General characteristics of the work of Francois Rabelais. Francois Rabelais - biography, information, personal life of Francois Rabelais. Gargantua and Pantagruel

Francois Rabelais (French François Rabelais). Born presumably on February 4, 1494 in Chinon - died on April 9, 1553 in Paris. French writer of the Renaissance, humanist. Author of the novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel".

François Rabelais was probably born on February 4, 1494 in Chinon. Although it is not possible to establish definitely the place and time of his birth today. The estimated date and place of birth are based on data left by his contemporaries. Although some researchers give the year of his birth as 1483, others date Rabelais's birth to November 1494.

The place of his birth is considered to be the Devigne estate in Seuilly, where the writer's museum is now located.

François Rabelais's father worked as a lawyer next to Chinon.

As a child, Rabelais was sent as a novice to the Franciscan monastery in Fontenay-le-Comte. There he studied ancient Greek and Latin, natural sciences, philology and law, earning fame and respect for his research among his humanist contemporaries, including Guillaume Budet. Due to the order's disapproval of his research, Rabelais obtained permission from Pope Clement VII to move to the Benedictine monastery at Malieuse, where he met with a warmer attitude.

Rabelais later left the monastery to study medicine at the universities of Poitiers and Montpellier.

In 1532 he moved to Lyon, one of the cultural centers of France. There he combined medical practice with editing Latin works for the printer Sebastian Griff. He devoted his free time to writing and publishing humorous pamphlets that criticized established orders and expressed his understanding of individual freedom.

In 1532, under a pseudonym Alcofribas Nassier(Alcofribas Nasier is an anagram of his own name without the cedilla) Rabelais published his first book - "Pantagruel", which later became the second part of what immortalized his name "Gargantua and Pantagruel".

In 1534, her prehistory followed - "Gargantua", which told about the life of the father of the protagonist of the previous book. Both works were condemned by Sorbonne theologians and Catholic clerics for their satirical content. The third part, published by Rabelais in 1546 under his real name, was also banned.

Thanks to the support of the influential Du Bellay family, Rabelais received permission from King Francis I to continue publishing. However, after the death of the monarch, the writer again faced the disapproval of the academic elite, and the French parliament suspended sales of his fourth book.

For some time - in 1534 and 1539 - Rabelais taught medicine in Montpellier.

He often traveled to Rome with his friend Cardinal Jean du Bellay, and also lived for a short time (when he enjoyed the patronage of Francis I) in Turin with his brother Guillaume. The du Bellay family again helped Rabelais in 1540 - in the legalization of two of his children (Auguste François and Junie).

In 1545-1547, Rabelais lived in Metz, a republican imperial free city, where he found refuge from the condemnation of Parisian theologians.

In 1547 he was appointed vicar of Saint-Christophe-du-Jambais and Meudon. He resigned this position shortly before his death in Paris in 1553.

The poet’s last words were supposedly “I’m going to look for the Great “Perhaps””, according to another version - “Beati qui in Domino moriuntir”.

One of the most remarkable writers of his era, Rabelais is, at the same time, the most faithful and living reflection of it. Standing alongside the greatest satirists, he occupies an honorable place between philosophers and educators.

Rabelais is completely a man of his time, a man of the Renaissance in his sympathies and affections, in his wandering, almost vagabond life, in the diversity of his information and activities. He is a humanist, physician, lawyer, philologist, archaeologist, naturalist, theologian, and in all these areas - “the most valiant interlocutor at the feast of the human mind.” All the mental, moral and social ferment of his era was reflected in his two great novels.

Rabelais's weapon of satire is laughter, gigantic laughter, often monstrous, like his heroes. To the terrible social disease that was raging everywhere, he prescribed huge doses of laughter.

A satirical novel by the 16th-century French writer Francois Rabelais in five books about two good giant gluttons, father and son. The novel ridicules many human vices and does not spare the author’s contemporary state and church. In the novel, Rabelais ridicules, on the one hand, the numerous claims of the church, and on the other, the ignorance and laziness of the monks. Rabelais colorfully shows all the vices of the Catholic clergy, which caused mass protest during the Reformation.

The Rabelais asteroid, discovered by L. G. Karachkina at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory on October 14, 1982, is named in honor of Francois Rabelais.

