RABELAIS’ HOMO BIBENS AND TRANSLATION OF REVELRY

Abstract

Wine and thirst are some of the crucial parts of Rabelais’ novel Gargagntua and Pantagruel. In his own particular way, Rabelais is constantly alternating a constitution and a breakdown in balance of human’s spirit and body, so his characters feel the thirst that is physical and metaphysical in a same time. That kind of thirst gets quenched in two ways: by learning about the world and drinking. There are ten big revelries in the novel, of which the most famous is the one Grandgousier puts together to celebrate the birth of Gargantua - “Drunken Conversations”. This  may well be the culmination of the wine humor; enigmatic, loud and noisy sets of discourses between the invitees who are celebrating and honoring the new life, and it presents an enormous challenge for every translator because of its sonority, word plays and allusions. There are numerous translation methods analyzed in the article about Serbian translator Stanislav Vinaver, among which dominates the literal type of translation.