Rabelais

Whats Veeky Forums think of this book?

>Afterwards I wiped my tail with a hen, with a cock, with a pullet, with a calf’s skin, with a hare, with a pigeon, with a cormorant, with an attorney’s bag, with a montero, with a coif, with a falconer’s lure. But, to conclude, I say and maintain, that of all torcheculs, arsewisps, bumfodders, tail-napkins, bunghole cleansers, and wipe-breeches, there is none in the world comparable to the neck of a goose, that is well downed, if you hold her head betwixt your legs. And believe me therein upon mine honour, for you will thereby feel in your nockhole a most wonderful pleasure, both in regard of the softness of the said down and of the temporate heat of the goose, which is easily communicated to the bum-gut and the rest the inwards, in so far as to come even to the regions of the heart and brains.
It's pretty gud

Silly with amazing insights. The last few sections of Gargantua took me entirely by surprise.

Underrated
Lost in translation

It's wonderful but I don't know how it can even be translated.
Even the French modernization already seem a bit strange compared to the original.

Pretty good if you really like ham and bacon, and who doesn't?

Urquhart translation is shit but Cohen's is fine.

it's fucking incredible. possibly the most precious collection of pre-internet memeing. de sade has nothing on rabelais's genius.

Frame

Lmao fucking vore in the 1500's.

That's actually a really strange discovery.

Brainlet, read more.

I'm trying. Why do you think I'm here? Sorry for the sarcastic shit post I really will look into the stories of Gargantua and his son. The only other similar motif that comes to mind is cronos and his children.

>cronos and his children.
no, unless by motif you mean people being big and something being eaten, which is nothing specific

Even the plebbiest of plebs will use "gargantuan" in everyday conversation, but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone using "pantagruelian". Why?

Well I mean that's what I was talking about from the beginning. Cannibalism and the likes.

"garg" has more suggestive onomatopoeic value compared to "pantagruel" which was just taken from the name of a folk devil

Unfortunately, it's this over and over again for a few hundred pages. Becomes less funny as it goes.

I liked the part where he flooded the city (Paris?) with piss, but I got bored and quit reading shortly thereafter.
I might pick it up again if it contains some solid poo poo and fart jokes though. Does it?

>you know what philosophy needs? More shitting and sex jokes!

Also it sounds like some sort of porridge

Potty humor: the book

It does. That's why Heidegger use to climb through people's windows at night and fart in their open mouths while they slept.
Hell, the only reason anyone still reads Koestler is because he'd wipe his penis across the foreheads of his interview subjects.

D&G coulda fooled me

I liked how he shat all over Duns Scotus.

...

you read French, user?

A sexy porridge, tho.

Panta Rhei + Gruel

Porridge flows.

Whence the rhei ('pei)? Why not something like Mulligan's Stew, or mash of all things?

I don't know about that, Cohen turns it into something readable but Urquhart was the one to approach its spirit

Chances are, every several hundred years a new translation is necessary to adequately "capture the spirit" of the original work (that's probably true for absolutely everything tho).

We had to read some of it at school when I was 13. Our teacher was quite small, and had these gigantic tits. Always wearing black dress. Not the most beautiful woman, but still, there was something weird about her.

Donald Frame was awarded by the French Academy for his translations of both Montaigne and Rabelais. Though I think his M has been surpassed, his R's still the best available imo.

I wasn't aware that the French Academy could into English but I guess that's not nothing

Just posting here to share this beauty (and my love for Rabelais).

What's the best modern french translation of this book?

gallimard's the best monopoly on earth

Mandelbaum's Commedia was similarly recognized by the Italian FWIW

For plebs who can read French, Claude Mettra's 'Rabelais Secret' is a must-read - great stuff entirely.'

details? the only thing you can find about it online is cover and publication