Ron Peters's Reviews > Gargantua and Pantagruel

“You shake your empty noddles now, jolly topers, and do not believe what I tell you here, any more than if it were some tale of a tub. Well, well, I cannot help it.”

Rabelais seamlessly interweaves the high-flown language of the epic adventure with the potty humor of a ten-year-old boy. Where else can you read about someone wiping their arse on a goose’s neck?

We should read Gargantua and Pantagruel because life is short and the book is fun, but also because it’s the type and pattern of so much humorous, ironic, ribald, and satirical fiction to follow.

Fiddle about with as many translations as you like but start with Urquhart and Motteux. It’s hilarious and it’s good, whatever blah-blah you hear about accuracy and authenticity. Read other translations later. Urquhart and Motteux will inevitably win a solid plurality among true Pantagruelists.

That said, you really should skip or skim Part 3. Trust me, it’s worse than dull. Ranked in terms of how entertaining the Parts are, I would say 1, 2, 5, 4, 3. The order you read them in makes little difference.