Francois Rabelais was born in 1494. in the vicinity of Chinon in Touraine in the family of a judicial official.
Around 1511 - Rabelais enters the Franciscan monastery in Poitou. These monasteries at that time remained aloof from humanistic aspirations, and even the study of Greek is considered a concession to heresy, therefore the study of Latin and Greek by Rabelais incurs the discontent of the monastic authorities on him.
525 - Bishop Geofroy d'Estissac, who was sympathetic to humanism, from the nearest Benedictine abbey of Mallese, takes Rabelais as his secretary.
537-1530 - having left Poitou, apparently not quite legally, lives in Paris.
530 - Remaining in the clergy, Rabelais appears at the famous medical school in Montpellier and in six weeks is ready to take the bachelor's exams - there is no doubt that he was engaged in medicine before.
533 - publishes Pantagrueline prognostication - a mocking parody of the prophecies of astrologers who use the fears and superstitions of people in troubled times.
In the same year, as a personal physician to the Bishop of Paris, he visits Italy, where he gets acquainted with Roman antiquities and Oriental medicine.
1534 - encouraged by the success of the first book, Rabelais publishes The Tale of the Terrible Life of the Great Gargantua, Father of Pantagruel, which pushed the first book to second place and became the beginning of a cycle.
1535 - makes a second trip to Italy.
537 - Rabelais receives his doctorate.
Being in the service of King Francis I and traveling around southern France, Rabelais is engaged in medical practice.
546 - The Third Book (Tiers Livre) appears. The twelve years separating it from the first two are marked by changes in the religious policy of Francis I - repressions against the supporters of the Reformation and humanist scholars. The theologians of the Sorbonne seek to ban the "sinful" books of Rabelais. The "Third Book" still manages to be published thanks to the privilege received from the king (in 1547 it was again condemned by the theological faculty of the University of Paris).
In the same year, persecuted by Catholic fanatics, Rabelais leaves the French kingdom and earns his living as a physician in Metz. Apparently, for the last decade of his life, he has been fulfilling both diplomatic missions and assignments of a more dangerous and delicate nature.
548 - The Fourth Book (Quart Livre) is published.
In the same year, Rabelais, as the personal physician of Cardinal Jacques du Bellay, made another trip to Italy.
551 - receives two church parishes (one of them is Medon), but does not fulfill the duties of a priest.
552 - A revised "Fourth Book" is published.
553 Rabelais dies in Paris. Nothing can be said for sure about the place of his burial. It is traditionally believed that he was buried in the cemetery of St. Paul's Cathedral in Paris.
562 - Nine years after the death of the "Meudonian cure", the first part of the "Fifth Book" - "The Sounding Island" - is published.
564 - The full text of the Fifth Book is published. It is assumed that the book is a draft of Rabelais, prepared for publication by his friends and students.
The sources of the five-volume novel, which constitutes a kind of encyclopedia of the French Renaissance, lie in the folk laughter culture of the Middle Ages, in carnival festivities that temporarily abolish class privileges, religious prohibitions and social norms, in a familiar public joke, in street speech, not alien to rudeness and even curses.
"The Tale of the Terrible Life of the Great Gargantua, Father of Pantagruel"
Rabelais wrote his book "Gargantua and Pantagruel" for more than twenty years, publishing it in parts. It reflected the evolution of humanistic thought, the illusions and disappointments of the noble champions of the enlightenment of the people, their hopes and dreams, victories and defeats. Before you passes the whole history of French humanism in the first half of the century in all its glory, in all its grandeur.
In the prologue, he scolds the churchmen contemptuously. They hide from humanity the sun, the light of truth, the wisdom of life: "Get out of here, dogs! Get out of here, don't annoy my eyes, damn hoodies!.. Get out, saints! Get out, bigots!"
In the first two books (1532-1534) Rabelais is young, as the entire humanist movement in France is young. Everything about them sounds great. The skies are clear here. Here, the giant kings easily and freely deal with the enemies of all mankind. Here everything is dominated by faith in the victory of the reasonable and good in people's lives.
Reading Rabelais's book page after page, we feel in ourselves the growth of some kind of incomprehensible feeling of tragedy. Often we no longer feel like laughing. Allegories become gloomy, jokes are terrible. In the first two books, the world is wide. The sun drives the darkness with its rays. We are fun and at ease with the good giants. We confidently walk along the earth with them and believe that we will overcome all evil. But this sense of confidence is gradually fading away. Doubts arise. We are already starting to walk more carefully, looking around: if trouble awaits us. Maybe Rabelais himself changed, abandoned his ideas, views, ideals? - Not. The world of his ideas is unchanged. Only, perhaps, faith in victory was fading, something was lost in the beating through
edge of optimism. And it's not his fault. About twelve years separate the year of publication of the Third book of the novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel" (1546) from the time of the publication of the first. Much has changed in France over the years. In the mid-thirties, the brutal reprisals of the Catholic Church against heretics began.
