#gargantua and pantagruel

[illustratus]

Gargantua and Pantagruel by Gustave Doré

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[becdecorbin]

more explorations of the great mare.

[nevertoomanyspiders]

was just thinking about the Gargantua and Pantagruel series of books by Francois Rabelais that I still know very little about (I gotta look into some translated editions or synopses at the very least), but damn if I'm not captivated by the art made for them.

naturally the Gustave Dore illustrations are very iconic, but I do enjoy other artists' interpretations of the title characters.

look at them big boys.

[mysterious-secret-garden]

Panurge's fear of death at sea (IV, 20). Wood engraving after Gustave Doré from an 1873 edition of François Rabelais' 'Gargantua and Pantagruel.'

[abybweisse]

Hey, I've gone through your blog and as a modern day Thelemite I'd like to thank you for the research you did into the history of the use of "do what thou wilt" in occultism, as the philosophy of Thelema doesn't in any way condone what happened to the twins. One of the reasons I admire your Kuro theories is because of the amount of research you do and it really shows. My knowledge of the phrase was only its' Thelemic context so I was worried when I read that scene that it would be misinterpreted

Do what thou wilt... within guidelines

Yeah, Crowley and his pals never would have condoned what happens to the twins in Kuroshitsuji, and I definitely made sure to point that out in one or more of my early posts about it. I'm glad you noticed that. 😊 Thelemic rituals often include sexual activities, but it requires that all participants be willing and adult.

According to Crowley, the best sacrifice -- theoretically -- for summoning would be a young and highly intelligent male virgin who offers himself up for the ritual. He also said that people who self-sacrifice (even if it's just blood-letting, not actually offing themselves) are more likely to get desired results. The cultists in the manga completely turn this on its head by choosing 1. unwilling 2. children 3. of random intelligence... 4. that they defile. 😡 They don't care about their chosen victims... and they definitely don't care about following the rules of Thelema. Crowley would despise people who abuse children. Anyone selected for sacrifice should never be made to even feel like a victim. Of course, most of this was theoretical; Crowley says he was too cowardly to use himself (spill his own blood) for summoning rituals, and that he never made a human sacrifice.

Anyway, as mentioned in one or two more recent posts, Crowley got the idea of Thelema -- and borrowed that phrase -- from a series of books by Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel. I have yet to read them, but it sounds like there's a higher level of hedonism in there.... A pseudo-precursor to Thelema seems to also be based on the story, and they also used that phrase, but it was more like a dinner club... sort of -- the Monks of Medmenham. As I say in my addition to that post, they hired prostitutes and wined and dined with them before doing whatever else they wanted. They also made various (small, symbolic) offerings... but to statues of Pagan gods. Again, this wasn't about defiling and/or killing unwilling participants, particularly not children. In that post, I might not have made it clear, but I will here: though the cultists in the manga seem to be a cross between these two things -- Monks of Medmenham and Thelema -- they are clearly not following the rules of either one. The manga's cultists don't care about child welfare or consent or anything. The Monks of Medmenham and Thelemites, like yourself, would be appalled.

[sivavakkiyar]

Francois Rabelais, Gargantua (preface and prologue, trans. Burton Raffel)

[gattsjigari]

Little memorial tattoo for my dear late friend.

Little ergot priest from the Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel.

[zylvrina]

The fact that we had to read a book about a guy who's so big that when he pees thousands of people drown in it, for class, is like, wtf? And to make it even worse we were quizzed on it and one question was seriously how many people drowned in piss. I passed, but like, whyyyyyyy. Comparative literature professors are so weird and also kinda chill. We also afterwards had a whole lecture about the book with a lot of focus on the pee, idk why that was necessary but I had to listen to that for two hours straight.

Anyways the book is Gargantua and Pantagruel, do not read if you want your sanity intact.

[sigmaleph]

kind of fucked up to use 'cyclopean' to mean 'huge'. yeah sure i guess the mythical cyclopes were very big but there's already words for 'very big' derived from mythology. gigantic. titanic. gargantuan. we should reserve cyclopean for 'one-eyed'.

[mask131]

Fantasy sights: William Heath Robinson

William Heath Robinson was an English cartoonist and illustrator of the early 20th century.

He did various Shakespearian illustrations - he most notably illustrated Twelfth Night, in such a way to convey its dark, eerie, ghostly and oniric tones beyond the comedy aspects...

And he also did some very famous illustrations for A Midsummer Night's Dream

Robinson also did an illustrated version of "The Pantagruel and the Gargantua", sometimes grouped together as William Heath Robinson's The Rabelais.

William Heath Robinson was also very as a fairytale illustrator - but since there's a lot more, I'll place them under a cut.

He illustrated Andersen's fairy tales...

He created an illustrated version of "The Arabian Nights"...

And he also illustrated various children-oriented productions, such as Walter de la Mare's "Peacock Pie" or Charles Kingsley's "The Water-Babies".

[a-book-of-creatures]

In one of the weirder Pokemon references, the French names of Basculin and Basculegion are Bargantua and Paragruel, respectively, in reference to Rabelais' giants Gargantua and Pantagruel.

[dinonfissatoaffetto]

In conclusione, come ho detto, egli aveva sessantatre modi di far quattrini; ma ne conosceva duecentoquattordici per dissiparli.

- Rabelais, Gargantua e Pantagruele

[becdecorbin]

ok so the issue with drawing giants is that they work best in relation to someone normal-sized, otherwise they're Just Some Person

so I concede and try to put together designs for Gargantua's friends (other than Friar John, his BFF forever)

(maybe later, Pantagruel's pals??? Epistemon, Carpalim and... wtf I can't remember the third guy that isn't Panurge asfadg *looks it up* ...Eusthenes? uh)

edit: NOW IN COLOUR. YAY.

[bitwa-lektur-szkolnych]

Adam Mickiewicz – Powrót taty

François Rabelais – Gargantua i Pantagruel (fragmenty)

[travsd]

For French Language Day: On Rabelais, Gargantua and You

It’s been a while since I’ve trotted out my Trav S.D. Theme Song, as its been a while since I’ve performed anything, what with all manner of ills befalling our nation since, oh, I’ll pluck the random year of 2016. But I’ll be reviving it soon as part of a new burst of upcoming activity and when I do you’ll note a reference in its lyrics to the great French writer François Rabelais (ca.…