Le Tiers Livre (The Third Book), published January 23, 1546, was a turning point in his five book series called Gargantua and Pantagruel. The series follows the adventures of two giants, Gargantua and his son Pantagruel.
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Books by François Rabelais*
1. It took 11 years for François Rabelais to publish Le Tiers Livre, the previous book was called Gargantua. He kept a law profile, working as a physician and diplomat to avoid being burned for heresy.
2. This is the first book that Rabelais published under his own name. The previous took books were published under the nom de plume of Alcofribas Nasier, an anagram of his real name.
3. The reason he had the gumption to use his real name was because King Francis I personally granted him a “Royal Privilege” to do so. Nevertheless, the Sorbonne condemned the book as heretical soon after publication. The book was dedicated to the king’s sister, Marguerite de Navarre, a protector of reformist thinkers and an author in her own right. In facts, Marguerite de Navarre was the first noble French woman to compile her complete works for print.
4. The problem with a “Royal Privilege” is that it is tied to the Royal who gave it to you. When King Francis I’s health started to decline, François Rabelais escaped to Metz in Northeast French under the protection of the Holy Roman Empire where he was out of reach of French inquisitors.
5. In the book, Gargantua and Pantagruel are no longer giants, but regular size humans. The plot revolves around the question “should Panurge get married?”. Parnurge being Pantagruel’s trickster friend who comes into sudden wealth and wants to get married. However he’s so worried about being cheated on, beaten or robbed by his future wife that he can’t make up his mind.
6. Being a man of medicine, Rabelais had a lot of fun writing the book. The book’s physician, Rondibilis, gives Panurge advice on how to suppress his urge to marry by either working hard, drinking wine, or basically just not thinking about it. Rondibilis’ bedside manner could also use work, telling the poor Panurge that there’s a high statistical chance his future wife would cheat on him.
7. Around the time he was writing the series, François Rabelais – a priest – had three children, two of who were later legitimized by the Pope.
8. One of the reason Rabelais’ included a biting satire of theologians in his books is because they confiscated his Greek books, believing it was a “heretic language.
Greek is not really heretic of course, but they didn’t want people to read the Jewish Bible (Old Testament) as written.
9. Like William Shakespeare, Rabelais is credited with introducing hundreds of new word to the lexicon (albeit the French one), including encyclopedia, and utopie.
10. The fifth book in the series, Le Cinquième Livre, was published after the author’s death. Scholars are still debating who actually wrote it.
Buy the Gargantua and Pantagruel series from Amazon.com*
Books by François Rabelais*
Zohar – Man of la Book
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Sources:
François Rabelais: French author | Britannica
The Works of Francis Rabelais | Wythepedia: The George Wythe Encyclopedia
Tiers livre des faits et dits héroïques du noble Pantagruel work by Rabelais | Britannica
