Created 06-06-07
Last edited 14-08-29

Rabelais
And His Books

Rabelais, b. end of 15^th century, fifty years after the invention of book printing. To our "modern" standards the book shelves still were reassuringly empty, but not to the religious and academic "authorities" of the time . A decisive sense of unrest grew in those circles: Thomas More and Erasmus were on display already, Montaigne was soon to come. All trouble.

Rabelais ventured to write the True and Instructive history of the good Pantagruel, son of giant king Gargantua, and a giant in his own right. Rabelais published four books about it in his life, a fifth came out later, no doubt tampered with a bit by the editor. This was normal, it stemmed from the times before, when hand written books  - paper rolls, really -  were copied with the feather by a host of anonymous individuals who naturally felt the urge to make some additions and improvements, and to omit what was thought to be inappropriate. We sometimes forget that in modern times we do no different, if only by burying everything under a heap of comments, summaries, introductions and "text books" to "enlighten" the youth. Who nowadays reads an original source? I tell you, you would be surprised if you ever would do that! You would find that the original is politically completely incorrect and burn it on the spot!

Book 2, "Pantagruel" is the first written.

Gargantua was known in the literature, but Rabelais later felt he had to rewrite it according to the Full And Complete, If Not Entire, Truth. This became Book 1.

Book 3 Deals Definitively with All Problems Of Knowledge In Past, Present And Future. Panurge, an inseparable friend and martial ally of Pantagruel, and a cunning lethal urine inundator in his own right, considers to marry but fears to be cuckolded (have the wrong pricks fooling around in his wife's body). Panurge drops his military outfit, most notably the codpiece, a leather protection of your ballocks (previous chapters have soundly developed the fundamental philosophy and metaphysics of the codpiece), and vows not to wear them again until he has taken his decision whether or not to marry, Sound, Scientifically Underpinned by all Responsible and Modern Means, comprising, at the bare minimum

divination by dreams

divination by dice

divination by Virgilian lottery (randomly selecting a text sentence and considering what it says about your problem)

consulting diviners, witches, blinds, deafs, deaf blinds, and fools (See picture: Panurge)

consulting scientific experts of all relevant fields, at least: theologians, lawyers, judges, medical doctors and philosophers

etc.

Panurge, victim of the opposite and extreme forces of his desire to marry and his fear to be cuckolded, consistently hears that he will be cuckolded, beaten and robbed. With absolutely unrivalled, verbally eloquent and learned scientific skills he disqualifies all successive sources of bad news that he consults, and thus remains in his predicament, to the annoyance of his friends, most notably the wise Pantagruel, who understands the problem and stands out in excellent advice, after each clear, consistent disappointment, on whom to consult next. Thus the reader has the opportunity to meet Rabelais' entire contemporary World Of Learning And Other Superstition and to profit from its abundance of great knowledge and ample skills, matched perhaps only by the bullshit we nowadays get presented by the 21^st century academically certified experts.

I am now in Book 4, and I can already tell you, we are heading for Perfect Knowledge and Completely Rational and Responsible Decision Making, Guided By The Greatest Minds Of History. This, it transpires, should definitely be done by sailing with a vast fleet, sponsored by the Great Gargantua, to China, in order to consult the famous and utterly reliable "Oracle of the Bottle". We have resolved, in abhorrence of  the suffering and delays of the Portuguese in their China trips around Cape the Good Hope, to quickly pass along the North Coast of Canada, following the sound advise of Xenomanes "the great traveler and journeyer by perilous ways", who is ready to join, leaving home the very accurate nautical map of the region - for Gargantua to follow the trip. Here comes trouble!