In Book Three, Panurge comes to the fore. He is a joker and a joker. He is a mischievous and, frankly, a big scoundrel. And yet, in his own way, he is a great sage. Panurge, brother Jean, Epistemon, Ponocrates and other persons surrounding the young prince Pantagruel make up a cheerful group of carefree revelers, often philosophers, who inadvertently, casually, witty remarks, bizarre phrases, calculated as if for laughter, behind which boundless distances of thought open up. There is something in all this company from the "Falstaff background", Shakespeare's comedy. Shakespeare hardly read Rabelais's novel. Of course, there can be no question of any borrowing. But the English prince Henry and the French prince Pantagruel with their surroundings are very reminiscent of each other.
Shakespeare was separated from Rabelais not only by the English Channel, but also by time - half a century. However, they were fed by the same ideas. Rabelais does not at all want to rehabilitate his Panurge in the eyes of the reader. Panurge, of course, is smart, educated. His memory is a whole arsenal of a wide variety of knowledge. But he is also cowardly. He admits with cheerful bluster that "he is not afraid of anything but danger." In light, playful, witty dialogues, anecdotes, sometimes borrowed from fables, in everyday sketches, the material and spiritual life of the French society of that time is revealed.
The fourth book of "Gargantua and Pantagruel" is the last book published during the author's lifetime. It was published six years after the third was published. Rabelais died before he could finish
and publish the Fifth Book of Gargantua and Pantagruel. In 1562, a part of it was published under the title "Sounding Island", containing sixteen chapters, and only later (in 1564) the book was published in full. The Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris has a handwritten text of the Fifth Book dating back to the 16th century.
Gustave Dore. Wind island. 1854
A book by Rabelais cannot simply be read, it must be read, and more than once, to ponder, to enter the intimate world of the author. It is like symphonic music. The more you listen to her, the more she speaks to the mind and heart. Incidentally, Rabelais was perhaps the first prose writer in France to pay attention to the musical side of the word. His word sings. The sound has a special meaning. Here, too, is a puzzle, a riddle. Brother Jean calls his ideal "state" - Thel. Pantagruel and his companions go on a long voyage on the ship "Talamega". What is this, a random sound similarity? Rabelais has everything with intent. Jokers are going to look for the "desired", to look for happiness, an ideal society, free from vices and evil. And this campaign is headed by Pantagruel ("All-thirsty"), thirsty for knowledge (after all, only reason and knowledge will lead humanity to a world of happiness, according to the idea of humanists), and the Divine Bottle will say: "Trink" - onomatopoeia. Hit the glass with a stick, you will hear this sound. But at the same time, it also means "drink!". And the priestess will explain: drink knowledge, wisdom, strength.
Rabelais fought against the Middle Ages, using his own weapons. The grotesque symbols of Rabelais sometimes resemble a special type of ornament with strange outlandish transitions from one animal species to another, with a bizarre combination of inconsistencies.
The creator of "Gargantua and Pantagruel" can truly be considered one of the founders of the French literary language. Senéan, author of the two-volume study "The Language of Rabelais", writes: "Foreign phrases, classical languages, languages of the Renaissance, French of all times and all provinces - everything here has found its place and its form, nowhere giving the impression of any incoherence or inconsistency. It is always the language of Rabelais himself."
Rabelais loved the word itself. A writer and a linguist also lived there. Sometimes he, getting carried away, forgot about what, in fact, he wanted to say. The word took him aside, he admired it. It sparkled, rang, opened up to the mental gaze with new and new sides. Anatole France admired this writer's love for the word: "He writes effortlessly, as if for fun. He loves, he idolizes words. How wonderful to watch him string them one on top of the other! He cannot, unable to stop."
We met in the work of Rabelais "Gargantua and Pantagruel" with pronounced exaggerations, hyperbole. Such sharp exaggerations are also characteristic of the images of the body and of bodily life. They are also characteristic of other images of the novel. But most of all, they are still expressed in the images of the body and in the images of food.
Exaggeration, hyperbolism, excess, excess are, admittedly, one of the most basic features of the grotesque style.
Gargantua. Illustration by Honore Daumier. 19th century
After all, all these bulges and holes are characterized by the fact that it is in them that the boundaries between two bodies and between the body and the world are overcome, their mutual exchange and mutual orientation take place. Therefore, the main events in the life of the grotesque body, acts of bodily drama - eating, drinking, pregnancy, childbirth, growth, old age, illness, death, being torn to pieces, being torn to pieces, being absorbed by another body - take place on the borders of the body and the world or on the borders of the old and new body; in all these events of the bodily drama, the beginning and end of life are inextricably intertwined.
Gargantua and Pantagruel in Doré's illustrations are perceived as full participants in folk life, they naturally fit into crowds of people, interiors, and nature. And all this is in accordance with the popular perception of the heroes as real people. M. Bakhtin noted that until now, in various places in France, one can see rocks, stones, metal monuments associated with the name of Gargantua, symbolizing various parts of his body and individual household items.
