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Loading... Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532)by François Rabelais
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Have an antique copy, Bibliophilist Society copy, approximately 1937 based on previous owner’s note I think anyone who loved Tristram Shandy will at least like this book, which comes from a similar place of joy and chaos and learned ... well, *stuff.* If you *hate* books like Tristram Shandy, well, you probably won't like this. And I probably won't like you. :^) Oh well. The translation and notes by the improbably-named Screech are very, very good. Top class. Tough one to review it doesn't really have a proper story it wanders around touching on pretty much every social subject you can imagine. I seriously wonder how much of it i'm actually GETTING. The version i read had no annotations, that coupled with the age, the fact its a translation and the humor which rarely dates well, i doubt i'm really absorbing more than 65% of the original text. Its crass toilet humor is probably the highlight of the work as it's so strange to see in something this old and it's so basic that transcends time. The last two books are the most 'Gulliver' like. Book 3 is the weak link being one longggggg joke which can be a bit of a slog to get through. You'll need patience to read this as Rabelais's style is quite long-winded. Overall its interesting enough, i still prefer it to Don Quixote but not quite sure why people go nuts over it. I'm done done done with this book and couldn't be more excited. It's like reading one of those teenage boy comedies... the humor is all about bodily functions and (classic though it may be) it doesn't contribute much to the quality of my life. I get why those old maids in The Music Man were so stubborn about it... and I don't get why they changed the song in the newest version (the alterers obviously never read it). Hopefully, never again will I read this. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesCorticelli [Mursia] (46) Everyman's Library (826-827) — 16 more Great Books of the Western World (Volume 24) Génie de la France Hilsum (oeuvres de François Rabelais, I,II,III,IV) insel taschenbuch (0077) Modern Library (4.2) Modern Library Giant (G65) La nostra biblioteca Edipem (80-81) Penguin Classics (L047) ET Tascabili [Einaudi] (139) ContainsHas the adaptationInspiredHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a student's study guideAwardsNotable Lists
First published in four volumes between 1532 and 1552, Rabelais' comic masterpiece chronicles the adventures of a giant, Gargantua, and his son, Pantagruel. More than four centuries later, the terms "gargantuan" and "Rabelaisian" are synonymous with earthy humor, a surfeit of good food and drink, and pleasures of the flesh. This series of exaggerated fables was condemned upon its initial publication by the censors of the Collège de la Sorbonne. But beneath their bawdy, often scatological wit, the tales bear a deeper significance as the author's defense of daring and groundbreaking ideas. Using his ribald humor, Rabelais addresses timeless issues of education, politics, and philosophy. His parodies of classic authors as well as his own contemporaries offer a hilarious exposé of human folly and an enduring satire of history, literature, religion, and culture. This edition features the classic translation by Sir Thomas Urquhart and Pierre le Motteux. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)843.8Literature French French fiction Later 19th century 1848–1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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