Exchange and Representation: Paintings in Rabelais’s

Quart Livre (2-4, 45-54)

 

            Rabelais’s Quart Livre, the last complete book that can be attributed to him with any certainty, recounts the search for the Dive Bouteille.  The main characters undertake an extraordinary sea voyage that takes them to many strange lands as they seek the oracle that they believe will reveal to them Truth (le mot). (733) Two overriding themes of the book are that of exchange and representation. Both of these are closely related to a more general investigation of language that takes place throughout the Quart Livre. For the purposes of this paper; however, I will limit the discussion of these themes to two episodes in which paintings play an important role in the narrative and are discussed at length.

The first episode comes early in the book at the travelers’ first port of call, the Isle of Medamothi. This rather uneventful beginning of the voyage acquires special interest if compared to the Quart Livre of 1548, because there is no Medamothi episode in the first version of the story at all.1  Alice Berry, in her article “L’Isle Medamothi”: Rabelais’s Itineraries of Anxiety (Quart Livre 2-4), seeks to understand why Rabelais added this episode and why he made it the first port of call on the voyage. Berry believes the answer lies in Gargantua’s presence on the island in the form of his messenger, his letter, and his gifts. I am indebted to Berry’s Freudian interpretation for much of what I will outline here.

In the 1548 version of the book Gargantua is absent from the island. This separation of father and son may indicate a separation of storytelling traditions: an older medieval tradition on the one hand and Rabelais’s own books on the other. The book is clearly linked to exile when Pantagruel chants psalm 114 “Quand Israël hors d’ægypte sortit.” (584) His ambivalence to the Gargantuan past is clear.  He regrets leaving his home behind to embark on ‘voyes périlleuses’. (582) However, the freedom to explore offered by exile is appealing. Berry writes, “Pantagruel leaves the lands of Gargantua behind and goes in quest of the future and the new. He is seeking his own logos, which he calls “le mot de la dive Bouteille”2

Ultimately this quest will fail in its first stage because the past will return to stake its claim on the present. A compromise based on exchange will eventually prove the best solution.  At the beginning of chapter 1 the narrator reveals that Xenomanes has left Gargantua an itinerary of the voyage. (582) From the outset Gargantua knows the route his son will take and does not hesitate to check up on his son by sending his servant Malicorne to Medamothi.

Gargantua, as the father of Pantagruel is also representative of the medieval literary traditions that are the ‘father’ of Rabelais’s books. Rabelais is equally indebted to classical sources and humanist influences. This is precisely why Medamothi is a Greek island with Greek architecture and a Greek king. The things purchased in the market of Medamothi are of classical origin. Berry remarks,

 On this island, Rabelais struggles to work out his relationship with both sets of fathers, to resolve the burden of the double heritage, classical and medieval, that haunts him.  And in the midst of these two pasts, he strives to carve out an imaginative space of his own, a space of originality. He calls this space Nowhere; he calls it Medamothi.3

 

            The island itself is dominated by a desire for vision, an element that links the two episodes at issue in this paper. The king of Medamothi, Philophanes, is ‘convoiteux de veoir et estre veu’.  Fittingly, in the great annual market of his kingdom, images are for sale: paintings and tapestries.  With the exception of Frère Jean’s purchases, these paintings are ‘transsumpts’ or ‘copies’ of written stories from classical literature.

            The notion of vision is quite complex on Medamothi. Philophanes, whose name means ‘desirous of seeing and being seen’, is conspicuously absent from the island.  He is at the wedding of his brother, Philotheamon, whose name means ‘he who wants to see’. Problems of vision and representation arise in regard to paintings purchased in the market because visually, these paintings are incomplete or impossible.

The impairment of sight begins subtly with Frère Jean’s paintings. Though the figures are accomplished in every necessary detail; none of the ‘gestes, maintiens, minoirs, alleurs, etc.” (586) are explicitly described.  Frère Jean pays for these works with ‘monnoie de cinge’. (586) This counterfeit or ‘monkey’ money further emphasizes the distinction between what is authentic and what is merely copy. As Dr. Stone pointed out in class, the copied works in this episode only merit fake money.