A large cycle of illustrations for Francois Rabelais' novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel" (about 90 illustrations were created in total) remained unpublished. The book was intended for children. There is a presentation of the famous novel by Zabolotsky. This retelling omits everything that has lost its relevance in our time, the physiological details of the novel written by the doctor. Rabelais believed that there was nothing "shameful" in human nature, and devoted a whole chapter of his novel to reasoning about the better way to wipe oneself with the main character, Gargantua. Much more has been removed from the son.
This is a sharp satire on the author's contemporary society. The satire was so vicious that the church began to persecute the poor author. In those days, conflicts with the church were fraught with the fire of the Inquisition. Therefore, Rabelais had to run around Europe, saving his life. At the same time, the author in his novel proposed a model of an ideal society, an ideal ruler, an ideal education system.
This illustration is dedicated to Pantagruel's visit to the island of Gaster. Gaster means stomach. It is the stomach that rules the world, moves humanity along the path of progress, Rabelais believed. The desire to eat - a natural human desire - makes people invent ingenious mechanisms, breed livestock, grow unprecedented fruits, travel the world, explore what food can bring, become a source of new types of food. The inhabitants of the island wear the image of the deity - Glutton, feed him, worship him.
The problems of illiterate doctors were also relevant in the 16th century. Poor Gargantua fell ill, and medieval doctors began to treat him. The cause of the disease is also relevant as always: gluttony. Rabelais enthusiastically describes and lists everything that the giant Gargantua swallowed.
A friend of Pantagruel - Panurge came to the seer: to find out if he should marry. Rabelais comically describes quackery, ambiguous confused answers given by a psychic - a sibyl. All predictions could be interpreted at your discretion: this way and that.
Another eternal image is Chatterbox, yap, in which you can get bogged down, like in a cobweb.
When compiling this material, we used:
1. S. Artamonov. Francois Rabelais and his novel
2. Online encyclopedia Wikipedia;
3. Online encyclopedia Around the world;
4. www.liveinternet.ru/showjournal.
5. Audiobooks.com
6. Bychkov M.N. Rabelais. Gargantua and Pantagruel M., Fiction, 1966
7. http://www.philosophy.ru/library/bahtin/rable.html
Rabelais Francois (February 4, 1494 - April 3, 1553), the largest representative of the literature of the French Renaissance, the famous author of the satirical narratives of Gargantua and Pantagruel. Born, according to some scientists, in 1483, according to others - in 1494; the majority of biographers tend to the second opinion. It was believed that his father was an innkeeper, but this legend has long been refuted: he was a court official, i.e. belonged to the enlightened middle class to whom the French Renaissance owes so much. Antoine Rabelais owned lands in Touraine near Chinon; in one of his estates, Ladevignières, François was born.
It remains unclear how and for what reasons he entered the monastery at such an early age (presumably in 1511). The motives that made him give preference to the Franciscan cloisters are also mysterious. These monasteries at that time remained aloof from humanistic aspirations, and even the study of Greek was considered a concession to heresy. Sympathetic to humanism, Bishop Geofroy d'Estissac from the nearest Benedictine abbey of Mallese took Francois and his friend Pierre Amy as secretaries.
A man's mind is stronger than his fists.
Rabelais Francois
In 1530, while remaining in the clergy, Rabelais appeared at the well-known medical school in Montpellier, and after six weeks he was ready to take the bachelor's exams - there is no doubt that he had practiced medicine before. Two years later he became a doctor at the city hospital in Lyon. In those days, Lyon was a major center of the book trade. At fairs, among folk books, one could find alterations of medieval novels about the deeds of giants and all kinds of miracles, for example, the Great Chronicle (author unknown). The success of this story of a family of giants prompted Rabelais to start writing his own book.
In 1532 he published Horrible and Terrible Deeds and Feats of the Glorious Pantagruel (Horribles et espouantables faicts et prouesses du tres renommé Pantagruel). The book was immediately condemned by the keepers of orthodox dogma, including the Sorbonne, by the theological faculty of the University of Paris. In response, Rabelais removed a few passionate expressions (like the "Sorbonne donkey") and, putting aside old fables, wrote a smashing satire that left no doubt about his intentions in the future. It was a book about Gargantua, "the father of Pantagruel." The giants remained in it, as did the numerous echoes of the skirmish that took place in 1534. At that time, many of Rabelais's friends were imprisoned, were expelled, or even more deplorable fates awaited. The highly influential diplomat Jean Du Bellay, a cardinal and envoy in Rome, took Rabelais with him to Rome several times and obtained complete forgiveness from the pope for those sins against church discipline that his friend had committed in the old days (Release January 17, 1536).
