The Complete Works of Francois Rabelais (Hardcover)

by François Rabelais (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Donald Frame's rendition of the complete works of Rabelais surpasses all previous translations, and, like his translation of Montaigne, will undoubtedly become the classic English version." -- D.A. Fein, Choice

"What Rabelais rubs our noses in is not dirt but the remarkable fact that man is a kind of sewer with a holy spirit hovering over it. [His work] stands, along with Montaigne, Machiavelli, Hamlet, Don Quixote and perhaps Goethe's Faust, as a signpost of the European culture to which we are all to give allegiance. . . . Frame's translation is worth having." -- Anthony Burgess, Times Literary Supplement

Product Description
Rip-roaring and rib-tickling, Franois Rabelais's irreverent story of the giant Gargantua, his giant son Pantagruel, and their companion Panurge is a classic of the written word. This complete translation by Donald Frame, helpfully annotated for the nonspecialist, is a masterpiece in its own right, bringing to twentieth-century English all the exuberance and invention of the original sixteenth-century French. A final part containing all the rest of Rabelais's known writings, including his letters, supplements the five books traditionally known as Gargantua and Pantagruel. This great comic narrative, written in hugely popular installments over more than two decades, was unsparingly satirical of scholarly pomposity and the many abuses of religious, legal, and political power. The books were condemned at various times by the Sorbonne and narrowly escaped being banned. Behind Rabelais's obvious pleasure in lampooning effete erudition and the excesses of society is the humanist's genuine love of knowledge and belief in the basic goodness of human nature. The bawdy wit and uninhibited zest for life that characterize his unlikely trio of travelers have delighted readers and inspired other writers ever since the exploits of Gargantua and Pantagruel first appeared.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1114 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (November 6, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520064003
• ISBN-13: 978-0520064003
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,517,256 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #25 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( R ) > Rabelais, Francois

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Looks Good On Paper, February 9, 2005

By	T. W. (Northeastern United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Works of Francois Rabelais (Centennial Book; a Wake Forest Studium Book) (Paperback)

My dear pantagruelists, Donald Frame was a very learned man. His lucid but formal, mildly pedantic style was perfect for Montaigne, but it doesn't suit the good Doctor Rabelais.

Reading Frame's Rabelais = slow and tedious
Reading Rabelais in French = slow and delightful
Reading Cohen's Penguin Rabelais = quick and delightful (while still basically dependable as a translation)

Yes, if you want a crib to accompany your volumes of F.R.'s collected works in French, that would be Frame. Frame's notes are better (though not as thorough as the ones in my French paperbacks). But if you want to read the book, Cohen's negligible and occasional mistakes don't matter--whether you hear Rabelais's voice and ride apace on his wings of verbal fancy, that does matter.

(For what it's worth, I mention J.M. Cohen as an alternative, rather than Burton Raffel or Andrew Brown, because of how bold these other translators, from what I've seen, have been in "freshening up" Rabelais. I do admire Raffel when he is just clearer and more natural. But I figure that, if you were even mildly tempted to buy Frame's scrupulous tome, then Cohen is preferable for his relative willingness to let the chaotically learned Medieval and Renaissance period detritus reach the English reader's ears.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the modern translation to read , August 26, 2007

By	john smith "avid reader 1234" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Works of Francois Rabelais (Centennial Book; a Wake Forest Studium Book) (Paperback)

Just as relevant as Donald Frame's translation of Montaigne is his translation of Rabelais. Besides this is the only reasonably priced editon of Rabelais with his complete works along with annotations that I could find.