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François Rabelais (–1553)

Author of Gargantua and Pantagruel

404+ Works 8,702 Members 95 Reviews 39 Favorited

About the Author

One of the leading humanist writers of the French Renaissance, Rabelais was at first a Franciscan and then a Benedictine monk, a celebrated physician and professor of anatomy, and later cure of Meudon. The works of Rabelais are filled with life to the overflowing, hence the term "Rabelaisian." His show more principal protagonists, Gargantua and his son, Pantagruel, are appropriately giants, not only in size, but also in spirit and action. The five books of their adventures are separate works, containing, in different measure, adventures, discussions, farcical scenes, jokes, games, satires, philosophical commentaries, and anything else that a worldly, learned man of genius such as Rabelais could pour into his work. His style is innovative and idiosyncratic, marked by humorous neologisms made up from the learned languages, Greek and Latin, side by side with the most earthy, humble, and rough words of the street and barnyard. His Gargantua, published in 1534, satirizes the traditional education of Parisian theologians and, in the Abbe de Theleme episode, recommends a free, hedonistic society of handsome young men and women in contrast to the restrictive life of monasticism. The gigantic scope of Rabelais's work also reflects the Renaissance thirst for encyclopedic knowledge. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:

Alcofribas Nasier is a pseudonym for Rabelais

(fre) Alcofribas Nasier is a pseudonym and anagram for François Rabelais

Image credit: From Album littéraire de la France

Series

Works by François Rabelais

Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532) 5,362 copies, 52 reviews
Gargantua (1534) 755 copies, 12 reviews
Pantagruel (1532) 494 copies, 11 reviews
Gargantua and Pantagruel, Books 1-4 (1952) 348 copies, 2 reviews
The Portable Rabelais (1946) 230 copies, 1 review
Rabelais: Oeuvres complètes (1934) 178 copies, 1 review
The Third Book of Pantagruel (1546) 152 copies, 2 reviews
The Fourth Book of Pantagruel (1552) 93 copies, 1 review
Gargantua {Extraits} (1972) 66 copies, 1 review
The Fifth Book of Pantagruel (1564) 54 copies, 2 reviews
Pantagruel het derde en vierde boek (1997) 20 copies, 2 reviews
Wise Fool (1968) 20 copies, 5 reviews
Pantagruel [extraits] (2003) 16 copies
The Works of Rabelais (1935) 14 copies
The Works of Rabelais (1928) 13 copies
Traité de bon usage de vin (2009) 11 copies
Oeuvres Completes 1 (1980) 9 copies
oeuvres completes,tome 2 (1962) 9 copies
Rabelais (1946) 5 copies
Tout Rabelais (2022) 5 copies
Aventuras Galantes (2011) 4 copies
Oeuvres de Rabelais (2023) 4 copies
Gargântua & Pantagruel (Volume I) — Author — 3 copies
Gargantua - BAC 2022 (2021) 3 copies
Rabelais 3 copies
Pantagruel : en roman (2014) 2 copies
Pages Choisies (1947) 2 copies
Oeuvres romanesques (2000) 2 copies
Works 1 copy
The Works of Rabelias (1955) 1 copy
Garguantua 1 copy
PANTAGRUEL (TOME II) (1963) 1 copy
Le Tiers livre (2013) 1 copy
Gargantua 1 copy
The Work of Rabelais (1930) 1 copy
Les Ouevres 1 copy
Gargantua 1 copy
Gargantua, suivi de Pantagruel (2008) — Author — 1 copy
Pantagruel-2 1 copy
Oeuvres 1 copy