Until 1546, Rabelais wrote little: he spent a lot of time working on essays submitted for a doctoral degree, received in 1537. There is a known case when his letters were intercepted and he retired to Chambéry for a while. The third book (Tiers Livre), describing the new adventures of Pantagruel, was condemned, like the previous ones. High-ranking friends came to the rescue. Cardinal Du Bellay secured parishes for Rabelais in Saint-Martin de Meudon and Saint-Christophe de Jambay. Cardinal Aude de Châtillon received royal approval for the publication of the Fourth Book (Quart Livre), which did not prevent the Sorbonne and the Parisian parliament from condemning it as soon as it came out in 1552.
In his writings, Rabelais demonstrates an exceptional wealth of tonality - from Gargantua's message to his son (Pantagruel, ch. VII) to places where the titles themselves are hardly reproducible without gaps indicated by dots. The originality of Rabelais was most clearly manifested in his unusually colorful and magnificent style. In his writings on medicine, the influence of Galen and Hippocrates is still felt. One of the most famous French physicians, he owes much of his reputation to the fact that he was able to interpret Greek texts, as well as to anatomical sessions, which to some extent foreshadowed the methods of laboratory research. Not to call especially original and his philosophy. On the contrary, the writings of Rabelais are a real find for the diligent lover to establish sources and borrowings. Often the narrative takes only a few lines, and the page is almost completely filled with notes. This commentary, partly linguistic, was made up of scholarly sources, the speech of the common people, including dialects, professional jargon of various classes, as well as Greek and Latin - calques common in that era.
Gargantua and Pantagruel are called novels. Indeed, their composition was greatly influenced by the chivalric romances that were popular at the time. Rabelais also begins the story with the birth of his hero, who, of course, is born "in a very strange way." Then, traditionally, there are chapters on childhood and upbringing in adolescence - the hero is brought up by both adherents of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Education in the spirit of the latter causes only delight in the author, education in the spirit of the Middle Ages - one contempt. When Gargantua confiscates the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral, the theological faculty of the University of Paris sends a delegation to him to return them. Master Ianotus de Bragmardo, who led this delegation, is described with malicious mockery. In sharp contrast to this weak-minded old man stands the well-bred, bright mind Gargantua, whose appearance is as irreproachable as his Latin. Among his assistants, perhaps the most interesting is brother Jean, who is very similar to brother Took from the ballads about Robin Hood. Brother Jean is the embodiment of an ideal close to the author's heart, just as he was close to Erasmus of Rotterdam: he is a monk who by no means neglects a living, active life, who knows how to stand up for his monastery both in word and deed.
In Pantagruel, which follows Gargantua (although it was published earlier), the borrowings from folklore that formed the basis of the story are much more obvious. The giant hero, obsessed with a thirst for adventure, is directly transferred to the story from popular prints sold at fairs in Lyon and Frankfurt. His birth also occurs "in a very strange way" and is described with numerous obstetrical details. Just as colorful is the story of how this enormous miracle of nature grew, but gradually the author begins to focus on intellectual aspirations in the spirit of the Renaissance. Illustrative is the scene of the introduction of Panurge, who introduces himself by giving speeches in many languages, an episode precisely calculated to arouse laughter in the public belonging to humanist circles, where German might be found difficult, but Greek and Hebrew were distinguished if the speaker showed "true gift of rhetoric. In the same book (Chapter VIII) we find a letter written in the style of Cicero to Pantagruel, testifying how passionately people then believed in the advent of a new era.
), the exact date of birth is unknown - they name 1493 and the city as versions. Presumably, he was the son of a tavern owner (some say a pharmacist who was also engaged in drinking trade), who lost his mother at a very early age, or (according to other news) was rejected very early by her and given to the monastery than some biographers, with no small stretch, explain the absence of purity, ideality, tenderness in the works of Rabelais.
Directly from the tavern environment, where the first 10 years of Rabelais' life pass, he, at the behest of his father, ends up as a student at the Franciscan monastery of Segli, from there to the monastery of De la Beaumet, then, also as a student, at the Cordelier abbey in Fontenay-le-Comte ( Fontenay le Comte). The news has been preserved that during these transitions he met a young man among his fellow students, who later served him as a model for one of the most prominent figures in his novel - the monk Jean de Entomoire (translated by N. M. Lyubimov - Jean Toothbreaker).
Not educated enough to devote himself to one of the "liberal professions", Rabelais became a monk. Among other things, he was prompted to this by the opportunity, with a certain material support, to engage in the “humanistic” sciences, which at that time, that is, at the height of the Renaissance in France, occupied the most prominent place in the mental life of the French. The monastic life (and mainly the Franciscan order), to which Rabelais doomed himself 25 years old, was in sharp contradiction to Rabelais's nature, hostile to all mystical extremes and ascetic mortification of the flesh. His dislike for monasticism was intensified by ignorance, fanaticism and, at the same time, the idleness and depravity of those monks among whom he had to live, and who already now gave him precious material for his future satirical images. He studied all the more zealously, in a circle of several like-minded people and thanks to relations with prominent figures of the Renaissance (for example, with Bude), his favorite sciences.
