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cunningba's review against another edition
4.0
The first time I attempted to read this was when I was in high school over 50 years ago. Having seen many blurbs of books I was reading that called the writing Rabelaisian, I, of course, was intrigued and checked the book out from the library. I quickly skimmed some of the scatological humor near the beginning, then quickly got bogged down, bored, and returned the book to library having only read a small piece. However, I always meant to finish reading it sometime and even bought a copy in graduate school that sat on my bookshelves for over 30 years.
This year an enthusiastic Hungarian fan of Rabelais started a buddy read on Goodreads, so I signed up, figuring that if I committed to it and had somebody I might disappoint if I didn't keep up, I could get through it. The main problem reading it is that it's not all just scatology and humor. It is dense with allusions to history, Lucian, Erasmus, Roman historians, Greek and Roman mythology, the Bible, and Reformation inside baseball. When I was in high school, all this was completely over my head. I figured 50+ years later, being a lot more well read, it would be a lot easier. So I pulled down the Burton Raffel translation off my shelf, started in, and bounced right off. The problems were that (1) it was translated into an English that was so archaic that several words on every page broke most of the online dictionaries I could find and (2) there were not enough notes to untangle the many literary allusions in the text.
So, I finally broke down and spent the money to buy the Penguin Classics edition translated and annotated by M.A. Screech. That made all the difference. The notes allowed me to place all the allusions and track down the ones that were of interest. My reading buddy in Hungary also suggested the Mikhail Bakhtin's critical study Rabelais and His World. I still have barely gotten into Bakhtin's book, but I will probably finish it in the near future.
Overall, I was more impressed with the books than I had been in high school. They are quite complex. Much of Rabelais' humor would have been of more interest to 16th century audience. But a lot is quite universal. Parts of the books were a real slog, some because they just droned on and on beating the same dead horse, some because I felt the need to go read some story out of Lucian or the Bible for context. Other parts were delightful and poetic. Book V was the easiest to read, though it's not certain that it was even written by Rabelais, but Pantagruel's voyage seem to presage the latter parts of Gulliver's Travels.
This year an enthusiastic Hungarian fan of Rabelais started a buddy read on Goodreads, so I signed up, figuring that if I committed to it and had somebody I might disappoint if I didn't keep up, I could get through it. The main problem reading it is that it's not all just scatology and humor. It is dense with allusions to history, Lucian, Erasmus, Roman historians, Greek and Roman mythology, the Bible, and Reformation inside baseball. When I was in high school, all this was completely over my head. I figured 50+ years later, being a lot more well read, it would be a lot easier. So I pulled down the Burton Raffel translation off my shelf, started in, and bounced right off. The problems were that (1) it was translated into an English that was so archaic that several words on every page broke most of the online dictionaries I could find and (2) there were not enough notes to untangle the many literary allusions in the text.
So, I finally broke down and spent the money to buy the Penguin Classics edition translated and annotated by M.A. Screech. That made all the difference. The notes allowed me to place all the allusions and track down the ones that were of interest. My reading buddy in Hungary also suggested the Mikhail Bakhtin's critical study Rabelais and His World. I still have barely gotten into Bakhtin's book, but I will probably finish it in the near future.
Overall, I was more impressed with the books than I had been in high school. They are quite complex. Much of Rabelais' humor would have been of more interest to 16th century audience. But a lot is quite universal. Parts of the books were a real slog, some because they just droned on and on beating the same dead horse, some because I felt the need to go read some story out of Lucian or the Bible for context. Other parts were delightful and poetic. Book V was the easiest to read, though it's not certain that it was even written by Rabelais, but Pantagruel's voyage seem to presage the latter parts of Gulliver's Travels.
i_have_no_process's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
The fact that I think this is the funniest book ever written indubitably says more about me than it does the text.
aribook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
richard_f's review against another edition
3.0
Baudy, funny, interesting and quite contemporary. Enjoy the adventure!
mariavagovicova's review against another edition
3.0
Well. I seriously dont know what to think about this book. First it was funny. Then it was too much and then good again and then stupid I just could not handle it, I did not even finish it. I see the reason why this is such an important book but for me as a person its just not worth the time.
musicdeepdive's review against another edition
4.75
I unashamedly found this whole thing hilariously witty, even with (read: maybe because of) Rabelais' propensity for phallic, gross humor. Irreverent to the nth degree, sharp enough to back it up - a fabulously entertaining combination in any era.
mrcreighton's review against another edition
5.0
I can't claim to have read all of it, but I'm pretty certain I won't read anything filthier, funnier or as curiously life affirming. Operates from a position I guess is the opposite of Olympian, down amongst the filth, fluids and fury, but the disdain is the same, and the conviction that we are ridiculous little creatures with foolish and damaging passions. There's a lot of joy in it though.
breadandmushrooms's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
toochicforsoup's review against another edition
2.0
Occasionally humorous but people drowning in rivers of the protagonist’s excrement multiple times was perhaps a bit excessive. 2/10.