Associated Works

The Book of Fantasy (1940) — Contributor — 745 copies, 15 reviews
The Portable Renaissance Reader (1953) — Contributor — 584 copies, 2 reviews
The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology (1992) — Contributor — 443 copies, 4 reviews
Great Short Stories of the World (1925) — Contributor — 167 copies, 1 review
The Utopia Reader (1999) — Contributor — 125 copies, 1 review
Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 32 copies, 2 reviews
The Body and the Dream - French Erotic Fiction 1464-1900 (1983) — Contributor — 24 copies
The Ribald Reader: 2000 Years of Lusty Love and Laughter (1906) — Contributor — 19 copies, 2 reviews
Law in Action: An Anthology of the Law in Literature (1947) — Contributor — 16 copies
The World of Law, Volume I : The Law in Literature (1960) — Contributor — 13 copies
Piirakkasota; valikoima huumoria — Contributor — 3 copies
The Omnibus of Pleasure: The Pleasure Primer (1943) — Contributor — 2 copies
Literaire rechtspraak — Contributor, some editions — 1 copy

Tagged

1001 (28) 1001 books (35) 16th century (292) classic (135) classics (204) ebook (37) fantasy (96) fiction (766) France (213) Franklin Library (48) François Rabelais (28) French (361) French fiction (62) French literature (514) Great Books (35) humanism (28) humor (125) literature (394) medieval (32) narrativa (28) novel (221) Penguin Classics (33) Rabelais (100) read (31) Renaissance (155) Roman (102) satire (195) to-read (334) translation (56) unread (46)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Rabelais, François
Other names
Nasier, Alcofribas
Birthdate
1483/94
Date of death
1553-04-09
Gender
male
Education
University of Montpellier (Doctor of Medicine|1537)
University of Poitiers (law)
Occupations
monk
doctor
physician
novelist
writer
Organizations
Franciscan Order
Benedictine Order
Hôtel-Dieu
Short biography
French Renaissance writer, doctor and humanist. François Rabelais studied law and joined the Franciscan order of monks. He then studied medicine and became a practicing physician, but his true genius was as a storyteller. He's considered an eminent, avant-garde author of fantasy and satire, with his comic masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel being published in several volumes between 1532 and 1564. Since his day, "Rabelaisian" has entered the English vocabulary as a byword for works marked by bawdy or outrageous humor, caricatures, and bold truthfulness.
Nationality
France
Birthplace
La Devinière, Indre-et-Loire, France
Places of residence
Chinon, Anjou, France
Montpellier, Hérault, France
Metz, Moselle, France
Poitiers, Vienne, France
Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France
Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendée, France (show all 12)
Maillezais, Vendée, France
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Lyon, Rhône, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Rome, Italy
Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Val de Marne, France
Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Place of death
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Burial location
Cimetière de l'église Saint-Paul, Paris
Map Location
France
Disambiguation notice
Alcofribas Nasier is a pseudonym for Rabelais
Associated Place (for map)
France

Members

Reviews

115 reviews
The story of the giant Pantagruel is presented as the sequel to a popular chapbook of the time, the Grandes et inestimables Chronicques de l'énorme géant Gargantua (although Rabelais later went back and wrote his own prequel about Panatagruel's father, Gargantua) and ties in to a long popular tradition of giant stories. If Rabelais is to be believed (and he insists that everything he tells us is true, so obviously he should be), Gargantua and Pantagruel have a heritage that goes right back show more to the Book of Genesis, set out in one of the opening chapters in a three-page list of "and he begat ...".

But what's new in Rabelais is that he serves up the grotesque and fantastic elements of the giant story in an incongruous context of humanist renaissance scholarship. Pantagruel is not just any giant, he's a man of the moment, a graduate of the Sorbonne who can debate with visiting scholars, settle law cases, advise on medical matters, and much else, usually taking the opportunity to make scholastics, alchemists, indulgence-sellers and other enemies of humanism look silly in the process. I found it very interesting to discover how often Rabelais reminds us that we are living in a Renaissance surrounded by new, exciting ideas and need to get rid of the clutter of medieval thought. I hadn't expected to find this so explicitly set out! And of course it was this aspect of the books that repeatedly got Rabelais into trouble with the Church and the authorities at the Sorbonne.

