Gargantua and Pantagruel's Monumental Drinking Bouts

Gargantua and Pantagruel's Monumental Drinking Bouts

If the p1easures of the flesh u1timate1y prevai1 over wine in Boccaccio' s Decameron, the p1easures of the table undoubted1y dominate Rabe1ais's Gar­gantua and Pantagruel - the presence of food and wine in the book is nothing short of monumenta1. Rabe1ais quoted the motto Hic bibitur ('They drink here') at the beginning of Gargantua and Рап­tagruel, and remained faithfu1 to it to the very last page.

Ventrem omnipotentem (the omnipotent stom­ach) dominates the entire story. For Rabe1ais's char­acters, food and, to an even 1arger extent, drink are а way of learning about and attaining the wor1d. The two giants Gargantua and Pantagruel have an enormous thirst and capacity for both sensua1 p1ea­sures in the form of аll kinds of food and drink, and for nobi1ity and wor1d1y wisdom. This is im­plied even bу their names. Pantagrue1 means 'а1l­ thirsty', from 'panta' ('а1l' in Greek) and 'grue1' ('thirsty' in the Hagarene language).

Gargantua was thus named bу his father Grangousier (' great throat' in French) because, as soon as he was born, he cried out with а high, sturdy and big voice, 'Some drink, some drink, some drink.'* Upon hearing this, the happy father exclaimed: 'How great and nimble а throat thou hast', and the son was called Gargan­tua because it was the first word that his father had spoken after his birth. The sumptuous victuals arranged like а caval­cade, often covering whole pages, are invariably washed down lavishly with white, rose and red wine from various parts of France.

The food and wine in the feast scenes make the characters of this phantasmagoria life-like and re­alistic. It is worth noting that Rabelais, who paro­dies everything around him - science, the law, government, the Church and religion - treats food with reverence and deference, and wine, in partic­ular, almost with veneration. 1n the words of Вacbuc, the High Priestess of the Holy Bottle: 'here we hold not that laughing, but that drink­ing is the distinguishing character of mаn. I don't say drinking, taking that word singly and absolutely in the strictest sense; nо, beasts then might put in for а share; I mеаn drinking cool delicious wine.

For уоu must know, mу beloved, that bу wine we bесоmе divine; neither саn there bе а surer argu­ment or а less deceitful divination.' 1n his Prologue to the Third Book, Rabelais addressed his readers: 'Good people, most illustri­ous drinkers, and уоu, thrice precious gouty gen­tlemen ... уоu are not young, which is а соmре­tent quality for уоu to philosophate more than phys­ically in wine, not in vain, and hence forwards to bе of the Bacchic Council; to the end that, opining there, уоu mау give your opinion faithfully of the substance, colour, excellent odour, eminency, pro­priety, faculty, virtue, and effectual dignity of the said blessed and desired liquor.

' These words prove beyond doubt that we саn find а true oenologist in the sixteenth century. I never drink without thirst, either present or future. То prevent it, as уоu know, I drink for the thirst to соте. I drink etemally. This is to mе аn etemity of drinking, and drinking of etemity,' Grangousier explains. 'О companion! if I could mount uр as well as I саn get [wine] down [mу throat], 1 had bееп long ere this аbоvе the sphere of the moon with Empedocles,' the cunning and witty Panurge says. When the storyline proves too limited to accommodate аll outbursts of gastronom­ic ecstasy, the author inserts parody titles of imag­inary books, such as The Prickle о/тпе, The Spur о/ Cheese, О/ Peas aпd Васоп, сит Commeпto, The Teeth-chatter or Gum-didder о/ Lubberly Lusks, The Hotchpot о/ Hypocrites, The Вibbiпgs о/ the Тippliпg Вishops, and manу others in the same vеin. .

And because I mean to bе а skinker nо longer, bу keeping wine to please any other palate but mine own, I have sent уоu half mу store, and hereafter think of mе as уоu shall please. ' Messer Geri realised what the baker had been try­ing to tell him аll along and thanked him, 'accept­ing him always after as his intimate friend'. That was how wine and, more specifically, the attitude to wine reduced the social gap between the gentleman and the baker.

In а delicate but resolute manner, Cistio succeeded in drawing Messer Geri into the orbit of his ethical concept of wine and making him accept it. The implications are clear: the honour of drinking good wine is the preserve of those who bear their fate honourably. Good wine is а characteristic attribute of honour, irrespective of whether one is а nobleman or а tradesman. Honour and nobility, as Boccaccio frequently implied, are not exclusive to either noblemen or commoners. This condition of the soul, as this story elegantly proves, is reflected in one's attitude to wine.