Novel
Pantagruel
François Rabelais · 1532
Synopsis
The narrative goes back to the origin of the giants, traces the genealogy of Pantagruel, son of Gargantua, his birth and childhood, then his studies at the universities, during which his father sends him a letter urging him to learn everything. On learning that the Dipsodes have invaded his country, he sets out with his companions to relieve a besieged town, with a great deal of trickery and feats of prowess.
Context
The book appeared in Lyon from Claude Nourry, probably in 1532, under the pseudonym Alcofrybas Nasier, an anagram of the author's name. It follows in the wake of popular chronicles about the giant Gargantua and takes the medieval romances as its model: childhood, apprenticeship and exploits. The Faculty of Theology of Paris denounced it for obscenity in October 1533, and it appeared in 1543 on the first Parisian index; the copy in the Bibliothèque nationale de France still bears, crossed out in ink, the passages judged offensive.
Who it is for
A short text, in sixteenth-century French, to be read in an annotated edition or in a modernised version.
Prizes and reception
An immediate success, it was reissued several times in Lyon and Paris despite its condemnation.
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