A masterly new translation of Rabelais s robust scatalogical comedy Parodying everyone from classic authors to his own contemporaries, the dazzling and exuberant stories of Rabelais expose human follies with mischievous and often obscene humor. "Gargantua" depicts a young giant who becomes a cultured Christian knight. "Pantagruel" portrays Gargantua s bookish son who becomes a Renaissance Socrates, divinely guided by wisdom and by his idiotic, self-loving companion, Panurge.