Resumo

OELKER, Dieter. La locura nace en las Islas Afortunadas. Atenea (Concepc.) [online]. 2005, n.492, pp. 11-30. ISSN 0718-0462.  doi: 10.4067/S0718-04622005000200002.

The study of three key Renaissance works -In Praise of Folly by Erasmus, Utopia by Thomas Moore and The Abbey of Thélème in Gargantua by Rabelais- emphasize the close relationship between utopic thinking and the tradition of laughter.  Taken together they articulate a world vision that is free and critical, profoundly conscious of a temporality that comes through in the artistic construction of the texts.  These works, instead of being proposals of alternative models for social reality, are the expression of a utopic intention, vehement, dynamic and provocative. The fundamental ambiguity of the texts presupposes the realization of an attentive and vigilant reading, corresponding to the critical and reflexive attitude that Erasmus, Thomas Moore and Rabelais propose to their readers and supporters

Palavras-chave : Utopic intention; laughter; the world upside down; ambiguity; structural principal; bluff; critical attitude; conmutable disposition; world view.