Information AboutRabelais |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT FRANçOIS RABELAIS | |
| 1490s births | |
| rabelais, francois | |
| 1553 deaths | |
| people from centre | |
| benedictines | |
| franciscans | |
| french novelists | |
| rabelais, françois | |
| thelema | |
| thelemites | |
| renaissance | |
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François Rabelais (ca. 1494 - April 9 , 1553 ) was a major French Renaissance writer. BIOGRAPHY Francois Rabelais was born in 1494 in Chinon , Indre-et-Loire . He was first a novice of the Franciscan order, and later a friar at Fontenay-le-Comte , where he studied Greek and Latin , as well as science, philology, and law, already becoming known and respected by the Humanists of his era, including Budé . Harassed due to the directions of his studies, Rabelais petitioned Pope Clement VII and was granted permission to leave the Franciscans and enter the Benedictine order at Maillezais , where he was more warmly received. Later he left the monastery to study at the University Of Poitiers and University Of Montpellier . In 1532 he moved to Lyon , one of the intellectual centres of France, and not only practiced medicine, but edited Latin works for the printer Sebastian Gryphius . As a doctor, he used his spare time to write and publish humorous pamphlets which were critical of established authority and stressed his own perception of individual liberty. His revolutionary works, although satirical, revealed an astute observer of the social and political events unfolding during the first half of the sixteenth century. Using a pseudonym, in 1532 he published his first book, ''Pantagruel'', that would be the start of his ''Gargantua'' series (see Gargantua And Pantagruel ). In his book, Rabelais sang the praises of the wines from his hometown of Chinon through vivid descriptions of the ''eat, drink and be merry'' lifestyle. Despite the great popularity of his book, both it and his follow-up book were condemned by the academics at the Sorbonne for their unorthodox ideas and by the Roman Catholic Church for its derision of certain religious practices. Rabelais's third book, published under his own name, was also banned. With support from members of the prominent du Bellay family (esp. Jean Du Bellay ), Rabelais received the approval from King François I , to continue to publish his collection but after the death of the enlightened king, Rabelais was frowned upon by the academic elite and the French Parliament suspended the sale of his fourth book. Afterwards, Rabelais travelled frequently to Rome with du Bellay, and lived for a short time in Turin with du Bellay's brother, Guillaume, during which François I was his patron. Rabelais probably spent some time in hiding, threatened by being labeled a Heretic . Only the protection of du Bellay saved Rabelais after the condemnation of his novel by the Sorbonne . Rabelais later taught medicine at Montpellier in 1537 and 1538, and in 1547 became curate of Saint-Christophe-du-Jambet and of Meudon , from which he resigned before his death in Paris in 1553. He wrote a famous one-sentence Will : "I have nothing, I owe a great deal, and the rest I leave to the poor," and his last words were "I am off in search of a great perhaps." RABELAIS AND THELEMA In 1532 Rabelais wrote ''Gargantua'' and ''Pantagruel'', a connected series of books. They tell the story of two giants—a father (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel) and their adventures—written in an amusing, extravagant, and satirical vein. It is in the second book where Rabelais writes of the Abbey of Theleme, built by the giant Gargantua. It pokes fun at the monastic institiutions, since his abbey has a swimming pool, maid service, and no clocks in sight. One of the verses of the inscription on the gate to the Abbey of Theleme says: :Grace, honour, praise, delight, ::Here sojourn day and night. :::Sound bodies lined :::With a good mind, ::Do here pursue with might ::Grace, honour, praise, delight. But below the humor was a very real concept of utopia and the ideal society. Rabelais gives us a description of how the Thelemites of the Abbey lived and the rules they lived by: All their life was spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure. They rose out of their beds when they thought good; they did eat, drink, labour, sleep, when they had a mind to it and were disposed for it. None did awake them, none did offer to constrain them to eat, drink, nor to do any other thing; for so had Gargantua established it. In all their rule and strictest tie of their order there was but this one clause to be observed, ::''Do What Thou Wilt;'' because men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour. Those same men, when by base subjection and constraint they are brought under and kept down, turn aside from that noble disposition by which they formerly were inclined to virtue, to shake off and break that bond of servitude wherein they are so tyrannously enslaved; for it is agreeable with the nature of man to long after things forbidden and to desire what is denied us. RABELAIS AND LANGUAGE Rabelais' use of his native tongue was astoundingly original, lively and creative. He introduced dozens of Greek and Latin Loan-words or direct translations of Greek and Latin Compound Words and Idioms into French. He also invented new words and Metaphors , some of which have become part of the standard language and are still used nowadays. Rabelais is arguably one of the authors who have enriched the French Language in the most significant way. His works are also known for being filled with sexual Double-entendre , dirty jokes and bawdy songs that can still surprise - or even shock - modern readers. CONTEMPORARY WRITERS ON RABELAIS Rabelais has attracted many modern writers and scholars. Most notably, perhaps, was English mystic Aleister Crowley . Anatole France lectured on him in Argentina. John Cowper Powys , D. B. Wyndham Lewis , and Lucien Febvre (one of the founders of the French historical school '' Annales '') wrote books about him. Mikhail Bakhtin derived his celebrated concept of the Carnivalesque and Grotesque body from the world of Rabelais. Rabelais was also a major reference point for a few main characters (University Professors and Assistant) in Robertson Davies 's novel '' The Rebel Angels '', part of the '' Cornish Trilogy ''. TRIVIA The bus that runs late at night in Montpellier - his university town - is named "Le Rabelais" in his honour. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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