Rabelais

In world literature, the name of François Rabelais occupies a completely special place. For centuries, the greatest writers and poets have turned to him, followed him, and have been invariably amazed by his genius. One of his most devoted admirers was Anatole France.
France was a member of the Society for the Study of Rabelais and participated in its work to the best of his ability. He dedicated the essay "Gargantua" (1889) to the great satirist, and he did not tire of expressing his admiration in the pages of his articles. A cherished, albeit unfulfilled, idea of France was a large book about Rabelais, the material for which the writer collected over several years. France was a talented disciple of the French humanist in a number of his works ("Modern History", "The Comedy of the Man Who Married a Mute", "The Island of the Penguins", "The Revolt of the Angels").
This book presents the text of public lectures given by France in Argentina in 1909. The biography of Rabelais is complemented by a substantial analysis of each of the five parts of his novel. The author pays special attention to the correlations between Rabelais and various literary traditions and his influence on the subsequent development of French literature.