Contra Jogulatores Obloquentes ( Against Jesters Who Defame and Insult)

I had first heard of the jester sometime in 1997. Then it was perhaps in 1998 when, during a discussion on storytelling, a friend of mine, who had read his Nobel acceptance speech at the library, asked me to go through it.

And then I read it, which was entitled, "Contra Jogulatores Obloquentes", or "Against Jesters Who Defame and Insult". It was based on a Law issued by Emperor Frederick II in 1221, which declared that anyone might commit violence against jesters without any fear of punishment or sanction.

It was a very interesting speech. It was not at all Nobel-speech like but rather informal. In it, he laughed at himself, made fun of intellecuals and attacked the Vetican. In his own words, "I mean come on, first you give the prize to a black man, then to a Jewish writer. Now you give it to a clown. What gives? As they say in Naples: pazziàmme? Have we lost our senses?"

But he also paid glowing tribute to the storytellers of his childhood. Those were some very oridinary people, who taight him the basics of storytelling. "They were the old storytellers, the master glass-blowers who taught me and other children the craftsmanship, the art, of spinning fantastic yarns. We would listen to them, bursting with laughter - laughter that would stick in our throats as the tragic allusion that surmounted each sarcasm would dawn on us. To this day I keep fresh in my mind the story of the Rock of Caldé."

And so he acknowledged how the award belongs to many of these people. "I can tell you there is an extraordinary number of people who rejoice with me over your choice. And so I bring you the most festive thanks, in the name of a multitude of mummers, jesters, clowns, tumblers and storytellers.

And they express their gratitude with explosive exuberance. In my home town, people swear that on the night the news arrived that one of their own storytellers was to be awarded the Nobel Prize, a kiln that had been standing cold for some fifty years suddenly erupted in a broadside of flames, spraying high into the air - like a fireworks finale - a myriad splinters of coloured glass, which then showered down on the surface of the lake, releasing an impressive cloud of steam."

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(Talking of jesters: The jester himself had to suffer many different of violence in his life. This culminated in a group of fascists kidnaping, torturing and raping his wife, Franca Rame in 1973. As the Nobel website mentions: Through this beastly act, they seek to punish Franca and Dario for their political activism, in particular Franca's work in the prisons since 1970. Outcries of indignation and support throughout Italy.)

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Source: http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1997/fo-lecture.html
http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1997/fo-bio.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Fo