ABSTRACT
At the beginning of his seminal book about Rabelais, Bakhtin states, “Of all great writers of world literature, Rabelais is the least popular, the least understood and appreciated.” 1 The Russian formalist perceived this historical misunderstanding as a failure to grasp the tradition of folk humor that pervades Gargantua and Pantagruel, especially that humor derived from the cycle of medieval feasts. 2 Of these, Carnival is the most significant and emblematic, the source for the parody, humor, and sense of the grotesque found not only in other holidays, but in many artifacts of western culture, such as its literature. These traditions, Bakhtin claimed, inspired that irreverence, vitality, and wisdom that has come to be associated with Rabelais.
