\ indiana Unveriy Pes Bloomington e590 ono} Rabelais and His World ‘MIKHAIL BAKHTIN TRANSLATED BY HELENE ISWOISKY 9B. 4-392 INTRODUCTION tons He was and is still considered not only a great writer in the usual sense of the word but also a sage and prophiet. Hee isa typ. {cal opinion expressed by the historian Michelet: Rabsas collected wisdom from the popular elemental free ofthe scien Proven ions saying Poveees iol Se from the mouth of one and cov Bat raced by te fol, the'gnis ofthe age ad i prophetic power ave nvcson a their majesty he dore nor dae, forces he pos re der ay eal of ths foo of teste he al ‘eich the fuare wil harvest les hidden, Ths endee book eg golden bought os cant A such judgments and appreciations ae, of course, relative Wesdo not intend wo amwer the question wheter Rats eom iced next o Shakespeare or whether be is superior ot tne to Cervantes But his pace in history among the entre of od European writing such a¢ Dante loceaci, Shakespearean Geran isnot aajet to doubt Rabel nat ony decried the late of French iterator an ofthe French terry tongs bot Intwenced the fae of word erature os well (potable tow than Cervants). There ako no doubt that he the moe dese crac among he nator of new estar: He ere Sly ara esentally Tinka to popular tures and, moreore to «ide ones, (Michelet enumerates them with comderatie sees say) Those soures determined the enti system of is igs tl his aie tok onthe mold Tei precely this speete and radial poplar character of Rabe: )as ages wtih explains thr exepinal ttn wth the fate wo correctly steed by Michelet in the appreciation uote. Te alo explant Rabel’ “nonierary” nang ee the nonconformiy of his images tothe leary nor ad cones predominating in the sistenth century andl prevting fe Gur times, whatever the changes undergone by URit conteay Rabel" nonconformity was etsed to's muh greteresont 3 Jules Michelet. Hisoive de Prance, Vol rice, Vol. Wo. 355. Pain Le Ma thetic 1853-1857. The golden hough was plucked by Neneas atthe bad ‘ing ofthe Cumean sil. It wat te pay tothe undersoeid INTRODUCTION 5 than that of Shakespeare or Cervantes, who merely disobeyed the harrow classical canons, Rabelais’ images have a certain unde- stroyable nonoficial nature, No dogma, no authoritarianism, no tarrow-minded seriousness can GER AAEM Feels aes {Gee HNIBETATE op povet al tha is Habe ane poised, co aL poly wo Tees made solutoh Tae specced Ind SarLE-GHGO This accounts Tor RAGEaS-pecllar Rolain HF the soceasiveteneres He cannot be appronced slong the wide beaten roads followed by bourgeois Eope' Werary crea tion and ideology during the four hundred eats separating in roms “Athough daring these four hundred yeas there have been many enthsiasie admires of Rabel, we en find nowhere a tulyexpresed understanding of him. The Romantic who dis covered him, as they dacovered Shakespeare and Cervantes, were incapable of revealing his exence and did not go beyond evap. Cored yurpise Blan were repulsed ad sll are repulsed by hi ‘The vat jority, however imply do not undetuand hi, In tact, many of his sages remain an eng, “Ts enigma tan be solved only by means ofa deep study of Rabelais popular sources It he appeats so slated so unlike ny fier rpreentaie of “peat hice” of these las four ce tures of hiory. we sould selec that this period of Iiterary de Yelopment nay in tam scem unusual when viewed agen the Teckjround of otk adion, Rabel images sve completly at home within the howsand-yearold development of popular ut Rabelais ihe mot dil casical autor of word literature “To be undentood he requires an essential reconstruction of out tnute arse and slclgiea!.peeepion, the remunciacon of ttany deeply roted demands of itera taste, and the revision of tmany concepts Above al he requsce an exploration in dep of 2 sphere as yt lide and superficaly staid te tradition of otk humor Rabel i dict. But hi wok, correctly understood, ests 2 retrospective light on this theusand.yearold development of the4 INTRODUCTION folk culture of humor, which has found in his works its greatest literary expression, Rabelais’ lluminative role im this respect is ‘of the greatest importance. His novel must serve as a key to the immense treasury of folk humor which as yet has been scarcely ‘understood or analyzed. But frst of al tis necessary to take pos session ofthis key. ‘The aim of the present introduction i to pose the problem pre- sented by the eulture of folk humor ia the Middle Ages and the Renafssance and to offer a description ofits original traits, Laughter and its forms represent, as we have sid, the least scrutinized sphere of the people's creation. The narrow concept ‘of popular character and of folklore was born in the pre-Roman- tic period and was basically completed by von Herder and the Romantics, There was no room in this concept for the peculiar culture of the marketplace and of folk laughter with all cs wealth cof manifestations, Nor did the generations that succseded each ‘ther in that marketplace become the object of historic, Literary, (oF folkiorisic scrutiny as the study of eaely cultures continue. ‘The element of laughter was accordd the leat place ofall inthe vast literature devoted to myth, t0 folk lyrics, and to epics. Even ‘more unfortunate was the fact that the peculiar nature ofthe peo- ple’s laughter was completely distorted: entirely alien notions and concepts of humor, formed within the framework of bourgeois ‘modern culture and aesthetics, were applied (0 this interpretation, We may therefore say without exaggeration that the profound originality expressed by the cule of folk burnor in the past has remained unexplored until now. ‘And yet, the scope and the importance of this culture were im- rmense in the Renaissance and the Middle Ages, A boundless ‘world of humorous forms and manifestations opposed the oficial and serious tone of medieval eclesiastical snd feudal culture, In spite of cher variety, folk festivities ofthe carnival type the eomie rites and cult, the clowns and fools, giant, dwar, and jugglers the vast and manifold literature of parady-—all these forms have ‘one style in common: they belong to one culture of folk carnival Irumor. INTRODUCTION 5 “The manifestations of this folk culture can be divided into sheen forms ital spetecter cmv pagent comic shows ofthe make hae 2. Comic verbo! composiiont: parodies both oral and writen, 32 Latin and in the eracta. s.Wevous genes of biingigete core, ot, poplar blaine “These tree fons of Ik humor reflecting te spte of hei variety singe humorous spect ofthe world are closely inked Tad imerwoven in many way tu gin hy deserting cach ofthese forms Carnival festivities and the comic spectacles and ritual con- nected with them had an important place inthe life of medieval san, Besides carnivals proper, with their long and complex page fants and procesions, there Was the “feast of fools” (este stul- forum) and the "feat of the as; there was a special free "Easter laughter” (rims faschali), consecrated by tradition. Moreover, neatly every Church feast had ite comic folk aspect, which a8 also twaditionally recognized. Such, or instance, were the parish feast, usually marked by fairs and varied open-air amusements, with the participation of giants, dwarfs, monsters, and trained animals. A Carnival atmosphere reigned on days when mysteries and sotiee ‘were produced, This atmosphere also pervaded such agricultural feasts asthe harvesting of grapes (verdange) which war eslebrated alo in the eit. Civil and socal ceremonies and rituals took on ‘omic aspect a5 clowns and fools, constant participants in these Iestivale, mimicked serious rituals such as the exibute rendered (0 the victors at tournaments, the transfer of feudal rights, oF the initiation of a knight. Minor occasions were also marked by comie protocol, a6 for instance the election of a king and queen to pre- fide at» banquet “for laughter’s sake” (ri pour nie) ‘All these forms of protocol and itu) based on laughter and consecrated by wadition existed in all the countries of medieval Europe: they were sharply distinct from the serious offical, ec ‘lesiastial, feudal, and politcal eult forms and ceremonial, They )