Gargantua and Pantagruel

François Rabelais wrote a series of five novels in the 1500s, often called *Gargantua and Pantagruel* or the *Cinq Livres*. They follow the adventures of two giants: Gargantua and his son Pantagruel. The style is amusing, over-the-top, and satirical, packed with learning, crude humor, and clever wordplay. Critics frequently compare it to the works of William Shakespeare and James Joyce. Rabelais knew many languages, and his writing added a large number of new and difficult words to French.

The Sorbonne’s censors labeled the work obscene. As religious repression grew before the French Wars of Religion, people treated the books with suspicion and avoided mentioning them. Rabelais did not invent the giants; he based them on folk tales collected in the early 1500s into five works called the *Gargantuan Chronicles*. The most popular of those, *Les Grandes et Inestimables Cronicques du grant et enorme geant Gargantua*, is mentioned in Rabelais’s own prologue. The work gave us the word *Pantagruelism* (meaning coarse humor with a serious or satirical goal) and *gargantuan* (meaning enormous).

The novels were written one after another without a set plan.

**Pantagruel** was published first, around 1532, under the pen name Alcofribas Nasier (an anagram of François Rabelais). Its full modern English title is *The Horrible and Terrifying Deeds and Words of the Very Renowned Pantagruel King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant Gargantua*. It starts with the origin of giants, Pantagruel’s genealogy, and his birth. His childhood is briefly covered, then his father sends him to universities, where he gains a great reputation. When news arrives that his father has been taken to Fairyland by Morgan le Fay and that the Dipsodes have invaded, Pantagruel and his companions leave. Through trickery, strength, and urine, they relieve a besieged city. The residents are invited to invade the Dipsodes, who mostly surrender as Pantagruel approaches. During a downpour, Pantagruel shelters his army with his tongue, and the narrator goes inside his mouth. He returns months later to find the war over.

**Gargantua** came next, after the success of *Pantagruel*. Rabelais revised his source material to create a better story of the father’s life: *The Very Horrific Life of Great Gargantua, Father of Pantagruel*. It begins with Gargantua’s birth and childhood. He impresses his father, Grandgousier, with his intelligence and gets a tutor, but that education makes him a fool. He is then sent to Paris with a new tutor. After his reeducation, bakers from a neighboring land are transporting some *fouaces* (a kind of cake). Shepherds politely ask to buy some, but the request escalates into war. Gargantua is summoned, while Grandgousier seeks peace. The enemy king, Picrochole, refuses, so Grandgousier reluctantly prepares for battle. Gargantua leads a well-planned assault and defeats the enemy.

**The Third Book** continues where *Pantagruel* ended, mostly in dialogue. Pantagruel and Panurge discuss Panurge’s wasteful spending, and Pantagruel pays his debts. Now debt-free, Panurge considers marriage and asks for advice. He receives many counsels and predictions but rejects them all, finally wanting to consult the Divine Bottle. Preparations for the voyage begin.

**The Fourth Book** picks up with Pantagruel and his companions setting sail toward the Divine Bottle, called Bacbuc (the Hebrew word for bottle). They pass or land at various interesting places, then endure a storm. After landing, they return to sea, kill a sea monster, and drag it ashore, where Chitterlings attack them. A fierce culinary battle follows, but it ends peacefully when a flying pig-monster interrupts. They continue their voyage, passing more places, until the book ends with the ships firing a salute and Panurge soiling himself.

**The Fifth Book** was published after Rabelais’s death.