L'œuvre de Rabelais est en France " notoirement méconnue ", ou connue seulement pour ce qu'elle n'est pas, et l'épithète de "rabelaisien" ne s'applique bien souvent qu'aux plaisirs de la digestion ou aux éructations d'ivrogne. On trouvera ici le Gargantua et le Pantagruel rendus à leur modernité grâce à une écriture rajeunie. Un livre tout entier voué au plaisir de lire, et de rire, bien sûr, "pour ce que rire est le propre de l'homme."
François Rabelais holds a unique place in the history of world literature, and no more so than for his extraordinary satirical entertainment Gargantua and Pantagruel. Here the first of these volumes is presented in a new and lively translation. Pantagruel recounts the life a popular giant. From his portentous birth and colorful childhood, to his visit to Paris and his travels through Utopia, and not withstanding his enormous appetite, Pantagruel’s history is told with a breathtaking degree of gaiety and wit. Ingeniously coining new expressions, and with an unashamed obsession with bodily functions, Rabelais blends prose and poetry, the sacred and profound, to offer a heady satire of the religious society of his day. The result is a bawdy and brilliant celebration of life.