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See also: The Decameron 102 ■ The Canterbury Tales 68–71 ■
Don Quixote 76–81 ■ Tristram Shandy 104 – 05RENAISSANCE TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Yet despite such crude and extreme
behavior, Rabelais ensures that his
giant creations will pass easily in
the new world of Renaissance
humanism by making them fully
conversant in the finer points of
learning, including medicine, law,
and science. In a letter to his son,
the old giant Gargantua contrasts
his own upbringing in “dark” times
with the current age, where “light
and dignity have been restored.”
After the arrival of the printing
press in the mid-15th century,
ordinary people could read the
Bible in translation—for the first
time they had direct access to the
word of God, unmediated by the
agenda of the church. Althoughhe was a priest, Rabelais seized
his chance to satirize religious
dogmatism. Gargantua’s mighty
warrior, Friar John, is given the
sumptuous Abbey of Thélème
filled with finely dressed nuns and
monks who consort freely. “Do what
thou wilt” is the rule of the order, as
“we all engage in things forbidden,
and yearn for things denied.”
Witty, irreverent, and stuffed
with intellectual marrow, no other
novel is quite like Gargantua and
Pantagruel. It has been celebrated
by authors across the centuries,
and most recently by postmodern
writers, who have found much to
admire in the narrative freedom
of Rabelais’ great work. ■François Rabelais
Writer, medic, scholar of
Greek, and priest, François
Rabelais was an intellectual
giant of 16th-century France.
Born in the Touraine region
probably around 1494, he
studied law before taking holy
orders with the Franciscans.
He then transferred to a
Benedictine order, where he
studied medicine and Greek.
In 1530, breaking his vows,
he left the Benedictines to
study medicine at Montpellier
University. After graduating,
he lectured on the works of
ancient Greek physicians such
as Hippocrates and Galen,
whose work he translated, and
worked as a physician in Lyon.
Using the pseudonym
Alcofribas Nasier (an anagram
of his name), in 1532 Rabelais
published Pantagruel, the first
of the five books that would
make up Gargantua and
Pantagruel, although Rabelais’
authorship of the fifth book is
doubtful. All five books were
condemned by the Sorbonne
and the church, and despite
being protected by powerful
patrons, Rabelais was forced
to live abroad from 1545 to
1547, fearing persecution. He
later received a papal pardon.
He died in Paris in 1553.Gargantua: Pantagruel’s
father drowns 260,418
Parisians in urine and steals
the bells of Notre Dame.The Fourth Book: A
battle with the half-sausage
Chitterlings is stopped by a
divine pig who excretes
mustard on the battlefield.The Third Book:
Pantagruel’s friend Panurge
wants to get married, and
many philosophical
discussions ensue.Pantagruel: Pantagruel
creates a race of tiny people
by farting, and drowns an
enemy army in urine.The Fifth Book:
Pantagruel and his friends
come across Hearsay, a
blind man with seven
tongues, whose head is
covered with ears.Although Rabelais wrote Pantagruel first, the series is usually
published in the order of the story, starting with Gargantua. The
first two books are characterized by satire and bawdy humor, the
third is more serious, and the fourth and fifth are darkly mocking.US_072-073_Gargantua.indd 73 08/10/2015 13:04