Reviews of Pantagruel (ca. 1532) and related work
- Prequel: Gargantua (1534)
- Sequel: The Third Book of Pantagruel (1546)
- Sequel: The Fourth Book of Pantagruel (1552)
Pantagruel (ca. 1532
)
François Rabelais (writer).
Read in 2026.
The upbringing of the giant Pantagruel.
Don’t come here looking for anything like modern fantasy literature, or science fiction. In that regard, Rabelais made no progress from the True History (ca. 175 CE).
In the first chapter, Rabelais does try to provide an origin of giants, connecting it both to hunchbacks and the mythology of Genesis (ca. 500–400 BCE), though not actually referring to the biblical Nephilim. However, Rabelais fails so completely to be realistic that his giants have no height, weight, or other dimensions. They are large: Vaguely and varyingly large, with no impact on their biophysics. If you don’t find that funny, this book will not amuse you. Read it instead for the collective carnival joy that Mikhail Bakhtin observed in the series.
‣ Gargantua (1534)
François Rabelais (writer).
Read in 2026.
The education and re-education of Pantagruel’s father.
Rabelais’ giants are large not only in stature but in lifespan, appetites, intellect, etc. He was playing both with narcissistic fantasies of greatness and with a larger Renaissance-era optimism about the human potential to overcome Medieval dogmata, which is most obvious in this more polished volume.
‣ The Third Book of Pantagruel (1546)
François Rabelais (writer).
Read in 2026.
I read John “Bull” Smith Dimitry’s 19th-century translation. The fifth book, published after Rabelais’s death and probably by another author, is omitted from that translation. The third and fourth books were written by Rabelais but more than a decade after the first two. Tonally they are very different, with less joie de vivre and more Christian piety.
‣ The Fourth Book of Pantagruel (1552)
François Rabelais (writer).
Read in 2026.
The journey prepared in the preceding volume takes place, but does not quite reach its destination.
A picaresque series of allegories thinner than Lucian’s, with yet more piety and stereotyping of the coward Panurge.