Gargantua and Pantagruel

Una din cărţile copliăriei la care am râs cu lacrimi. ( )

I am putting this aside unfinished, as I am not really enjoying it. Here are my thoughts so far (15% through, about halfway done with the first 'Book'):

•Written in mid-1500's (before Shakespeare and after Chaucer)
•I find I have some of the same difficulties with language that I have with Shakespeare (my recent reading of Shakespeare's plays has enhanced my ability to skip over words not only unfamiliar to me but also unknown to my dictionary!) A fair amount of Latin & perhaps other languages untranslated :(
•The translation from French is good - still can appreciate the poetry of the work. And love the Doré illustrations!
•The humor is extremely crude - the 16th century version of Benny Hill, which isn't my cup of tea. Cross between Gulliver in Lilliput and Benny Hill. ( )

witty, irreverent, and scatological. no 16th century institution or article of faith is spared from Rabelais's extravagant imagination. ( )

What was biting satire in 16th century France was for this 21st century reader a tedious conglomeration of scatological, crude and misogynistic humor. It was a real chore to finish this one. I haven’t forced myself to read a more boring book since finishing Ulysses by James Joyce. I was not surprised to learn that Joyce was influenced by Rabelais. From now on I’ll stick to Captain Underpants for potty humor. ( )

“The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel” a connected series of five novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. A story of two giants, a father (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel) and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, satirical vein. The text features much crudity, scatological humour and violence. Lists of explicit or vulgar insults fill several chapters, and is very very funny.

Readers, friends, if you turn these pages
Put your prejudice aside,
For, really, there's nothing here that's outrageous,
Nothing sick, or bad — or contagious.
Not that I sit here glowing with pride
For my book: all you'll find is laughter:
That's all the glory my heart is after,
Seeing how sorrow eats you, defeats you.
I'd rather write about laughing than crying,
For laughter makes men human, and courageous.

BE HAPPY!

http://parrishlantern.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/histories-tragedies-comedies.html ( )