Francois Rabelais. Gargantua and Pantagruel

Classic edition by François Rabelais - Marty-Laveau, published in 1875 under the title: "Oeuvres Complètes de Rabelais", with notes and dictionary.

Russian-language publications by Francois Rabelais:

The story of the glorious Gargantuas, the most terrible giant of all who have hitherto been in the world. - St. Petersburg, 1790 (first Russian translation);

Selected passages from Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruelle and Montaigne's Essays. / Translation by S. Smirnov. - M., 1896;

Gargantua and Pantagruel. / Translation by V. A. Piast. - M.-L.: ZIF, 1929. - 536 pp., 5,000 copies;

Gargantua and Pantagruel. / Translation by N. M. Lyubimov. - M.: Goslitizdat, 1961. The publication contains numerous censorship abbreviations, including deleted chapters;

Gargantua and Pantagruel. / Translation by N. M. Lyubimov. - M.: Fiction, 1973. - (Library of World Literature). The same translation, but with almost completely restored text.

1. The largest representative of French humanism and one of the greatest French writers of all time was François Rabelais (1494-1553). Born into the family of a wealthy landowner, he studied in a monastery where he eagerly studied ancient writers and legal treatises. After leaving the monastery, he took up medicine, became a doctor in Lyon, and made two trips to Rome in the retinue of the Parisian bishop, where he studied Roman antiquities and oriental medicinal herbs. After this, he spent two years in the service of Francis1, traveling around southern France and practicing medicine, received the title of Doctor of Medicine, once again visited Rome and returned, received two parishes, but did not perform priestly duties. Died in Paris. Scholars of Rabelais' work testify to the vastness of his knowledge, but are not of great interest (commenting on ancient works on medicine).

2. Rabelais's main work is the novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel", in which, under the cover of a comic narrative about all sorts of fables, he gave an unusually sharp and deep criticism of the institutions and customs of the Middle Ages, contrasting them with the system of a new, humanistic culture. The impetus for the creation of the novel was the published anonymous book “Great and Invaluable Chronicles of the Great and Huge Giant Gargantua,” which parodied knightly romances. Soon Rabelais released a sequel to this book entitled “The Terrible and Terrifying Deeds and Exploits of the Glorious Pantagruel, King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant Gargantuel.” This book, published under the pseudonym Alcofribas Nazier, and which later formed the second part of his novel, went through a number of editions and even several forgeries in a short time. In this book, the comic still prevails over the serious, although Renaissance motifs can already be heard. Inspired by the success of this book, Rabelais published under the same pseudonym the beginning of the story, which was to replace the popular book, entitled “The Tale of the Terrible Life of the Great Gargantua, Father of Pantagruel,” which constituted the first book of the entire novel. Gargantua borrowed only some motifs from his source, the rest was his own creativity. Fiction gave way to real images, and the comic form covered up very deep thoughts. The story of Gargantua's upbringing reveals the differences between the old scholastic and new humanistic methods and pedagogy. “The Third Book of the Heroic Deeds and Sayings of the Good Pantagruel” was published a long time later under the real name of the author. It differs significantly from the two previous books. At this time, Francis' policy completely changed, executions of Calvinists became more frequent, reaction triumphed, and severe censorship arose, which forced Rabelais to make his satire in the “Third Book” more restrained and covered up. Rabelais republished his first two books, eliminating passages expressing sympathy for the Calvinists and softening his attacks on the Sarbonnists. But despite this, his three books were banned by the theological faculty of Paris. The “third book” sets out the philosophy of “pantagruelism,” which for Rabelais, who was largely disillusioned and has now become more moderate, is equivalent to inner peace and a certain indifference to everything that surrounds him. The first short edition of the “Fourth Book of the Heroic Deeds and Speeches of Pantagruel” is also of a restrained nature. But 4 years later, under the patronage of Cardinal du Bellay, Rabelais published an expanded edition of this book. He gave vent to his indignation against royal policies that supported religious fanaticism, and gave his satire an extremely harsh character. 9 years after Rabelais’s death, his book “The Sounding Island” was published, and two years later, under his own name, the complete “fifth book” was published, which was a sketch by Rabelais and prepared for publication by one of his students. The source of ideas for the plot of the epic novel were: folk books, rich gratesque-satirical poetry that had developed shortly before in Italy, Teofilo Folengo (author of the poem “Baldus”), who masterfully covered with a clownish form not only a parody of chivalric romances, but also sharp satire on the morals of his time, on monks, learned pedants. The main source of Rabelais is folk art, folklore tradition (fablio, the second part of “The Romance of the Rose”, Villon, ritual and song imagery).

