2. Pantagruel

The conclusion of Francois Rabelais’ bawdy, exuberant adventures of medieval giants. A dizzying blend of fantasy, comedy, philosophy and scatological humour. The world's a messy place.

Pantagruel, Gargantua's son, and his morally dubious friend Panurge embark on a quest to discover whether marriage is for them. On the way they have many adventures before they come before the Seer of the Holy Bottle who gives them a definitive judgement.

This tale is a dizzying blend of fantasy, comedy, philosophy and scatological humour. The world's a messy place. All the big mock-heroic novels that followed - Don Quixote, Tristram Shandy, Gulliver's Travels, Ulysses - are about mess, they're about slops and slime, encyclopaedic in their efforts to encompass humanity in all its bawdy, chaotic, grungy, and painful reality. And like Gargantua and Pantagruel they're also very funny. The Rabelaisian world view is founded on the assumption that the humourless are not yet wise - and these tales insist you learn to laugh at humanity.

Dramatised by Lavinia Murray.

Rabelais .... David Troughton
Gargantua .... Robert Wilfort
Pantagruel .... Justin Edwards
Panurge …. Conrad Nelson
Friar Jean .... Jonathan Keeble
Jacqueline/Seer .... Fiona Clarke
Librarian/Secretary .... Mark Chatterton

Director: Gary Brown

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.