Rabelais and his world

Mikhail Mikhaĭlovich Bakhtin

Indiana University Press, 1984 - Literary Criticism - 484 pages

This classic work by the Russian philosopher and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975) examines popular humor and folk culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. One of the essential texts of a theorist who is rapidly becoming a major reference in contemporary thought, Rabelais and His World is essential reading for anyone interested in problems of language and text and in cultural interpretation.

What people are saying

Review: Rabelais and His World

User Review  - Erin - Goodreads

I must confess that I didn't read the WHOLE thing, though it was pretty interesting. I read a good deal of it as research for a paper and found it surprisingly cogent for its size and subject matter.

Review: Rabelais and His World

User Review  - Maree Kimberley - Goodreads

I'm just impressed with myself that I got all the way through this book! It was hard work sometimes, but I'm now just a little bit in love with Rabelais. His insults are so much better than Shakespeare's.

Contents

• INTRODUCTION: 1
• ONE Rabelais in the History of Laughter: 59
• TWO The Language of the Marketplace in Rabelais: 145
• THREE PopularFestive Forms and Images in Rabelais: 196
• FOUR Banquet Imagery in Rabelais: 278
• FIVE The Grotesque Image of the Body and Its Sources: 303
• SIX Images of the Material Bodily Lower Stratum: 368
• SEVEN Rabelais Images and His Time: 437
• INDEX: 475

About the author

Mikhail Bakhtin was born on November 17, 1895 in Orel, Russia. He attended the University of Petrograd from 1913 to 1918, where he studied classics and philology. After graduation, he taught, wrote, and developed many of his theories. From 1945 to 1961, Bakhtin taught at the Mordovia Teachers Training College. He continued to publish works and develop theories such as that of dialogics, which contends that language evolves dynamically and both shapes and is shaped by culture. The theories are explored in Art and Answerability and The Dialogic Imagination. Bakhtin wrote several of his early works under the pseudonyms of his friends P.N. Medvedev and V.N. Voloshinov. He was persecuted under the Stalin regime for his philosophies and sentenced to six years imprisonment. A bone disease that ultimately forced the amputation of his right leg in 1938 further complicated his troubles. Bakhtin died on March 7, 1975.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Rabelais and his world; A Midland book ; MB 341; Volume 341 of MB Midland Book; Midland Book edition
• Author: Mikhail Mikhaĭlovich Bakhtin
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Indiana University Press, 1984
• ISBN: 0253203414, 9780253203410
• Length: 484 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / French; Literary Criticism / Medieval; Literary Criticism / Russian & Former Soviet Union