54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointing replacement, June 2, 2008
This review is from: Gargantua and Pantagruel (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
Just to be perfectly clear, I love this book. It is one of my all-time favorites, providing a humorous and profound take on theology, linguistics, psychology, sociology, literary criticism, and, most importantly, the superior tool for wiping oneself after defecating (according to the young Gargantua, that would be the neck of a well-downed goose). It's basically an obscene pack of Zen koan cards which will delight just about any intellectual type with a decent knowledge of the Western tradition.
However, this edition falls short in a large number of ways. First of all, it's presented as a big, fat, "scholarly" edition, with lots of footnotes, chapter summaries, and aids for the reader to contextualize the information. Not that there's any problem with that in itself - Rabelais is certainly one of those authors that requires at least some knowledge of his intellectual predecessors - but it really disturbs the general flow and feel of the book and places it in the context of being some old and stuffy book read as a "primary source" that can give us insight into 16th-century France than for its own sake. Given that this book essentially ridicules such "old and venerable" texts by means of obscene humor resembling that used by South Park in our modern culture, I really don't think this is the best way to present Rabelais. Also, the books are presented in the order they were written rather than in the traditional order of Gargantua first, then Pantagruel, then the books which are actually numbered. Again, this isn't in itself a problem, except that it disrupts the narrative flow if one wishes to read this book as a whole, starting with the exploits of Gargantua and then moving to the adventures had by his son.
The actual translation isn't terrible, but lacks the flow and subtlety of J.M. Cohen's translation. By contrast, Screech's work feels a bit choppy and as though he's trying to dumb down and explain everything to the reader, rather than produce an English version of Rabelais. Honestly, if I want to be extra-scholarly about everything, I'll just check out a French edition and some of the better books of literary criticism that already exist for this book from an academic library. If I want to read the actual book in my language and not bother myself with the scholarship that's been done on it, this edition won't cut it.
Admittedly, part of my anger at this edition is the fact that Penguin printed it as a replacement to the J.M. Cohen translation, which is widely lauded as the best Rabelais translation in English and is my personal favorite out of all the ones I've read. Thus, the reader is not only presented with an unnecessarily "academic" edition which features a choppy translation, but is unable to easily obtain a better edition or translation (Cohen simply writes a short translator's introduction and then lets the text speak for itself, for the most part). My advice would be to not buy this new and instead try to find a used copy of the Cohen translation. Yes, this means that the copy you end up with will probably not be in as good shape as a new copy of this, but at least, you'll be dealing with a better translation and edition.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I thought I had a warped sense of humor, August 10, 2008
This review is from: Gargantua and Pantagruel (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
I discovered Rabelais while reading Durant's Story of Civilization. After reading such a strong endorsement I decided to get a copy of his works to see if he was really as good as was described. I've always had a somewhat different sense of humor (I love Monty Python), and have always liked satire; so I thought I would like Rabelais. It turns out I really liked him. Sometimes he was a bit crude for my tastes, but he was hilarious.
In general I liked the first two books more than the later books. They were a little more wild and inconsistent, but a lot more fun. Panurge was probably my favorite character in the first book; in the third book he was a key character, but by the last two books he was a somewhat annoying character.
A quick summary of the books is below. Pantagruel is the story of the birth and early life of the Giant Pantagruel, which was probably the most hilarious of the books. Gargantua is the story of the birth and life of Panagruel's father Gargantua; this was also quite funny covering several topics. The 3rd book of Pantagruel contains two main themes; the first is a discussion between Pantagruel and Panurge on debtors and borrowers. Panurge gives the funniest discourse on the need for debtors I have ever seen. The rest of the book tells of Panurge consulting every imaginable method of seeing the future to see if he should marry. The 4th book is basically a travel log similar to Gulliver's travels where Pantagruel and his friends go on a long sea trip finding many interesting lands. The 5th book is a continuation of the 4th book. Note that the 5th book is of questionable authorship.
As far as the translation goes, I was impressed; but note that this is the only translation I have read. I found the prose very understandable, but appreciated the footnotes where I didn't understand it. The footnotes were also useful to me since I am a neophyte in 16th century French life and culture. Screech did a good job explaining things including the literature Rabelais was referring to.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good introduction to Rabelais. It would be good for many of our modern comedy writers to read these books to give them some better ideas for TV shows and movies. I'm convinced the Monty Python writers must have read Rabelais.
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