Rabelaiss Contempt for Fortune: Pantagruelism, Politics, and Philosophy [Hardcover]

Francois Rabelais wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel at the height of the Renaissance, when top-caliber thinkers aimed to unite the best of freshly rediscovered ancient Greco-Roman theory and practice and transform politics. Through his work, Rabelais offers his unique understanding of ancient philosophy and political thought. This book considers the role of fortune as the key to understanding Rabelais, much in the manner of contemporaries such as Machiavelli. The two could not be more different, however. Throughout his writings, Rabelais attempts to restore respect for the goddess Fortuna through a cheerful restatement of the case for the sober classical attitude toward future things. As Rabelaiss headstrong character Panurge seeks counsel regarding his marriage prospects, various authorities repeatedly warn him that cuckoldry and spousal abuse await. Panurge looks foolhardy during these admonitions. Far from affirming Machiavellis instruction, given in chapter 25 of The Prince, to beat fortune like a woman, Rabelais dramatizes Panurge learning that his future femme may beat him. Through this dramatization, Panurge begins to hear the merits of viewing fortune as an intractable part of life that must be shouldered with the proper inner disposition rather than as an object susceptible of human conquest.Timothy Haglund is donor relations manager for Ashbrook Center at Ashland University.

Well researched and documented, Rabelais's Contempt for Fortune: Pan?tgruelism, Politics, and Philosophy is an ambitious and timely contribution to literary, political, and philosophical studies. Sixteenth Century Journal

A political scientist by training, Haglund provides a well-researched analysis of Fran?ois Rabelaiss doctrine of Pantagruelism (a coinage derived from the protagonist of Rabelais's Pantagruel, 1532) in terms of its 16th-century context. Haglund posits Pantagruelism as a solution to the dilemma about the appropriate interaction between philosophy anls—