3. All protests against individual aspects of feudalism were raised by Rabelais to the level of conscious, systematic criticism of the feudal system and contrasted with a thoughtful and holistic system of a new humanistic worldview. (antiquity). Many features of Rabelais’ artistic technique also go back to the folk-medieval beginnings. The composition of the novel (free alternation of episodes and images) is close to the composition of “The Romance of the Rose”, “The Romance of the Fox”, “The Great Testament” by Villon + grotesque poems that fill the novel. The chaotic form of his narrative = the emergence of a Renaissance man to explore reality; one feels the boundlessness of the world and the powers and possibilities hidden in it (the journey of Panurge). Rabelais's language is bizarre and full of synonymous repetitions, heaps, idioms, folk proverbs and sayings; it also has as its task to convey all the richness of shades characteristic of the Renaissance material-sensory perception of the world.

4. The grotesque comic stream in Rabelais's novel has several tasks: 1) to interest the reader and make it easier for him to understand the deep thoughts in the novel 2) masks these thoughts and serves as a shield from censorship. The gigantic size of Gargantua and his entire family in the first two books = a symbol of man’s (flesh) attraction to nature after the shackles of the Middle Ages + an approach to primitive creatures. Over the 20 years during which the novel was written, Rabelais’s views changed (one can feel it when moving after book 2), but he remained true to his main ideas: ridicule of the Middle Ages, a new path for man in the humanistic world. The key to all sciences and all morality for Rabelais is a return to nature.

5. Rabelais considers the flesh to be of great importance (physical love, digestive acts, etc.). Rabelais asserts the primacy of the physical principle, but demands that it be superior to the intellectual (the picture of intemperance in food in Rabelais is satirical in nature. Especially starting from the 3rd book, there is a call for moderation. Faith in the natural goodness of man and the goodness of nature is felt throughout the entire novel. Rabelais believes , that the natural demands and desires of a person are normal if they are not forced or captivated (Thelemites), he affirms the doctrine of “natural morality" of a person, which does not need religious justification. But in general there is no place for religion in the understanding of the world. Rabelais practically excludes religious dogmatics. Everything connected with Catholicism is subject to cruel ridicule (compares monks with monkeys, ridicule about the virgin birth of Christ - the birth of Gargantua). But Rabelais also disliked Calvinism. Rabelais equates the Gospel with ancient myths. Despising any violence against people, Rabelais ridicules the theory of noble births and “nobility by inheritance,” bringing out “ordinary people” in his novel, and giving people from high society (excluding fairy-tale kings) sarcastic names (Duke de Cheval, military leader Malokosos, etc.). Even in the description of the afterlife, where Epistemon visited, Rabelais forces the royals to perform the most humiliating works, while the poor enjoy the delights of the afterlife.

6. In Rabelais's novel, three images stand out: 1) the image of the good king in his three versions, which essentially differed little from each other: Grangousier, Gargantua, Pantagruel (= the utopian ideal of a state ruler, the kings of Rabelais do not rule the people, but allow them to act freely and abstract from the influence of feudal dukes). After the reaction, the image of King Pantagruel fades; in the last books he is almost not shown as a ruler, but only as a traveler, a thinker, embodying the philosophy of “pantagruelism.” 2) The image of Panurge is a rogue and a witty mocker who knows 60 ways to get money, of which the Sami are harmless - stealing on the sly. The liberation of the human mind from old prejudices experienced by the Renaissance was only in a few cases combined with a high moral consciousness. Panurge combines the image of Shakespeare's Falstaff, a sharp mind that exposes all prejudices, with absolute moral unprincipledness. 3) Brother Jean, an irreligious monk, a lover of drink and food, who threw off his cassock and beat the soldier Picrocholes with the shaft of a cross in the vineyard - the embodiment of popular power, popular common sense and moral truth. Rabelais does not idealize the people. Brother Jean for him is not a perfect type of person, but Brother Jean has enormous opportunities for further development. He is the most reliable support of the nation and state.

