For the boys

Aaron found an interesting item on the shelves a couple of days ago -- The Amazing Adventures of Gargantua and His Son Pantagruel: Edited for Boys by Francis Rabelais (Fiction R11Og1940). The book jacket notes "Lovers of Rabelais will welcome this version because of its fidelity to the spirit of the original text, and even more for the ingenioius way in which the unsuitable passages have been rephrased for the young reader." This edition has been in our collection since it was published in 1940. Then, in 1952, some radical librarian purchased a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica's Great Books of the Western World (808.8 G798). Sure enough, volume 24 has the unexpurgated translation of all five short comic novels about the giant Gargantua and his son Pantagruel. So much for the young readers.

I did a quick comparison of one story, called "The Six Pilgrims in the Salad" in the 1940 version and "How Gargantua did eat up six Pilgrims in a sallad" in the 1952 version. You will be happy to hear that no pilgrims are actually digested. Gargantua plucks them out of his mouth after one jabs a sore tooth. Then, only in the 1952 version, Gargantua relieves himself. The pilgrims are carried away by the stream, straight into a wolf trap. Now that's what I call a bad day. And a great example of boy humor.

Here is the 1940 depiction of the pilgrims seeking shelter in the produce: