Desiderius Erasmus (1469–1536) is a classic author whose works are in the public domain.
Erasmus deploys irony and satire with surgical precision to expose the follies of Renaissance society—from corrupt clergy to pompous scholars to self-deceiving lovers—while praising Folly as the animating force of human survival. His paradoxical wisdom suggests that humanity's greatest achievements spring not from reason but from beautiful, necessary delusion.