However, we all know what "Rabelaisian" means: transgressive humour in glorious excess. And we get a lot of that: double-entendres, hundreds of codpiece and fart jokes, mammoth drinking sessions resulting in oceans of piss, baby giants eating live bears, a whole army sheltering under Pantagruel's tongue, and all the rest of it. I was amused to see how often the editor of the 1964 edition I was using felt he had to resort to blanks and circumlocutions in the Notes for things that were unmistakably explicit in the original text. As if his delicate young readers could be protected from unpleasant words by 16th century spelling conventions alone...

Is it still funny for modern readers? Well, yes, but not always. Some scenes still work brilliantly - I loved the philosophical debate conducted entirely in (meaningless) signs and gestures, for instance, which would have been equally effective as a Monty Python sketch. Perfect timing and a narrator who just about manages to maintain the pretence that he is taking it all seriously keep us on the edge of doubting that there might be some meaning in it all after all. The multilingual discussion when Pantagruel first meets Panurge is another triumph. And on the smaller scale, Rabelais is good at setting us up for the terrible puns he's about to sneak in. But in other places it can feel a bit formulaic - a fart or a reference to codpieces is just thrown in gratuitously when Rabelais wants to change the pace. The list jokes also seem to go on for about three times as long as they need to, and some one-liners are ruined when Rabelais draws them out too long (e.g. the notion that the walls of Paris should be rebuilt using female genitals because they can be had for much less money than building-stone at the moment - a joke that becomes decidedly unpleasant as soon as you start to think about it).

I was expecting to have trouble with the 16th-century French, but actually it's not all that difficult: the main hurdle to get over for a reader is the different spelling convention, and once you've got that sorted out, there turn out to be rather few words that aren't current any more, and most of those are either picked up by the Notes or obvious from the context.
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½
A derék Pantagruel hősi cselekedeteinek és mondásainak
HARMADKÖNYVE
(móriczos változat)

PANURGOSZ: Urambátyám, én mögházasodnék.
PANTAGRUEL: Ne tegye kend, mer mögcsalja az asszon.
PANURGOSZ: De pedig!
PANTAGRUEL: Akkó szakadjék mög kend.

(Valahogy így. Csak sokkal több szóban. Rabelais első két könyvének hősei most visszatérnek, hogy egy alacsonyabb költségvetésű történetben szórakoztassák a nagyérdeműt. Ezúttal jóval kevesebb a pajzán kaland és a világot show more átszelő utazás – jobbára csak a mélyen férficentrikus filozofikus eszmecsere marad. Az igazi főszereplő ezúttal Panurgosz, aki elhatározza, hogy nőt veszen magához, de előtte kikéri nagybecsű patrónusa, Pantagruel véleményét, aki ebben a könyvben nem testi erejét, sokkal inkább bölcsességét villogtatja. Pantagruel nem támogatja az ötletet, megjósolván, hogy a hölgyemény szarvakkal ajándékozza majd meg Panurgoszt, ráadásul alighanem el is agyabugyálja – de az érintett sutba vágja a jó tanácsot, és továbbra is ragaszkodik elképzeléséhez. Innentől kezdve újra és újra azt látjuk, hogy Panurgosz a legkülönbözőbb orákulumokhoz fordul útbaigazításért, bölcshöz és bolondhoz, orvoshoz és filozófushoz, tudáshoz és varázslathoz, vagy egyszerűen csak a hatoldalú kockához, akik mind csalfa asszonyt ígérnek neki – de hősünknek egyre vadabb kacskaringókkal mindig sikerül úgy magyarázni az eredményt, hogy az az ő előfeltételezéseit támassza alá. Hogy aztán az egész retorikai salto mortale meglepetésszerű hajóútba – és bosszantó függővégbe* – torkolljon a végén. Tanmese ez az ostobáról, aki nem képes döntéseiért vállalni a felelősséget, ezért tanácsot kér – de ha nem szája íze szerint való a tanács, akkor vissza az egész. Ráadásul mindez olyan hajmeresztő okoskodásokkal teletűzdelt tündéri szófosással előadva, hogy attól az ember legszívesebben a falnak menne – ez a stíl gúnyos koppintás a korabeli Sorbonne szőrözőinek és zabhegyezőinek az orrára, akik felsőbb parancsra még a feketéről is bebizonyítanák, hogy fehér, de legalábbis törtszürke. Persze e szatirikus koppintástól a párizsi egyetemet még nem szippantotta be akkoriban az önnön oktondisága által képzett fekete lyuk, de annyi azért elmondható, hogy amíg Rabelais neve azóta is közszájon forog, a Sorbonne teológusainak névsorát 1543-ból alighanem csak pár szent őrült tudná akár csak részben is felsorolni. És ez is valami – az irodalom kis diadala az emberi butaság felett.)

