A Companion to Francois Rabelais offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the works of Francois Rabelais, one of the most influential writers of the Western literary tradition. A monk, medical doctor, translator and editor, Rabelais embodies the ideals of Renaissance humanism. His genre-bending fiction combines vast erudition, comic verve, and critical observations of all spheres of contemporary life that are relevant to this day.

Two sections of this volume situate Rabelais’s work in the larger social, political, and literary context of his time. A third section gives concise interpretations of each of the five books of the Pantagrueline Chronicles.

The contributors are eminent scholars of early modern literature: they include Tom Conley, Francois Cornilliat, Marie-Luce Demonet, Diane Desrosiers, Mireille Huchon, Elsa Kammerer, Jelle Koopmans, Claude La Charite, Nicolas Le Cadet, Frank Lestringant, Romain Menini, Gerard Milhe Poutingon, Marie-Claire Thomine, Jean-Charles Monferran, John Parkin, Jeff Persels, Anne-Pascale Pouey-Mounou, Michael Randall, Paul J. Smith, and Walter Stephens.