20th century, dramatic character, Europe, fooleum, photo, primary source, Sweden
Something wonderfully quirky about this old photo of a Swedish actor, Ivar Nilsson, in the role of King Lear’s fool. The costume with the rabbit ear cap is striking, but it is the facial expression and make up which captivates, including an off-centre nose and a...
20th century, Europe, fictive fool, Germany, Hebrew / Yiddish, primary source, quotes, stories
From a late 20th century novel set in a concentration camp, the story highlights the fearlessness (or recklessness) of court fool types, including in this case, dwarfs. Here a character alludes to the ease with which a dwarf might hide under a table and, in knowing...
20th century, Africa, historical figure, quotes
A commonly mentioned feature of the court jester is their acknowledged but informal and ill-defined ‘licence’ to speak out, mock, criticize, tell the truth. Here is a striking description of a caste (or even out-caste) of clowns said to have had...
20th century, Europe, Hebrew / Yiddish, historical figure, Poland, primary source, quotes, stories
Always up-ending our expectations, no surprise to learn that the ever resourceful Rubinstein, de facto jester in the Warsaw Ghetto, nimbly solved the problem of being single by dressing up as his own wife. He could outwit death, so why not celibacy?’One source...
20th century, Europe, historical figure, Poland, primary source, quotes, stories
Rubinstein was the astonishing, funny and heart-rending fool of the Warsaw Ghetto, bracingly witty, and perhaps as mad as he was brilliant, or just superb at feigning insanity. Here he comes up with a perfect equation to predict that 40 would survive the ghetto....
20th century, English, fictive fool, primary source, quotes
This is a fictitious jester, drawing on the Thousand and One Nights, and commenting on the archetypal role of the jester as truth-teller, in this case to the exclusion of any one else. It is this perception of (and tendency among) jesters to speak the truth...
20th century, English, quotes
There, doesn’t that make you feel better? However, note that in being a divine state, you are no more entitled to be proud than ashamed of it. ‘It is all too often forgotten that the ancient symbol for the prenascence of the world is a fool, and that...
20th century, historical figure, India, Italian, primary source, quotes, stories
The roles of dwarfs and jesters in court often overlapped; a notable number of jesters were dwarfs and plenty of dwarfs were viewed as jesters. Here is an example noted by the Italian writer and journalist Carlo Levi when he was reporting for La Stampa from India....
