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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Cicero has been broadening his mind: he's just about done with Don Quixote. Next on his list is Rabelais.
I haven't read much from the Quixote. If you asked about it, my answer would more likely refer to The Man of La Mancha. But based on what I do know, Rabelais is a good next pick. Again, the work is sprawling, bizarre and ironical. Cervantes and Rabelais were both writing at times when no one before had quite done what they were doing, which gave them some latitude to play with a form that their own genius helped fix.
The curious thing about Rabelais is that while a first reading reveals a vulgar bunch of nonsense, underneath the birth of humanism is taking place. From the educations of the giants to the medical quackeries to the hardly subtle and somewhat mocking parallels with the Bible, Rabelais signals (by his success, if not his actual plotting) that a cultural shift is underway with old verities under challenge and older verities reaffirmed. Particularly sweet is the story of the torche-cul, in which we find a reverence for practicality, the childish knack for invention and the sentimentality of a proud papa all rolled together. Nice.
posted by gbarto at 7:53 PM
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