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Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to the English one. | |
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Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to the English one. AUX LECTEURS
Amis lecteurs, qui ce livre lisez,
Despouilez-vous de toute affection,
Et, le lisant, ne vous scandalisez :
il ne contient mal ni infection.
Vray est qu'icy peu de perfection
Vous apprendrez, sinon en cas de rire ;
Aultre argument ne peut mon coeur elire,
Voyant le dueil qui vous mine et consomme :
Mieux est de ris que de larmes escripre,
Pour ce que rire est le propre de l'homme.  | |
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Most noble and illustrious drinkers, and you thrice precious pockified blades (for to you, and none else do I dedicate my writings), Alcibiades, in that dialogue of Plato's which is entitled The Banquet, whilst he was setting forth the praises of his schoolmaster Socrates (without all question the prince of philosophers), amongst other discourses to that purpose said that he resembled the Sileni. | |
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So far as I am concerned, I would have every man put aside his proper business, take no care for his trade, and forget his own affairs, in order to devote himself entirely to this book. I would have him allow no distraction or hindrance from elsewhere to trouble his mind, until he knows it by heart; so that if the art of printing happened to die out, or all books should come to perish, everyone should be able, in time to come, to teach it thoroughly to his children, and to transmit it to his successors and survivors, as if from hand to hand, like some religious Cabala. If you say to me: 'It does not seem very wise of you to have written down all this gay and empty balderdash for us,' I would reply that you do not show yourself much wiser by taking pleasure in the reading of it. If you want to be good Pantagruelists, moreover - that is to say, to live in peace, joy, and health, always making good cheer - never trust in men who peer from under a cowl. Friar John: "By my thirst, dear friend, when the snows are on the mountains - the head and chin, I mean - there's no great heat in the valleys of the cod-piece." Panurge: "By the blisters on your heels, you don't understand plain logic. When the snow's on the mountains there is thunder, lightning, whirlwinds, avalanches, tempests and all the devils in the valleys...You mock me for my greying hair, but you don't consider that my nature is like the leeks, which we find white on top when its tail's green, straight, and vigorous." | |
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This work does indeed contain all five of the books of Gargantua and Pantagruel (i.e. Gargantua, Pantagruel, The Third Book, The Fourth Book, The Fifth Book), even though in some cases (e.g. the Penguin Classics edition), only ‘Gargantua’ and ‘Pantagruel’ are mentioned on the front cover.
Any editions consisting of only ‘Gargantua’ and ‘Pantagruel’ (check the table of contents) should be separated from this work. This work consists of the five books of Gargantua and Pantagruel, i.e.:
- Gargantua
- Pantagruel
- The Third Book (Le tiers livre)
- The Fourth Book (Le quart livre)
- The Fifth Book (Le cinquième livre)
Should not be combined with editions that contain only the first two books. | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English (4)
▾LibraryThing members' description ▾Book descriptions Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0140445501, Paperback)
A masterly new translation of Rabelais’s robust scatalogical comedy Parodying everyone from classic authors to his own contemporaries, the dazzling and exuberant stories of Rabelais expose human follies with mischievous and often obscene humor. Gargantua depicts a young giant who becomes a cultured Christian knight. Pantagruel portrays Gargantua’s bookish son who becomes a Renaissance Socrates, divinely guided by wisdom and by his idiotic, self-loving companion, Panurge. (retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:46:51 -0400) (see all 6 descriptions) ▾Library descriptions Abandoned as an infant, Tom Jones grows into a lusty, imprudent young man who, after promising to mend his ways, competes with his abusive rival for the affections of a wealthy squire's daughter and learns the truth about his identity. (summary from another edition) |
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Its author is one of those names that's become a word in itself, such as Machiavellian, Shakespearian, Darwinian, Freudian... This is how "Rabelaisian" is defined, quite accurately, on Merriam-Webster.com:
1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of Rabelais or his works
2 : marked by gross robust humor, extravagance of caricature, or bold naturalism.
Gross is right, with a side of crude, and as for the "bold naturalism"--just know that means nature as in bodily effluvia, not the beauty of the wild. There's perhaps nothing more tedious than reading through a longwinded book that's supposed to be uproariously funny and wise but only bores you silly, when you're not going ewwww--and I have been known to laugh at bawdy Shakespeare jokes. This book is pedantic, rambling, misogynistic, and Rabelais was way too overfond of lists. Very, very long lists.
I do get its importance. Sorta. I can certainly see the line connecting Gargantua and Pantagruel to Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Joyce's Ulysses, even Gregory Maguire's Wicked. Have I mentioned how much I hate Wicked? I do. (Not a fan of Ulysses either.) I also get how subversive and irreverent it was when published. Nevertheless, as one reviewer put it, there's only so much codpiece jokes one can take. (Never mind poop and fart jokes.) (