1. “Gargantua and Pantagruel” is the most democratic and sharp-thought work of the French Renaissance. Enriched the French language. Rabelais did not create a literary school and had almost no imitators, but his influence on French literature is enormous. His grotesque humanistic humor can be felt in the works of Moliere, La Fontaine, Voltaire, Balzac; outside France - Swift and Richter.

About childhood and youth Francois Rabelais, the famous humanist of the Renaissance, one of the greatest satirical writers in the history of world literature, little is known. He was born in the French province of Touraine, in the city of Chinon, between 1483 and 1494, most likely in November 1494. It is also known that the future writer’s father’s name was Antoine Rabelais and he was either an innkeeper (according to one source) or pharmacist or lawyer (otherwise).

In 1510, his father sent young François as a novice to the Franciscan monastery of Selly, from there Rabelais went to the monastery of De La Baumette, then to the abbey in Fontenay-le-Comte. The young man studies Latin, Greek, Hebrew, law, and receives the priesthood. In 1525, Rabelais sought permission to move to the Benedictine Order, which paid special attention to intellectual development: the reason was the negative attitude among the Franciscans (one of the most conservative monastic orders) towards the study of the Greek language. At the Benedictine monastery, Rabelais studied natural history and medicine. However, the freedom-loving and inquisitive Rabelais is also cramped among the Benedictines, and soon he leaves the monastery walls to go to Paris, and then to the University of Montpellier, where in 1530 he received a bachelor's degree in medicine. That same year, Rabelais moved to Lyon and two years later became a doctor at the local hospital. The beginning of Rabelais’ literary activity dates back to the same time: he published “Aphorisms” by the outstanding physician of antiquity, Hippocrates, with his own comments. And soon, under the pseudonym Alcofribas Nazier (an anagram from Francois Rabelais), the book “Pantagruel, the king of the dipsodes, shown in its authentic form with all his terrifying deeds and exploits” was published, which became the first (in terms of the time of publication, but not in the chronology of the described events) by the book of his famous epic “Gargantua and Pantagruel”, which brought the author immortal fame. The impetus for writing the novel was the success of the anonymous adventure book “The Great and Peerless Chronicles of the Huge Giant Gargantua, containing stories about his pedigree, the size and strength of his body, and the outlandish feats that were performed for King Arthur, his master.” This unpretentious work was then used in France is a colossal success. Rabelais decided to write a kind of continuation of this “bestseller” of that time, in a similar entertaining vein, but filled with much deeper content and sharp social satire. It is not surprising that, fearing reprisals, the author hid his name behind a pseudonym. In 1534, returning from a trip to Italy, where he was part of the retinue of his patron, the Parisian bishop (and later cardinal) Jean du Bellay, Rabelais published under the same pseudonym the prehistory of Pantagruel - “The Tale of the Terrible Life of the Great Gargantua, Father Pantagruel." Both books achieve resounding success, but very soon find themselves among those banned by the theologians of the Sorbonne. In addition, the situation in the public life of France is changing dramatically: the formerly liberal King Francis I is tightening censorship and calling for the extermination of heretics. Rabelais hastily leaves Lyon and in June 1535 arrives in Rome, where he seeks an audience and absolution - including for escaping from the monastery - from Pope Paul III.

For unauthorized absences, Rabelais lost his position as a doctor in Lyon; he was again ordained and in 1536 received the position of canon in the monastery of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, but did not stay in the monastery for long: with the help of du Bellay, he sought permission to practice medicine, Having received a doctorate in medicine, he works as a doctor in different cities of France, gives lectures and after some time is recognized as one of the best doctors in the country. He receives a fairly high post at court - the position of receiver of petitions submitted to the king. At the same time, the literary fame of his novel is growing. In 1542, Rabelais republished Gargantua and Pantagruel, although softening some of the most acute passages in the work. The third part of the epic was published in 1546 (under the real name of the author). The book is again attacked and Rabelais is forced to hide abroad for some time - in the German city of Metz and in Rome and returns to his homeland only in 1549. At the beginning of 1548, eleven chapters of the fourth book were published in a separate edition, and in 1552 its full text was published.

