My review of The Fool by Enid Welsford includes my first introduction to the hardcore history of fools and jesters. Did you know that in ancient Greece, funny people used to just hang out around the baths, waiting for the popular rich people to come by and invite them to parties? They’d get a free meal out of it, most likely a swank place to stay for the night, hang out with some other rich people, and all they had to do was make asses of themselves.

Then there were the philosophers who would pretty much just gate-crash for the same reason. Sure, they weren’t invited, but they were entertaining, so no one complained too much if they ate all the marinated nightingales. Sounds a little bit like parties I’ve been to in LA. The drunken idiot making a fool of himself gives everyone someone to laugh at, so when you do something drunk and stupid, hardly anyone notices… Yep. I think I’ve been that person before, too…

My Review of The Fool by Enid Welsford

I’ve finished reading The Fool: His Social and Literary History by Enid Welsford, first published in 1935. It’s a fairly really entertaining dissertation–and not just because it’s about jesters and fools (which, honestly, you’d have to be a pretty boring writer to ruin that topic). Enid’s got a snappy sense of humor. She delves into some crazy speculation about the fool as poet and clairvoyant towards the end of one chapter, and ends by saying that she won’t go further on the topic. “But here I must bring my conjectures to a close lest I, also, aspiring to clairvoyance, attain to the cap and bells.” (Wow. Do I need to footnote that in a blog?) I mean, that’s funny stuff!

My other favorite part of this book so far? In her introduction, she’s pointing out that the fool has always interacted with an audience. Which is true. Her concern? Charlie Chaplin. He doesn’t have an audience. He doesn’t know if he’s being funny or not and can’t feed off of the laughter or comments. She’s afraid that with the new dawn of movies and the silver screen, the fool will disappear forever. I hope she didn’t lose too much sleep over it, because her fools are alive and well and living in LA.