Writer Francois Rabelais: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

Francois Rabelais (years of life - 1494-1553) - a famous humanist writer originally from France. He gained worldwide fame thanks to the novel Gargantua and Pantagruel. This book is an encyclopedic monument of the Renaissance in France. Rejecting the asceticism of the Middle Ages, prejudice and hypocrisy, Rabelais in the grotesque images of characters inspired by folklore reveals the humanistic ideals characteristic of his time.

Priest Career

Rabelais was born in Touraine in 1494. His father was a we althy landowner. Around 1510, François became a novice in a monastery. He made his vows in 1521. In 1524, Greek books were confiscated from Rabelais. The fact is that orthodox theologians during the period of the spread of Protestantism were suspicious of the Greek language, which was considered heretical. He made it possible to interpret the New Testament in his own way. François had to go over to the Benedictines, who were more tolerant inthis respect. However, in 1530 he decided to resign and go to Montpellier to study medicine. Here, in 1532, Rabelais published the works of Galen and Hippocrates, famous healers. Also in Montpellier, he had two children by a widow. They were legalized in 1540 by an edict of Pope Paul IV.

Medical activities

Rabelais was allowed to be a secular priest in 1536. He started a medical practice. Francois in 1537 became a doctor of medicine and lectured on this science at the University of Montpellier. In addition, he was the personal physician to Cardinal J. du Belle. Rabelais twice accompanied the cardinal to Rome. François was patronized all his life by influential politicians (M. Navarre, G. du Bellay), as well as high-ranking liberal clerics. This saved Rabelais from a lot of trouble that the publication of his novel could bring.

The novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel"

Rabelais found his true calling in 1532. Having become acquainted with the "folk book about Gargantua", Francois published in imitation of her "continuation" about the king of dipsodes Pantagruel. The long title of François' work contained the name of the master Alcofribas, who supposedly wrote this book. Alcofribas Nazier is an anagram consisting of the letters of the surname and the name of Rabelais himself. This book was condemned by the Sorbonne for obscenity, but the public accepted it with enthusiasm. Many liked the story of the giants.

In 1534, the humanist Francois Rabelais created another book with an equally long title,about the life of Gargantua. This work should logically follow the first, since Gargantua is the father of Pantagruel. In 1546, another, third book appeared. It was no longer signed by a pseudonym, but by the own name of Francois Rabelais. The Sorbonne also condemned this work as heresy. For some time I had to hide from the persecution of Francois Rabelais.

His biography is marked by the publication in 1548 of the fourth book, not yet completed. The full version appeared in 1552. This time, the case was not limited to the condemnation of the Sorbonne. This book was banned by Parliament. Nevertheless, the story was hushed up by influential friends of Francois. The last, fifth book was published in 1564, after the death of the author. Most researchers dispute the opinion that it should be included in the work of Francois Rabelais. Most likely, according to his notes, one of his students completed the storyline.

Encyclopedia of laughter

Francois' novel is a true encyclopedia of laughter. It contains all kinds of comedy. It is not easy for us to appreciate the subtle irony of an erudite author of the 16th century, since the object of ridicule has long ceased to exist. However, the audience of François Rabelais certainly enjoyed the story about the library of St. Victor, where the author parodic (and often obscenely) played on many titles of treatises of the Middle Ages: "The Codpiece of Rights", "The Rod of Salvation", "On the Excellent Qualities of Offal" and etc. Researchers note that medieval types of comedy are associated primarily withfolk humor culture. At the same time, there are such forms of them in the work that can be considered "absolute", capable of causing laughter at any time. These include, in particular, everything related to human physiology. It remains unchanged at all times. However, in the course of history, attitudes towards physiological functions change. In particular, in the tradition of folk laughter culture, "images of the material and bodily bottom" were depicted in a special way (this definition was given by the Russian researcher M. M. Bakhtin). The work of François Rabelais largely followed this tradition, which can be called ambivalent. That is, these images caused laughter, capable of "burying and reviving" at the same time. However, in modern times they continued to exist already in the sphere of low comedy. Many of Panurge's jokes are still funny, but often they cannot be recounted or even more or less accurately translated using the words that Rabelais fearlessly used.

The last years of Rabelais's life

The last years of Francois Rabelais' life are shrouded in mystery. We do not know anything reliably about his death, except for the epitaphs of such poets as Pierre de Ronsard and Jacques Tayureau. The first of them, by the way, sounds rather strange and is by no means complimentary in tone. Both of these epitaphs were created in 1554. Researchers believe that Francois Rabelais died in 1553. His biography does not provide reliable information even about where this writer was buried. It is believed that his remains lie in Paris, in the cemetery of St. Paul's Cathedral.