* Apropos függővég. Remélem, Csordás Gábor már elkezdte fordítani a negyedkönyvet, mert különben!
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This collection of books began with the highest of the high, then proceeded immediately to tank miserably until it reached the lowest of the low. I read the version translated by Samuel Putnam, and in his hands, the word "lively" in the title was very well suited. The first book of Gargantua was a revelation, rich with linguistic acrobatics, profound in silliness, and filled to hilarity with hyperbole. I enjoyed every moment.

Then Pantagruel was born, and I wished he never was. I prefer the show more father, and the apple fell far from the tree. The first book on his life contained nothing I can remember. The second book contained hundreds of pages of a meandering conversation about whether or not his friend should marry. The third book had 20 or so pages on a missing hatchet? What a waste of my time. show less
This whole series is stuffed with references to ancient greece, ancient rome, references to the bible, medieval history and philosophy, and i mean caked with so many classical references while being so verbosely fancy and grotesque at the same time, that if you'd get rid of them you could probably read these five books all in one sitting. Critics love to take a dump on Ready Player One for namedropping 80s and 90s pop culture brands and references, but still consider Pantagruel a literary show more masterpiece because it was written by a white man some five centuries ago, whatever floats their boat, but I'll never get their point.
And yes, I am well-versed in classical culture and history, but still found Pantagruel an insufferably tedious read. My favorite scenes and the only ones that I deem as worth remembering were Panurge's sign debate and some passages in Gargantua, but that's all there's to it, these works are extremely outdated and unsuitable for a modern audience, also the repetitive poop and pee and ass jokes weren't funny, at all.
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Associated Authors

Samuel Putnam Translator, Editor
Jimmy Bertini Adapted by
Marie-Thérèse Adam Traduction et adaptation
Jacob Le Duchat Contributor
J. A. Sandfort Translator
Frank C. Papé Illustrator
Théo Buckinx Translator
Joseph Hémard Illustrator
Burton Raffel Translator
Peter Le Motteux Translator
J. M. Cohen Translator
Mario Bonfantini Translator
Gustave Dore Illustrator
Daniel Leprince Cover designer
Victor Hugo Foreword
Walter Widmer Translator
Myriam Marrache-Gouraud Translation en français moderne, présentation, notes, dossier, chronologie, index, bibliographie
Erkki Ahti Translator
Erkki Salo Translator
Ville Keynäs Translator
Thomas Urquhart Translator
Peter Motteux Translator
Jacques Leclercq Translator
Jean-Yves Pouilloux Introduction
Henning Hagerup Translator
Louis Chalon Illustrator
Gustave Doré Illustrator
Urquhart Translator
Motteux Translator
R.A. Brandt Illustrator
Pierre Jaskarzec Annexes et cahier illustré

Statistics

Works
404
Also by
20
Members
8,702
Popularity
#2,754
Rating
3.8
Reviews
95
ISBNs
466
Languages
29
Favorited
39

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