François Rabelais 2 hr 44 min read

The giant Pantagruel and his companions sail on toward the Oracle of the Holy Bottle, through absurd and allegorical islands of monks, lawyers, and fools.

François Rabelais's Book V (published 1564) concludes the riotous, bawdy, satirical saga of his giants, in the classic Urquhart-Motteux English translation. Uproarious, learned, gloriously excessive. Read it for the finale of a Renaissance masterpiece, where fantasy, satire, and comic genius overflow every page.

In its time

Published in 1564, during the Pre-1800, voyages to the moon, subterranean worlds, and philosophical utopias, the deep roots of the imaginative tradition, from kepler and cyrano to the enlightenment.

Reading it

2 hr 44 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).

Illustrated by

Gustave Doré