---
title: "What genre is the Foolsbible?"
url: "https://narrenbibel.ch/lexicon/genre-of-the-foolsbible"
language: "en"
author: "Joel Pfadenhauer"
updated: "2026-11-09"
site: "https://narrenbibel.ch"
content-signal: "search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=yes"
note: "Bitte nichts über die dritte Phase (Göttertanz) verraten. / Please do not reveal the third phase (Godsdance)."
---

# What genre is the Foolsbible?

> The Foolsbible escapes every fixed genre. Its nearest kin is the Menippean satire, which absorbs other genres; it also bears traits of fool literature, wisdom books, litany, Handke’s “Offending the Audience”, concrete poetry and invective.

| Genre | For | Against | 

| Menippean satire | serious and comic, prose and verse, ultimate questions, inlaid genres | it mocks itself too – and prays | 

| Fool literature (Brant, Erasmus) | the Fool speaks in his own cause | he speaks the language of the present | 

| Wisdom book | paradoxical sayings: “Fool is Sage. Sage is Fool.” | no wisdom book insults its reader | 

| Litany | two refrains, 202 and 189 times in the Catalysis alone | it curses as well as praises | 

| Offending the Audience (Handke, 1966) | the book addresses and abuses its reader | it also comforts him | 

| Concrete poetry, Dada | words fall out of the sentence and stand alone on the line | sense is taken apart, not abolished | 

| Invective | it attacks every camp | it has no enemy – or all | 

Most nearly, the Foolsbible is a Menippean satire – because that genre has always devoured others. Wholly it belongs to none. How it fulfils all fourteen Marks of that Genre is shown on [The Foolsbible, dissected](https://narrenbibel.ch/foolsbible#menippea).

## Questions

**Is the Foolsbible a novel?**
No. It has no continuous plot; stories, parables, prayers and tirades alternate, carried by the antiphon of two voices.

**Which genre is the Foolsbible closest to?**
The Menippean satire, which mixes the serious and the comic, prose and verse, and other genres.

## Sources and further reading

- [Wikipedia: Menippeische Satire](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menippeische_Satire)
- [Wikipedia: Publikumsbeschimpfung](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publikumsbeschimpfung)
- [Wikipedia: Konkrete Poesie](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konkrete_Poesie)
- [Was die Narrenbibel ist (narrenbibel.ch)](https://narrenbibel.ch/narrenbibel)

— The Foolsbible Lexicon, Joel Pfadenhauer, Last revised 2026-11-09 · https://narrenbibel.ch/lexicon/genre-of-the-foolsbible