When the displeasure of the monks, which was greatly facilitated by Rabelais' mockery of them, took the form of persecution, Rabelais fled; although he soon returned, but a year later he finally left the Franciscan order and switched to the Benedictine. However, he no longer entered the monastery, and as a simple priest he lived at the court of the Bishop of Malezes ( Maillezais), Geoffroy d'Estissac, who was distinguished by his education and Epicurean inclinations and gathered around him many French "humanists". It is very likely that the beginning of Rabelais's relations with Erasmus of Rotterdam, for whom he always had the deepest respect, calling him his "father", even "mother", dates back to the same time. The patronage of the bishop, as well as those who played a significant role in the history of the then enlightenment and held an important position, the brothers du Belle, gave Rabelais the opportunity, without burdening himself with the performance of his church duties, to engage in botany and medicine.
Characteristics of creativity
The most remarkable writer of his era, Rabelais is, at the same time, the most faithful and living reflection of it; standing alongside the greatest satirists, he occupies a place of honor between philosophers and educators. Rabelais is quite a man of his time, a man of the Renaissance in his sympathies and affections, in his wandering, almost wandering life, in the diversity of his information and occupations. He is a humanist, physician, lawyer, philologist, archaeologist, naturalist, theologian, and in all these spheres - "the most valiant interlocutor at the feast of the human mind." All the mental, moral and social ferment of his era was reflected in his two great novels.
The model for Gargantua was a folk book under the same title, which depicted in a caricature the obsolete world of knightly exploits, romantic giants and wizards. Subsequent books of both this novel and its continuation, Pantagruel, then appeared successively over several years, in various revisions; the last, fifth, appeared in full form only twelve years after the death of Rabelais.
The shortcomings noticed in it raised doubts about its belonging to Rabelais and various assumptions on this score, of which the most fundamental is that the plan and the general program belong to Rabelais, and even all the main details were outlined by him, and many were completely written by him.
Their external form is mythological-allegorical, which was in the spirit of that time and constitutes here only a frame that the author found most convenient for expressing his cherished thoughts and feelings. The great significance of the book of Rabelais (for "Gargantua" and "Pantagruel" are one inseparable whole) lies in the combination of negative and positive sides in it. Before us, in the same person of the author, is a great satirist and a deep philosopher, a hand that mercilessly destroys, creates, sets positive ideals.
The tool of Rabelais's satire is laughter, gigantic laughter, often monstrous, like his heroes. “To the terrible social malady that raged everywhere, he prescribed huge doses of laughter: everything with him is colossal, cynicism and obscenity are also colossal, the necessary conductors of any sharp comedy.” This laughter, however, is by no means an end, but only a means; in essence, what he tells is not at all as funny as it seems, as the author himself points out, adding that his work is similar to Socrates, in whom the divine soul lived under the appearance of Silenus and in a funny body.
A crater on Mercury is named after Rabelais.
Editions
The works of Rabelais, in parts and together, were published several times:
- the classic edition is Marty-Laveau, published in 1875 under the title: "Oeuvres Complètes de Rabelais", with notes and a dictionary.
- “The Tale of the Glorious Gargantuas, the Most Terrifying Giant of All Who Have Existed in the World” (St. Petersburg, 1790), there is an abridged translation in the New Journal of Foreign Literature (1898).
- See Art. Avseenko: "The Origin of the Novel" ("Russian Messenger", 1877);
- “Selected passages from Gargantua and Pantagruelle by Rabelais and Montaigne’s Experiments” (Moscow, 1896, translated by S. Smirnov), with an essay on Rabelais’s life.
Bibliography
- Gebhardt, "La renaissance et la réforme" (1877);
- Stapfer, "R., sa personne, son génie, son oeuvre" (1889);
- Mayrargues, "Rabelais"; Arnstadt, "R. und sein Traité d "éducation" (1871).
- P-v. Rabelais, his life and works" // "Russian Thought", 1890. No. 7.
- Anisimov I.I. French classics from the time of Rabelais to Romain Rolland. Articles, essays, portraits. - M.: Hood. Lit-ra, 1977. - 334 p.
- Annenskaya A. F. Rabelais. His life and literary activity” (Biographical Library of Pavlenkov).
- Bakhtin M. M. Creativity of Francois Rabelais and folk culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. 2nd ed. M. Art.literature 1990 453 p.
- Veselovsky A. Rabelais and his novel // Vestnik Evropy, 1878. Book. 3.
- Evnina E. M. Francois Rabel. - M.: OGIZ, 1948. - 344 p.
- Pinsky L. E. Laughter of Rabelais // Pinsky L. E. Realism of the Renaissance. - M., 1961.
