SOURCE: Wilkie, J. R. “Brant and The Ship of Fools: An Introduction.” University of Leeds Review 16 (1973): 212-33.

In the following essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1973, Wilkie presents the historical context in which Brant lived and wrote, describes the contents of The Ship of Fools, reviews the critical approaches that have been taken to the poem, and offers his own views on its importance.

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to have in my audience tonight his Excellency the Ambassador of the German Federal Republic. I welcome him and his party on behalf of the German Department—and hasten to assure him that my title, ‘Brant and The Ship of Fools’, has no topical reference. My Brant lived in the fifteenth century … and as for shiploads of fools, these are universal and we have no need to cross the North Sea to find them...