There are eight complete translations of Gargantua and Pantagruel, plus one of just the first two parts.
For lots of details on all nine translations, please visit We Love Translations: World Literature in English:
» What’s the best translation of Gargantua and Pantagruel?
There are three modern translations in print, plus various updated versions of the original English translation from 1694, by Thomas Urquhart and Peter Anthony Motteux.
Urquhart’s parts of the translation are, like a lot of old, initial translations into English, not very exact. But maybe they don’t have to be; maybe energy, enthusiasm, and humor are more important in some sense, especially for a work like this one. Urquhart’s might not be the best translation, but it’s been around for hundreds of years; it’s a classic in its own right.
See below for a timeline and quotes describing some of the many various editions of the early translation efforts of Urquhart, and Motteux, who finished what Urquhart began.
Publication history of the Urquhart and Motteux translation of Gargantua and Pantagruel
1653 – Urquhart published Books 1 and 2
1660 – Urquhart died, leaving behind an unpublished translation of Book 3
1693 – Motteux published his version of Urquhart’s Book 3
1694 – Motteux published his version of Urquhart’s Books 1, 2 and 3 with his own new translations of Books 4 and 5, in five separate volumes
1708 – Motteux published his version in two volumes, with a preface
1737 – John Ozell published an edited complete version of the Urquhart/Motteux translation; some text removed by Motteux was restored, copious notes were added (translations of notes from Jacob Duchat’s 1711 critical edition in French)
1897 – Alfred Wallis published another edited version, with the same text but fewer notes
1929 – Albert Jay Nock and Catherine R. Wilson produced a modernized edition
More about the publication history of the Urquhart and Motteux translation of Gargantua and Pantagruel
Works of Francis Rabelais, revised by Ozell, 1737
“Now carefully revised, and compared throughout with the late new Edition of M. Le du Chat, by Mr. Ozell, who has likewise added at the bottom of the pages, a translation of the notes, historical, critical, and explanatory, of the said M. du Chat, and others; in which notes, never before printed in English, the text is not only explained, but, in multitudes of places, amended, and made conformable to the first and best editions of this learned and facetious author. Adorned with 15 very neat copper plates.”
Works of Francis Rabelais, revised edition, 1854-55
In a preface signed “Peter Motteaux”:
“To do Rabelais justice, it was necessary that a person, not only a master of the French, but also of much leisure and fancy, should undertake the task [of translating the work]… [Urquhart] translated the Third Book, and probably would have finished the whole had not death prevented him. So, the said Third Book, being found long after in manuscript among his papers, somewhat incorrect, a gentleman who is not only a very great linguist, but also deservedly famous for his ingenious and learned compositions [Motteux talking about himself!], was lately pleased to revise it, as well as the two first, which had been published about thirty years ago, and are extremely scare. He thought it necessary to make considerable alterations, that the translation might have the smartness, genuine sense, and the very style and air of the original; but yet, to preserve the latter, he has not thought it fit to alter the style of the translation, which suits as exactly with that of the author as possible.”
Rabelais, translation and notes by William Francis Smith, 1893
From the translator’s preface:
“Although Urquhart and Motteux had written notes more or less continuous in explanation of their translation, no attempt at a detailed commentary seems to have been made before Duchat’s edition. He was admirably fitted for his task by his wide erudition, knowledge of the French language and literature and of the manners and customs of the various parts of France, as well as by the zeal which he brought to bear on his subject. His first edition was published in 1711.”
The works of François Rabelais, introduction and revision by Alfred Wallis, 1897
From the introduction: “The notes and references which encumbered the former editions of this version have been revised and considerably abridged, other illustrations having been added in some cases where the obscurity of the text seems to have been augmented by the efforts of the commentators to enlighten it…. and much of Mr Motteux’s prefatory matter, now obsolete, has been omitted.” it is hoped that this condensation, whilst leaving the text precisely as it is to be found in the earlier editions of Urquhart and Motteux, will satisfy readers who have hitherto complained, and with justice, of the tendency to overload the original with useless references and far-fetched speculations.”
François Rabelais by Arthur Tilley, 1907
“The first and second books of Sir Thomas Urquhart’s famous translation of Rabelais were published in 1653. The third book did not appear till 1693, more than thirty years after his death. It was edited by Pierre Motteux, who in the following year reprinted the first two books and added a translation of the fourth and fifth books, by himself. The joint translation was republished under the title of The Whole Works of Francis Rabelais, M.D., London, 1708, 2 vols. It has been several times reprinted in recent years, notably in the series of Tudor Translations, with an excellent introduction by Charles Whibley.”
Rabelais in English Literature by Huntington Brown, 1933
“[Motteux] edited Uruqhart’s translation of Book III (which had not been published before) in 1693, and the next year, having finished his own rendering of Books IV and V, published the whole work in five volumes. It was reprinted and annotated after Duchat by John Ozell, and his version became the standard of the 18th century.”
The upshot? Publication is a complex, iterative, neverending process!