Thanks to powerful patrons, the last years of the writer's life passed relatively calmly - despite the ongoing persecution of his books. In 1551, François Rabelais received a parish in Meudon (near Paris). He died in 1553 in Paris, having managed, as legend has it, to say before his death: “Close the curtain, the farce has been played.”

After the writer’s death, in 1564, the fifth part of the book, created on the basis of his rough sketches, appeared.

Rabelais's book has entered the golden fund of world literature, although attitudes towards it still remain ambiguous: frank humor (there is even the expression “Rabelaisian humor”), numerous physiological details have given the book a reputation as one of the most “obscene” classical works. For example, George Orwell once called Rabelais "an exceptionally vicious, morbid writer." At the same time, Chateaubriand and Hugo praised Rabelais as the founder of all French literature, Balzac saw him as his teacher. “Gargantua and Pantagruel” is a grandiose encyclopedia of European life of the Renaissance: an incredibly life-loving book, glorifying the joys of the flesh, marking a change in the worldview of the people of that time; many hints and allegories of the book have not yet been fully deciphered.

In the 30s of the last century, N. Zabolotsky created a Russian translation-retelling for children, in which all “indecent” episodes were retouched or deleted. And the very first (abbreviated) translation of the book into Russian appeared only in 1901 (!) - translator Anna Engelhardt. There was, however, also a translation by V. Markov, made in the 70s of the 19th century, but it was never published.

Rabelais is one of the most important authors and forerunners of modern science fiction. The influence of the epic novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel" on the development of the fantasy genre is enormous; in the book one can notice features of many areas of fantasy: the first two parts of the novel are presented by the writer in the form of a grotesque, a kind of parody of a medieval chivalric romance with numerous magical and mythological features inherent in these novels, here are giants and all kinds of monsters and allegorical exaggerations; there was also a description of life in the other world; The chapters dedicated to the Thelema monastery are a classic utopia. In some chapters of the work, the features of a dystopia are clearly discernible. The fourth and fifth parts of the book, which tell about the journey of friends to the oracle of the Divine Bottle, are especially rich in fantastic elements - here Rabelais’ imagination in describing incredible miracles, nature and the amazing inhabitants of the islands encountered along the way has no boundaries. The famous episode with “frozen sounds” is one of the first methods of storing sound information described in the literature. Chapter about visiting the Island of Iron Tools

Francois Rabelais (lived 1494-1553) is a famous humanist writer originally from France. He gained worldwide fame thanks to the novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel". This book is an encyclopedic monument to the Renaissance in France. Rejecting the asceticism of the Middle Ages, prejudice and bigotry, Rabelais, in grotesque images of characters inspired by folklore, reveals the humanistic ideals characteristic of his time.

Priest career

Rabelais was born in Touraine in 1494. His father was a wealthy landowner. Around 1510, François became a novice in the monastery. He took his vows in 1521. In 1524, Greek books were confiscated from Rabelais. The fact is that orthodox theologians during the period of the spread of Protestantism were suspicious of the Greek language, which was considered heretical. He gave the opportunity to interpret the New Testament in his own way. Francois had to switch to the Benedictines, who were more tolerant in this regard. However, in 1530 he decided to resign his rank and go to Montpellier to study medicine. Here in 1532 Rabelais published the works of Galen and Hippocrates, famous healers. Also in Montpellier he had two children from his widow. They were legalized in 1540 by an edict of Pope Paul IV.

Medical activity

Rabelais was allowed to be a secular priest in 1536. He began medical practice. Francois became a doctor of medicine in 1537 and lectured on this science at the University of Montpellier. In addition, he was the personal physician to Cardinal J. du Bell. Rabelais twice accompanied the cardinal to Rome. François was patronized all his life by influential politicians G. du Bellay), as well as high-ranking liberal clergy. This saved Rabelais from a lot of trouble that the publication of his novel could have brought.

The novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel"

Rabelais found his true calling in 1532. Having become acquainted with the “folk book about Gargantua,” Francois published, in imitation of it, a “continuation” about the king of the dipsodes, Pantagruel. The long title of Francois's work included the name of Master Alcofribas, who allegedly wrote this book. Alcofribas Nazier is an anagram consisting of the letters of the surname and first name of Rabelais himself. This book was condemned by the Sorbonne for obscenity, but the public received it with delight. Many people liked the story about the giants.

