• Biography

Most of the information about François Rabelais' date of birth and death as well as where he lived are all educational guesses from all of the sources I researched. They are more legends than facts. Most researchers think that François Rabelais was a humanist that was born in Chinon France in 1494. He spent most of his life in France traveling with the bishop. Rabelais was tutored as a child. He received formal education at a Franciscan monastery in Poitou. While in school, he learned about history, myth, and humanist thought which inspired him to write stories and novels. One of his novels was called Pantagruel which had many sequels including Gargantua and Pantagruel and The Third Book of Pantagruel.His lifestyle was that he was born into a wealthy family and was able to have a formal education. Rabelais' father was a lawyer so he knew a lot about how court cases and the law worked. No one is sure who Rabelais' patrons were but they did help him publish his many novels. One ISM that is closely linked to François Rabelais is classicism because he references the classical period in his novels. Another ISM that is closely related to Rabelais is humanism. In Rabelais' novels, he would talk about humanism because he learned about it throughout his life.

• Pantagruel

One of François Rabelais' novels is Pantagruel. The original name was: The Horrible and Terrifying Deeds and Words of the Very Renowned Pantagruel King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant Gargantua which was extremely long and was shortened to Pantagruel. It was published in 1532. It was the first book of Rabelais' series. There aren't any specific places you can find this book. The only place I found, which is kind of embarrassing, is amazon. So, if you want it, go there. What's so important about this piece is that it is the first novel in his series. Some new techniques that Rabelais used was like medieval literature which included using puns. That must have been very punny for the audience to read. (Get it) This novel is start of the series about two giants: Gargantua and his son Pantagruel. Pantagruel's mother dies giving birth to him and he has to live with only his father. The story includes action, war and lot of stuff about law and court cases. Because Rabelais' father was a lawyer, he decided to incorporate it into his story. I think that classicism is closely related to this book because it talks about two giants which are usually mentioned in books from Ancient Greece and Rome. I find this book interesting because it's basically explaining the life of a giant. I find that kind of funny. You might see a picture of this if you look it up online. You can read parts of it if you buy the book or go to a website online.