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See what "Francois Rabelais" is in other dictionaries:
- (1494-1553) humanist writer, monk, doctor and botanist Appetite comes with eating. Anyone entering into marriage should be the judge of his own intentions and consult only with himself. Each person is worth exactly as much as he himself ... ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms
- “CREATIVITY OF FRANCOIS RABLE AND FOLK CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND RENAISSANCE” (M., 1965) monograph by M. M. Bakhtin. There were several author's editions in 1940, 1949/50 (shortly after defending the dissertation "Rabelais in the history of realism" in 1946) and the text ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
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Rabelais, Francois Francois Rabelais Francois Rabelais (French François Rabelais; ?, Chinon April 9, 1553, Paris) French writer, one of the greatest European satirists ... Wikipedia
Francois Rabelais Francois Rabelais (French François Rabelais; 1493 1553) French writer, one of the greatest European humanist satirists of the Renaissance, author of the novel Gargantua and Pantagruel. Contents ... Wikipedia
- (Rabelais) (1494-1553), French humanist writer. The novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel" (book 1 4, 1533 52, book 5 published in 1564) is an encyclopedic cultural monument of the French Renaissance. Rejecting medieval asceticism, restriction ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
1. The greatest representative of French humanism and one of the greatest French writers of all time was François Rabelais (1494-1553). Born into a wealthy landowner's family, he studied at a monastery where he passionately studied ancient writers and legal treatises. After leaving the monastery, he took up medicine, became a doctor in Lyon, made two trips to Rome in the retinue of the Parisian bishop, where he studied Roman antiquities and oriental medicinal herbs. After that, he was in the service of Francis for two years, traveling around southern France and practicing medicine, received the title of doctor of medicine, visited Rome again and returned, received two parishes, but did not perform priestly duties. Died in Paris. The scientists of Rabelais testify to the vastness of his knowledge, but are not of great interest (commenting on ancient works on medicine).
2. The main work of Rabelais is the novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel", in which, under the cover of a comic story about all sorts of fables, he gave an unusually sharp and deep criticism of the institutions and customs of the Middle Ages, opposing them to the system of a new, humanistic culture. The impetus for the creation of the novel was the published anonymous book "The Great and Invaluable Chronicles of the Great and Huge Giant Gargantua", which parodied chivalric novels. Rabelais soon published a sequel to this book, titled Terrible and Terrible Deeds and Feats of the Illustrious Pantagruel, King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant Gargantuel. This book, published under the pseudonym of Alcofribas Nazier, and which later formed the second part of his novel, in a short time went through a number of editions and even several fakes. In this book, the comic still prevails over the serious, although Renaissance motifs are already audible. Inspired by the success of this book, Rabelais publishes, under the same pseudonym, the beginning of history, which was to replace the popular book, under the title "The Tale of the Terrible Life of the Great Gargantua, Father of Pantagruel", which constituted the first book of the entire novel. From his source, Gargantua borrowed only some motifs, the rest is his own work. Fantasy gave way to real images, and a comic form covered up very deep thoughts. The history of Gargantua's upbringing reveals the differences between the old scholastic and the new humanistic methods and pedagogy. "The third book of the heroic deeds and sayings of the good Pantagruel" was published after a long time under the real name of the author. It differs significantly from the previous two books. At this time, the policy of Francis completely changed, the executions of Calvinists became more frequent, the reaction triumphed, the most severe censorship arose, which forced Rabelais to make his satire in the Third Book more restrained and covered. Rabelais republished his first two books, eliminating passages expressing sympathy for the Calvinists and softening the attacks against the Sarbonnists. But despite this, his three books were banned by the theological faculty of Paris. The "third book" outlines the philosophy of "pantagruelism", which for Rabelais - in many respects disillusioned and now more moderate - is tantamount to inner peace and some indifference to everything that surrounds him. The first brief edition of the "Fourth Book of Heroic Deeds and Speeches of Pantagruel" is also restrained. But 4 years later, under the auspices of Cardinal du Bellay, Rabelais published an expanded edition of this book. He gave vent to his indignation against the royal policy that supported religious fanaticism, and gave his satire an exceptionally sharp character. 9 years after the death of Rabelais, his book “The Sonorous Island” was published, and two years later, under his own name, the complete “fifth book”, which is a sketch of Rabelais and prepared for printing by one of his students. The source of ideas for the plot of the epic novel was: a folk book, rich gratesque-satirical poetry that developed shortly before in Italy, Teofilo Folengo (author of the poem "Baldus"), who maserically covered up not only a parody of chivalric novels, but also a sharp satire with a clownish form. on the mores of their time, on monks, learned pedants. The main source of Rabelais is folk art, folklore tradition (fablio, the second part of the "Romance of the Rose", Villon, ritual-song imagery).
3. All protests against certain aspects of feudalism were raised by Rabelais to the level of conscious, systematic criticism of the feudal system and opposed to the thoughtful and integral system of the new humanistic worldview. (antiquity). Many features of the artistic technique of Rabelais also go back to the folk-medieval beginning. The composition of the novel (free alternation of episodes and images) is close to the composition of the Romance of the Rose, The Romance of the Fox, Villon's No. Big Testament + verses of the grotesque that fill the novel. The chaotic form of his narration = the exit of a Renaissance man to the study of reality, one feels the boundlessness of the world and the forces and possibilities hidden in it (Panurge's journey). The language of Rabelais is whimsical and full of synonymous repetitions, heaps, idioms, folk proverbs and sayings, it also has the task of conveying all the richness of shades inherent in the Renaissance material and sensory perception of the world.
