ABSTRACT
Only at the eleventh hour does Pantagruel laugh: he has no option. Only puppets, clowns and other dehumanized people are heartily laughed at. The more they are dehumanized, like the soldiers of Picrochole in Gargantua or the battered Chicanous of the Quart Livre, the more easily they can be smashed to pieces for amusement. As a philosophy, Pantagruelism is not laughing but joyful. A joyful mind and joyful conversation can be long sustained: a good guffaw is a rare indulgence, at least for the wise. There is a moral tension in Rabelais which is characteristic of Christian comedy generally. It is fun to laugh; laughter is potentially a powerful moral force; it can be directed to good theological and moral ends: the wise man controls it. The uproarious episode of the Papimanes never shows Pantagruel giving way even to smiles.
