Brain Pain discussion

Born sometime between 1483 and 1494 in Chinon, France, François Rabelais was a writer, doctor and scholar, and a true Renaissance man. He published the first of his Pantagruel chronicles in 1532. His work was condemned, banned, and otherwise pissed-off secular and religious authorities throughout his career.


Wikipedia page for Rabelais:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%...


Wikipedia page for Gargantua and Pantagruel:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantu...



Feel free to use this thread to ask questions and post links to resources for François Rabelais and his book Gargantua and Pantagruel.

Also, if you’ve written a review of the book, please post a link to share with the group.

I have an earlier Penguin edition, the 1955 edition translated by JM Cohen that seems to put Gargantua (the father's story i take it) before Pantagruel which was penned first. I suppose I will read that corresponding section the group will be reading (which I believe is book 2 in mine) then bounce back to the front for Gargantua.

Matthew wrote: "I have an earlier Penguin edition, the 1955 edition translated by JM Cohen that seems to put Gargantua (the father's story i take it) before Pantagruel which was penned first. I suppose I will read..."

Some years ago, I had a Penguin edition that also put Gargantua first, I suppose because his story precedes Pantagruel's chronologically. For our purposes, I decided to read them by date written, to see how Rabelais developed the series over time.

Really happy to see folks reading Rabelais' fantastic book. I've got a review here which might interest some folks: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I look forward to reading reviews from other PB members.

For those reading the Screech translation, do you have any comments about his notes and chapter intros? Are they helpful? Do you skip them?

Nathan "N.R." wrote: "Really happy to see folks reading Rabelais' fantastic book. I've got a review here which might interest some folks: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I look forward to reading revie..."

I have mixed feelings about the chapter intros. They're certainly helpful and informative, but they do break the flow of the narrative. I'm reading them this time, but when I reread, I'll skip the intros and only read Rabelais' words.