4. The grotesque-comic jet in Rabelais's novel has several tasks: 1) to interest the reader and make it easier for him to understand the deep thoughts in the novel; 2) disguises these thoughts and serves as a shield against censorship. The gigantic dimensions of Gargantua and his entire family in the first two books = a symbol of the attraction of man (flesh) to nature after the shackles of the Middle Ages + approaching primitive beings. Over the 20 years during which the novel was written, Rabelais's views changed (felt during the transition after book 2), but he remained true to his main ideas: ridicule of the Middle Ages, a new path for man in the humanistic world. The key to all sciences and all morality for Rabelais is a return to nature.
5. Of great importance in Rabelais is the flesh (physical love, digestive acts, etc.). Rabelais asserts the primacy of the physical principle, but requires that it be surpassed by the intellectual (Rabelais's picture of intemperance in food is satirical. Especially starting from the 3rd book, there is a call for moderation. Faith in the natural goodness of man and the goodness of nature is felt throughout the novel. Rabelais believes that the natural demands and desires of a person are normal if they are not forced and not forced (Thelemites), he affirms the doctrine of "natural morality" of a person that does not need religious justification. But in general, there is no place for religion in the understanding of the world. Rabelais practically excludes religious dogma. Everything connected with Catholicism is twitched with cruel ridicule (compares monks with monkeys, a mockery of the immaculate conception of Christ - the birth of Gargantua). But Rabelais did not like Calvinism either. Rabelais's gospel equates to ancient myths. Despising any violence against a person, Rabelais ridicules the theory of noble families and "nobility by inheritance ", deducing in his novel "ordinary people", and endowing people from high society (excluding fairy-tale kings) with sarcastic names (Duke de Cheval, commander Malokosos, etc.). Even in the description of the afterlife, where Epistemon visited, Rabelais forces the royal people to perform the most humiliating work, while the poor enjoy the delights of the afterlife.
6. Three images stand out in Rabelais's novel: 1) the image of a good king in its three versions, essentially differing little from each other: Grangousier, Gargantua, Pantagruel (= the utopian ideal of a state ruler, the kings of Rble do not govern the people, but allow him to act freely and abstracted from the influence of feudal dukes). After the ensuing reaction, the image of King Pantagruel fades, in the last books he is almost not shown as a ruler, but only as a traveler, a thinker, embodying the philosophy of "pantagruelism". 2) The image of Panurge is a rogue and a witty mocker, who knows 60 ways to get money, of which the Sami is harmless - theft stealthily. The liberation of the human mind from old prejudices brought about by the Renaissance was only in a few cases combined with a high moral consciousness. Panurge combines the image of Shakespeare's Falstaff, a sharp mind that exposes all prejudices, with absolute moral unscrupulousness. 3) brother Jean, a non-religious monk, a lover of drink and food, who threw off his cassock and beat the Picrochol soldiers in the vineyard with a staff from the cross - the embodiment of people's power, people's common sense and moral truth. Rabelais does not idealize the people. Brother Jean for him is not a perfect type of person, but brother Jean has great opportunities for further development. He is the most reliable support of the nation and the state.
1. "Gargantua and Pantagruel" is the most democratic and sharp in thought work of the French Renaissance. Enriched French. Rabelais did not create a literary school and had almost no imitators, but his influence on French literature is enormous. His grotesque humanistic humor is felt in the work of Moliere, Lafontaine, Voltaire, Balzac; outside of France - Swift and Richter.
About childhood and youth Francois Rabelais, the famous humanist of the Renaissance, one of the greatest satirical writers in the history of world literature, little is known. He was born in the French province of Touraine, in the city of Chinon between 1483 and 1494, most likely in November 1494. pharmacist or lawyer (according to others).
