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A review by blueyorkie
Gargântua e Pantagruel by François Rabelais
5.0
It was perhaps my lucky day when chance put in my hands this volume, which contains two works by the man who is perhaps considered the first great novelist in literature history.
Gargantua and Pantagruel are part of these complete works which alone embrace several literary sources: the novel of chivalry, the fantastic tale, parody and satire…; as well as several themes and sources of inspiration: war, education, burlesque dialogues, fantastic journeys, verisimilitude and improbability, fantasy ... This heterogeneous mixture is based on great freedom and improvisation; a pleasant and surprising style that we find in the first great fictional works like Don Quixote by Cervantes, Jacques Le Fataliste by Diderot or perhaps even Tristam Shandy by Sterne. These works that have made novelists dream and which still fascinate readers.
This could repel some fans of the classic nineteenth-century novel. But you should know that we are in front of two masterful works where the imagination had this magic of the tales of the Thousand and One Nights. This kind of series of stories can insert other stories in the same vein, another fantastic night without the text losing its general unity. We find images in the masters of magical realism in whom humour goes hand in hand with depth. In Gargantua and Pantagruel, Rabelais used his erudition and his sense of observation to create this universe with its unforgettable characters (among them this famous Panurge).
For the modern reader that we are, Rabelais and his two works link with the 16th century, where so many changes have taken place, especially in terms of language. Rabelais makes us relive this bygone century with its customs, its conflicts, its great ideas, its quarrels, this spirit of humanism as well as this thirst for knowledge worthy of the Renaissance; all this expressed with great relief and picturesque especially with humour and erudition. Rabelais tells us about these two good giants' itinerary since their birth, describing their education and their exploits and prowess.
Gargantua and Pantagruel are part of these complete works which alone embrace several literary sources: the novel of chivalry, the fantastic tale, parody and satire…; as well as several themes and sources of inspiration: war, education, burlesque dialogues, fantastic journeys, verisimilitude and improbability, fantasy ... This heterogeneous mixture is based on great freedom and improvisation; a pleasant and surprising style that we find in the first great fictional works like Don Quixote by Cervantes, Jacques Le Fataliste by Diderot or perhaps even Tristam Shandy by Sterne. These works that have made novelists dream and which still fascinate readers.
This could repel some fans of the classic nineteenth-century novel. But you should know that we are in front of two masterful works where the imagination had this magic of the tales of the Thousand and One Nights. This kind of series of stories can insert other stories in the same vein, another fantastic night without the text losing its general unity. We find images in the masters of magical realism in whom humour goes hand in hand with depth. In Gargantua and Pantagruel, Rabelais used his erudition and his sense of observation to create this universe with its unforgettable characters (among them this famous Panurge).
For the modern reader that we are, Rabelais and his two works link with the 16th century, where so many changes have taken place, especially in terms of language. Rabelais makes us relive this bygone century with its customs, its conflicts, its great ideas, its quarrels, this spirit of humanism as well as this thirst for knowledge worthy of the Renaissance; all this expressed with great relief and picturesque especially with humour and erudition. Rabelais tells us about these two good giants' itinerary since their birth, describing their education and their exploits and prowess.