Nothing is more therapeutic than the game of words and the body.
Nothing is healthier than the orgy of the mind.
Nothing is stronger than the insult of irresponsibility and infantile ambition.
Nothing is more human than the urging "Do whatever you want".
At the dawn of the New Year, where the hopes of a Culture of freedom and self-respect are born and mature, the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel, father and son, spread before us a wealth of life and share it as a gift to the reader.
François Rabelais opened wide the door of the world and showed the horizon of Man. Such a legacy remains necessary. It continues to be claimed.

Definitive edition of the translation, which includes a chronology, extensive introduction to the era and work of Rabelais, comments and notes from recent international bibliography, improvements in the rendering of the original text.