In 1534, the humanist Francois Rabelais created another book with an equally long title, telling the story of the life of Gargantua. Logically, this work should come first, since Gargantua is the father of Pantagruel. In 1546, another, third book appeared. It was signed not with a pseudonym, but with the own name of François Rabelais. The Sorbonne also condemned this work for heresy. For some time I had to hide from the persecution of Francois Rabelais.

His biography is marked by the publication in 1548 of the fourth book, not yet completed. The full version appeared in 1552. This time the matter was not limited to the condemnation of the Sorbonne. This book was banned by parliament. Nevertheless, Francois’s influential friends managed to hush up the story. The last, fifth book was published in 1564, after the author’s death. Most researchers dispute the idea that it should be included in the work of François Rabelais. Most likely, according to his notes, the storyline was completed by one of his students.

Encyclopedia of laughter

Francois's novel is a real encyclopedia of laughter. It contains all kinds of comedy. It is not easy for us to appreciate the subtle irony of the erudite author of the 16th century, since the object of ridicule has long ceased to exist. However, the audience of François Rabelais, of course, received great pleasure from the story about the library of St. Victor, where the author parodically (and often obscenely) played on many titles of treatises of the Middle Ages: “Codpiece of Law”, “Pole of Salvation”, “On the Excellent Qualities of Tribal” and etc. Researchers note that medieval types of comedy are associated primarily with folk laughter culture. At the same time, the work also contains forms that can be considered “absolute”, capable of causing laughter at any time. These include, in particular, everything related to human physiology. It remains unchanged at all times. However, over the course of history, attitudes towards physiological functions change. In particular, in the tradition of folk laughter culture, “images of the material and bodily lower classes” were depicted in a special way (this definition was given by the Russian researcher M. M. Bakhtin). The work of François Rabelais largely followed this tradition, which can be called ambivalent. That is, these images evoked laughter, capable of “burying and reviving” at the same time. However, in modern times they continued to exist in the sphere of low comedy. Many of Panurge's jokes are still funny, but often they cannot be retold or even more or less accurately translated using the words fearlessly used by Rabelais.

The last years of Rabelais' life

The last years of Francois Rabelais' life are shrouded in mystery. We do not know anything reliably about his death, except for the epitaphs of such poets as Jacques Tayuro. The first of them, by the way, sounds rather strange and is not at all complimentary in tone. Both of these epitaphs were created in 1554. Researchers believe that Francois Rabelais died in 1553. His biography does not provide reliable information even about where this writer was buried. It is believed that his remains rest in Paris, in the cemetery of St. Paul's Cathedral.

A 16th-century satirical novel about two kindly gluttonous giants, father and son. The novel ridicules many human vices and does not spare the author’s contemporary state and church. The author of “Gargantua and Pantagruel” was himself a monk in his youth, but he did not like a different life, and with the help of his patron Geoffroy d’Etissac, Rabelais was able to leave the monastery without any consequences. In the novel, Rabelais ridicules, on the one hand, the numerous claims of the church, and on the other, the ignorance and laziness of the monks (knowing the latter subject firsthand). Rabelais colorfully shows all the vices of the Catholic clergy that caused mass protest during the Reformation - the exorbitant desire for profit, the priests' claims to political dominance in Europe, sanctimonious piety covering up the depravity of church ministers. Medieval scholasticism - reflections divorced from real life about the place of God in earthly existence - takes a lot of beating. Some passages from the Bible received special ridicule. In his novel, Rabelais not only fights the “old world” with the help of satire and humor, but also proclaims the new world as he sees it. Rabelais contrasts the medieval inertia and lack of rights with the ideals of freedom and human self-sufficiency. "Gargantua and Pantagruel" is inextricably linked with the folk culture of France in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. From it, Rabelais borrowed his main characters, and some literary forms (for example, blazons or the so-called coq-à-l "âne - verbal nonsense), and, most importantly, the language of the narrative itself - with many obscene verbal turns and comic allusions to various sacred texts, a language imbued with the atmosphere of a cheerful folk festival, from which all seriousness is driven away.This language was strikingly different from the one in which medieval scholastic treatises or the Latinized bohemian works of some of Rabelais's contemporaries were written (imitation of Latin is ridiculed in the chapter on the Limousin of the second book of the novel).

