book ends by tying the growth of Enlightenment skepticism to the demise of court foolery around 1800. Outram’s book is invaluable for giving us such a vivid depiction of the court fool and especially for revealing how this figure can shed new light on the wielding of power in Enlightenment Europe.

What Kind of Fool

What Kind of Fool
Author: Rhonda McKnight
Publisher: Urban Books
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1599832682

Angelina Preston tunes out the voice of God when she decides to divorce her husband, Greg. She's forgiven him for his affair, but she won't forget, even though her heart is telling her to. Shortly after she files divorce papers, she finds out her non-profit organization is being investigated by the IRS for money laundering. In the midst of the very public scandal, Angelina becomes ill. Through financial and physical trials, she learns that faith and forgiveness may really be the cure for all that ails her, but can she forgive the people who hurt her most? Sexy, successful Dr. Gregory Preston didn't appreciate his wife when he had her. His affair with a devious man-stealer has him put out of his home and put off with women who continue to throw themselves at him. Greg wants his wife back, but he'll have to do some fancy operating to get her. When the secrets and lies from his past continue to mess up his future, Greg finds himself looking to the God he abandoned long ago for a miracle only faith can provide. Samaria Jacobs finally has the one thing she's always wanted: a man with money. The fact that she's in love with him is a bonus, but even so, life is anything but blissful. She's paying for her past sins in ways she never imagined and living in fear that the secret she's keeping will separate them forever.

The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship

The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
Author:
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 52
Release: 1987-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0374424381

When the Czar proclaims that he will marry his daughter to the man who brings him a flying ship, the Fool of the World sets out to try his luck and meets some unusual companions on the way.