Gargantua and Pantagruel
by François Rabelais · La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel
Assigned by 2 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1532-1564
- Era
- Renaissance
- Form
- Satire
- Language
- French
- Length
- Epic · 1000 ppover 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendGargantua and Pantagruel, translated by M. A. ScreechPenguin Classics, 2006The most accurate modern translation, with each chapter introduced and the jokes explained.
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Five books, the last of doubtful authorship, on the lives of two giants, Gargantua and his son Pantagruel. They eat and drink prodigiously, receive a humanist education in contrast to the scholastic one, fight comic wars, and found the Abbey of Thélème whose only rule is Do what you will. Pantagruel's companion, the rogue Panurge, cannot decide whether to marry and consults sibyls, poets, doctors and fools, and the later books follow their voyage past islands satirising lawyers, monks and papists to the oracle of the Holy Bottle, whose answer is Drink. The Great Books set prints the first four books.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Gargantua and Pantagruel are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
