François Rabelais - the bawdy side of the French Renaissance

After studying 19th century romanticism through the words and footsteps of Balzac, we moved into completely different époque. In a small village not far from where Joan of Arc came to plead her case in front of the Dauphin de France in Chinon, François Rabelais was born in the late 1400s. His house La Devinière has been converted into a museum for his work as well as for the underground troglodyte wine caves that were widely in use at the time. Rabelais was one of the humanists of the Renaissance period along with such contemporaries as Sir Thomas Moore and Copernicus. In addition to being a man of letters, Rabelais practiced the disciplines of medicine, law and religion.

His most famous works: Gargantua et Pantagruel are a sort of parody/mirror on his own life, in addition to being a bawdy series of stories designed to entertain and above all, evoke laughter. One has the feeling of being somewhere in the middle of Gulliver's Travels and the horror film series "Chucky" whose main character is the "bad boy" at the expense of others around him. This is a classic series whose illustrations speak for themselves.

Visiting his house and the nearby Chinon, one can picture the giant Gargantua making his way through the streets in search of satiation for his massive hunger and thirst. It's no wonder many bars, restaurants and hotels are named after the author and his famous characters.