In 1510, the father sends the young Francois as a novice to the Franciscan monastery of Selli, from there Rabelais enters the monastery of De La Beaumet, then to the abbey in Fontenay-le-Comte. A young man studies Latin, Greek, Hebrew, law, receives the priesthood. In 1525, Rabelais sought permission to move to the Benedictine Order, which paid special attention to intellectual development: the reason was the negative attitude among the Franciscans (one of the most conservative monastic orders) to the study of the Greek language. In the Benedictine monastery, Rabelais studied natural science and medicine. However, the freedom-loving and inquisitive Rabelais is also close to the Benedictines and soon he leaves the monastery walls to go to Paris, and then to the University of Montpellier, where in 1530 he receives a bachelor's degree in medicine. In the same year, Rabelais moved to Lyon and two years later became a doctor in the local hospital. By the same time, the beginning of Rabelais's literary activity also dates back: he publishes the "Aphorisms" of the outstanding physician of antiquity Hippocrates with his own comments. And soon, under the pseudonym Alcofribas Nazier (an anagram from Francois Rabelais), the book “Pantagruel, the king of the dipsodes, shown in his true form with all his horrific deeds and exploits”, which became the first (according to the time of publication, but not according to the chronology of the described events) by the book of his famous epic "Gargantua and Pantagruel", which brought immortal glory to the author. The impetus for writing the novel was the success of the anonymous adventure book “The Great and Incomparable Chronicles of the Great Giant Gargantua, containing stories about his genealogy, the size and strength of his body, as well as outlandish feats that were committed for King Arthur, his master”, this unpretentious work was then used in France a colossal success. Rabelais decided to write a kind of continuation of this "bestseller" of that time, in a similar entertaining vein, but filled with much deeper content, the sharpest social satire. Not surprisingly, fearing reprisals, the author hid his name behind a pseudonym. In 1534, after returning from a trip to Italy, where he was part of the retinue of his patron, the Bishop of Paris (and later Cardinal) Jean du Bellay, Rabelais published under the same pseudonym the prehistory of "Pantagruel" - "The Tale of the Terrible Life of the Great Gargantua, father of Pantagruel. Both books achieve resounding success, but very soon find themselves among those banned by the theologians of the Sorbonne. In addition, the situation in the public life of France is changing dramatically: the previously liberal King Francis I tightens censorship, calls for the extermination of heretics. Rabelais hurriedly leaves Lyon and in June 1535 arrives in Rome, where he seeks an audience and absolution - including for escaping from a monastery - with Pope Paul III.
For unauthorized absences, Rabelais lost his doctor's position in Lyon, he again takes the rank and in 1536 receives the position of canon in the monastery of Saint-Maur-de-Fosse, but he does not stay in the monastery for a long time: with the help of du Bellay, he seeks permission to practice medicine, having received a doctorate in medicine, he works as a doctor in different cities of France, gives lectures and after a while is recognized as one of the best doctors in the country. He receives a fairly high post at court - the position of receiver of petitions submitted in the name of the king. At the same time, the literary fame of his novel is growing. In 1542, Rabelais republishes Gargantua and Pantagruel, softening, however, some of the sharpest passages in the work. The third part of the epic comes out in 1546 (under the real name of the author). The book is again attacked and Rabelais is forced to hide abroad for some time - in the German city of Metz and in Rome, and returns to his homeland only in 1549. At the beginning of 1548, eleven chapters of the fourth book were published as a separate edition, and in 1552 - its full text.
Thanks to powerful patrons, the last years of the writer's life passed relatively calmly - despite the ongoing persecution of his books. In 1551 Francois Rabelais received a parish in Meudon (near Paris). He died in 1553 in Paris, having managed, as the legend says, to say before his death: "Draw the curtain, the farce is played."
Already after the death of the writer, in 1564, the fifth part of the book, created on the basis of his draft sketches, appeared.
Rabelais's book entered the golden fund of world literature, although the attitude towards it still remains ambiguous: frank humor (there is even an expression "Rabelaisian humor"), numerous physiological details created the book a reputation as one of the most "obscene" classical works. For example, George Orwell once called Rabelais "an exceptionally vicious, unhealthy writer." At the same time, Chateaubriand and Hugo extolled Rabelais as the founder of all French literature, Balzac saw him as his teacher. "Gargantua and Pantagruel" is a grandiose encyclopedia of the European life of the Renaissance: an incredibly life-loving book, glorifying the joys of the flesh, marking a change in the worldview of the people of that time, many hints and allegories of the book have not yet been fully deciphered.
In the 30s of the last century, N. Zabolotsky created a Russian translation-retelling for children, in which all “indecent” episodes were retouched or removed. And the very first (abridged) translation of the book into Russian appeared only in 1901 (!) - the translator Anna Engelhardt. True, there was also a translation by V. Markov, made in the 70s of the XIX century, but it was never published.
Rabelais is one of the most important forerunners of modern science fiction. Influence of the epic novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel" on the development of the fantastic genre is enormous, in the book one can notice the features of many areas of science fiction: the first two parts of the novel are presented by the writer in the form of a grotesque, a kind of parody of a medieval chivalric romance with numerous magical and mythological features inherent in these novels, here are giants and all kinds of monsters and allegorical exaggerations; not without a description of life in the other world; the chapters on Thelema are a classic utopia. In some chapters of the work, the features of dystopia are clearly discerned. Particularly rich in fantastic elements are the fourth and fifth parts of the book, which tell about the journey of friends to the oracle of the Divine Bottle - here Rabelais's fantasy in describing the incredible wonders, nature and amazing inhabitants of the islands encountered on the way has no boundaries. The famous episode with "frozen sounds" is one of the first ways to preserve sound information described in the literature. Chapter about visiting the Island of iron tools