My entire first paragraph is not mine at all. It consists of excerpts from a Wikipedia article on the novel, as well as from other reviews of this work. I decided to do this for two reasons. Firstly, to show how significant this work is for world literature. Secondly, for my own justification, because based on what will be written below, many may have the question: “Why did you even torture yourself and read this book?” So below you can read my subjective opinion about this novel.

He's quite unusual. Despite the fact that it was written already in the 16th century, I don’t remember anything like it (although when reading, sometimes associations arose with Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels in the Land of Lilliputians”), i.e. After Rabelais, few people tried to write novels in the same vein, or I just don’t know about them, which is also very possible. This book can serve as a good textbook on wit and slander. The surnames of the minor characters, as a rule, are telling, for example, Count Idle Talk, Doctor Crippling, Count Lazyboka, the butler Lizhezad and so on in the same spirit. The novel is very funny in places, it contains a lot of caustic satire on the church and one can only envy the author’s courage, because at that time attacks on the feelings of believers were taken much more seriously than now, because at that time the church had a much larger whole and was almost inseparable from states. However, now there is again a reunification of church and state, and it is possible that soon atheism or simply the adoption of a religion other than the one imposed at the place of birth will even be punished. But let's not talk about sad things, but let's talk about the novel, although now we will have to say a few sad words about the novel. The fact is that despite all its pros and cons, the novel has one huge, fat minus that literally puts an end to everything. This is that the author does not know any sense of proportion. At all. I'll explain now. For example, in one of the chapters, Gargantua tells his father that he has invented a special way to wipe his butt, using handkerchiefs, scarves and servants' clothes. Yes, it was fun to read. At first. Then Gargantua lists how he tried to wipe himself with masks, hats, headphones, cats, gloves, dill, roses, and so on in the same spirit for three pages with detailed descriptions of how his anus felt from the touch of this or that object. Initially it was funny, but Rabelais paid too much attention to it, which ceased to be funny and even became disgusting. Then the episode of how Gargantua decided to empty his bladder, relieved himself on the city and as a result of this, more than 200,000 people died from the flood. This didn’t seem funny to me at all, because I imagined it very vividly and I felt somehow uneasy. For example, the population of my city, Bataysk, is just over 100,000 people. And so, reading the book, I imagine how two populations of my city died in this flood of urine and I felt really sick. If Rabelais thinks that the death of so many people (even under such absurd circumstances) is funny, but he and I have a completely different sense of humor. The episode with killing people as a consequence of urinating on them is repeated more than once in the novel. Also in this novel, Rabelais never tires of reminding us that his characters, although giants, are still people, and they sweat, defecate, belch, and the like. He reminds us of this quite often - almost on every second page. I’m not a moral fag or a prude, and I understand perfectly well that all people have physiological needs, but throughout the book, do I really have to constantly read how the characters cope with their needs, how they feel, what their feces smell like? It would be fine if these episodes were repeated several times during the course of the novel, I would not even pay attention, but there are too many of them.

In general, I’ll sum it up, otherwise in the process of writing this review I’ll go wild and it will turn out to be a huge angry opus. Yes, this is a landmark work for world literature, yes, this is one of the few literary monuments of that time that have reached us, yes, it contains a lot of caustic satire addressed to church and government officials, yes, the main characters are collective images and in their faces we we see, as it were, a whole people, yes, we see here the real grotesque and more absurd humor than anywhere else... BUT, damn it, what a vulgar, vulgar and stupid novel this is! In the preface to the novel, Rabelais writes that only limited people will not understand his humor and his allegories. He also writes that during the process of writing this book he was often completely drunk. Maybe in order to understand and appreciate this book, you also had to read this book while intoxicated? Or maybe I take it too seriously and I need to be simpler and laugh heartily at all the adventures of these giants, but this book did not seem so downright homericically funny to me, and for the most part this toilet humor caused only disgust and vomiting. A very unpleasant book. It’s good that I bought this book at a book sale and didn’t spend a lot of money on it.