Gargantua and Pantagruel, translated masterfully for English readers, brings to life the robust scatological comedy of François Rabelais. Parodying everything from classical authors to contemporaries, these dazzling and exuberant stories expose human follies with mischievous and often obscene humor. Gargantua tells the tale of a young giant who grows into a cultured Christian knight. Meanwhile, Pantagruel follows Gargantua’s intellectual son, who becomes a Renaissance Socrates, guided by divine wisdom and his own self-loving companion, Panurge.