Gargantua and Pantagruel

I discovered Rabelais while reading Durant's Story of Civilization. After reading such a strong endorsement I decided to get a copy of his works to see if he was really as good as was described. I've always had a somewhat different sense of humor (I love Monty Python), and have always liked satire; so I thought I would like Rabelais. It turns out I really liked him. Sometimes he was a bit crude for my tastes, but he was hilarious.In general I liked the first two books more than the later books. They were a little more wild and inconsistent, but a lot more fun. Panurge was probably my favorite character in the first book; in the third book he was a key character, but by the last two books he was a somewhat annoying character.A quick summary of the books is below. Pantagruel is the story of the birth and early life of the Giant Pantagruel, which was probably the most hilarious of the books. Gargantua is the story of the birth and life of Panagruel's father Gargantua; this was also quite funny covering several topics. The 3rd book of Pantagruel contains two main themes; the first is a discussion between Pantagruel and Panurge on debtors and borrowers. Panurge gives the funniest discourse on the need for debtors I have ever seen. The rest of the book tells of Panurge consulting every imaginable method of seeing the future to see if he should marry. The 4th book is basically a travel log similar to Gulliver's travels where Pantagruel and his friends go on a long sea trip finding many interesting lands. The 5th book is a continuation of the 4th book. Note that the 5th book is of questionable authorship.As far as the translation goes, I was impressed; but note that this is the only translation I have read. I found the prose very understandable, but appreciated the footnotes where I didn't understand it. The footnotes were also useful to me since I am a neophyte in 16th century French life and culture. Screech did a good job explaining things including the literature Rabelais was referring to.I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good introduction to Rabelais. It would be good for many of our modern comedy writers to read these books to give them some better ideas for TV shows and movies. I'm convinced the Monty Python writers must have read Rabelais.

I first came across GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL when we read excerpts from it in my college “Introduction to World Literature” course. I remember really enjoying those excerpts and promised myself that someday I’d read the whole thing. Here it is more than 50 years later and I’ve finally gotten around to it. I’m sorry to say that I was disappointed. Maybe I was expecting too much; I don’t know. If I wanted to blame someone for my disappointment, a case could be made for the translator to be the culprit. I think I have a good English vocabulary. I’ve been a lifelong reader/writer. But there were times when I felt like I was reading a foreign language. I constantly had to use the dictionary, and even then, had to guess at the meanings most of the time. I told a professor friend about the problem I was having with it and he said, “You must have a very pedantic translation. The Penguin edition is excellent.” I said, “I AM reading the Penguin translation!” But it turns out that Penguin replaced the edition my professor friend was talking about with this one by M.A. Screech. Perhaps if I had read GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL many times in different translations and were familiar with every nuance of this gigantic volume, I would ooh and ah over the brilliance of this translation. But I’m only going to wade through this one once and I have done it. It probably helps if you are already well-versed in French history and Catholic history. I have only a rudimentary knowledge of both. Once in a while there is something funny in this story, but not often enough. I was also irritated that the translator was constantly intruding into the narrative to explain why he translated a particular passage in such-and-such a way. At one point he tries to make a very labored pun on “moles” and “monks” and he hammers at it several times thereafter, parenthetically reminding the reader every time that it’s a joke. I wanted to pull what’s left of my hair out.Rabelais has been too influential to ignore (Shakespeare references him), so you have to read it to be truly well-read. But I would warn readers who are non-specialists away from this translation. Try the previous Penguin translation. I wish I had read that one instead of the Screech version. Three stars.

Rabelais’ five books on the lives of the two giants Gargantua (father) and Pantagruel (son) have provided laughs for hundreds of years. What Cervantes did to modernize Spanish as a language, Rabelais did to modernize French as a language.Entertaining but be aware that there are lots of lewd and crude scenes: for example, when the young Gargantua comes to Paris to further his studies, he greets the crowds by peeing on them, creating a massive flood and killing many people in the process. But if you look past some of these more “interesting” episodes, you will have many hours of comical adventure!This is the best translation I have read so far and it’s presented in the order they were written with the first book of Pantagruel, followed by Gargantua, the the third, fourth, and fifth books of Pantagruel.

How can I say this nicely?This is an accurate, painstaking and scholarly translation by someone who loves Rabelais and who is cited as an authority even by Frenchmen. It is clearly the product of a lifeof devoted study. The notes alone are well worth the price of the book and the nuanced translation has revealed many scholarly in-jokes that had previously escaped me. It is a study guide, a treasure and a keeper.I doubt, however, that it will make Rabelais many new friends. The sheer entertainment value of the original is completely submerged in the painstakingly conscientious approach of the translator. Far better to meet Rabelais in the marvelously flowing and witty translation of J M Cohen (the previous Penguin version), or even the wildlyinaccurate and enthusiastic Elizabethan version by Urquhart and le Motteux which is in the public domain. Either of these will show you what Rabelais is “about” far better than the volume under discussion. Then, and only then, you may want to take your acquaintance further with a most rewarding tutorial from Mr Screech.But do not buy this book if you are new to Rabelais. You will become discouraged and possibly give up without getting to know one of the true greats of European literature. That would be a great loss.

The translation is excellent, as it usually the case with Penguin Classics (and I have a full set of the Greek and Latin series, and quite a few from other languages), and it would be unfair not to give full marks simply becasue I am not very keen on the content of the book itself. I was half-way through listening to the CD-version in the old Urquhart translation of 1680-something or thenabouts when I saw this version on Amazon, and of course this is a new and very much more modern attempt to convey Rabelais' undoubted wit and, usually scatological, humour. Whilst I myself don't actually like the content very much, I've started so I'll finish, but I doubt if I'd ever bother listening/reading again.What is absolutely first-class about this translation (also) is the introduction, and it is worth buying the book for that alone - an excellent and scholarly essay on Rabelais himself, and his importance in the literary world (especially in France), and on the cleverness of much in the text which the less-qualified reader (me) would have never picked up without the guidance. There is far more underlying the undoubted crudity, and, often, filth (literally - Rabelais was obsessed with poo and other noxious products of, and emissions from, the body) than I had realised on my first acqaintance. This elevates it at least above the sort of thing you get from certain modern comedians on alternative comedy (i.e. alternate to comedy) shows on TV, even if the content is sometimes not dissimilar.

A truly appalling book. Rabelais’ work is a masterpiece but this edition is shockingly bad. Halfway through the second chapter the words suddenly stop with no explanation- this is obviously a fault and I have never seen one like it before in a book that I have purchased. Added to this, the book is clearly very cheaply produced. I strongly discourage anyone from buying this edition.

Great seller silly book, need to be from the middle ages to understand it, over rated codswallop

A fantastic read