The Triumph and Tragedy of Erasmus of Rotterdam

For many readers, Zweig is primarily associated with love novellas. In reality, he was one of the authors at the origins of the super-popular genre of biographical fiction, which transforms dry historical names and facts into narratives about real, living... people.
The hero of the book, Erasmus of Rotterdam, is particularly close to Zweig. Being a "man of the Renaissance" in the full sense of the word, he opposed all violence and wars.
An illegitimate poor orphan achieved everything solely through his own intellect and talent, becoming the greatest philosopher, scholar, and translator from ancient languages, and wrote "The Praise of Folly" — an "international bestseller of the Renaissance".
Erasmus was the greatest humanist, from whose works the entire Reformation effectively emerged, and the most powerful rulers of Europe sought his friendship…