            Vision is further undermined in the paintings Panurge buys.

Panurge achapta un grand tableau painct et transsumpt de l’ouvraige jadis faict à l’aiguille par Philomela, exposante et représentante à sa soeur Progné comment son beau-frère Tereus l’avoit dépucellée et sa langue couppée affin que tel crime ne décelast.  (586)

 

This work of art is obscured by virtue of being so distant from its source; it is a copy in the form of a painting, of a story, as related in tapestry, from literature. As in the previous example, no details regarding the image itself are given.  Furthermore, the description is presented in negative terms. The reader is told what the painting is not, rather than what it is.  In a gesture that seems to anchor the painting in the real world the narrator tells in specific terms where the painting may be viewed. (587) Unfortunately, Thélème, where the picture hangs, exists only in the fiction of Rabelais.

Any coherent notion of vision is completely destabilized by the purchases of Epistemon and Rhizotome. “Epistemon en achapta un aultre, onquel estoient au vif painctes les Idées de Platon et les Atomes de Epicurus. Rhizotome en achapta un aultre, onquel estoit Echo selon le naturel représentée.” (587) This is the realm of pure abstraction and yet, sound or Epicurus’s atoms are somehow depicted ‘selon le naturel’. Aside from the obvious humor, this passage underscores Rabelais’s intense interest in language and its relation to reality. Berry points out that what Echo and Philomela have in common in literature is their loss of voice. These young women both lose their powers of speech yet manage to regain their personal voices. Philomela succeeds in telling her story by weaving a tapestry.  Echo; however, is condemned to repetition and so can only manipulate the emphasis of an originating voice. By weaving a web of resonances from anterior voices she can emulate Philomela and tell her story. Thus, she is a figure of imitation and the problematic of imitation underlying the series of images in this episode.  Berry speculates that this chapter exposes the fear of finding oneself to be a replica, a simian copy and counterfeit like the money Panurge uses in the market.

Pantagruel has Gymnaste buy him a tapestry in 78 pieces that depicts the story of Achilles as recounted in Ovid.  Similar to Echo’s story, this tapestry is woven by multiplying and fragmenting the original texts of the ancients e.g. Statius Papinius, Homer, Ovid, Quintus Calaber, and Euripides.  This strategy of multiplicity in imitation allows the artist or writer to be independent and develop a personal style. Also at stake is identification with the past and one’s origins. In early 16^th century France it was a common practice to choose a figure from antiquity as a model on which to fashion the self. Berry acutely sees the flaw inherent in such a practice: the adoption of a whole new life constitutes a rebellion against one’s origins, and specifically, against the father. In this light, the market is an appropriate setting. Berry comments,

Medamothi is aboveground; it is a place of choice, not inheritance. Most important, it is a place of exchange. Rabelais is engaged on this island in an effort he shared with many of his contemporaries — to exchange one past for another. As the choice of Achilles suggests, this design is deeply flawed and profoundly unsettling.4

 

On this quest for originality, Pantagruel accounts for a new past with his purchase of the painting and tapestry. To ensure his future he buys unicorns, one male and two female, that symbolize fecundity and proliferation. His purchase of the tarand seems to represent art and language through mimesis. Just as a painter or writer may imitate nature, the tarand is in a nearly constant state of changing imitation. In his description of the animal the narrator tells us, “…il [tarand] change de couleur selon la variété des lieux…” and “…et représente la couleur (…) de toutes choses qu’il approche.” (587) The reader also learns that the animal is capable of expressing the inner self, feelings and fears because its appearance changes ‘selon la paour et affections qu’il avoit’ (588)

            For Berry, this episode defines a new mode of imitation, the transumptive mode, which reconciles the conflict between tradition and originality. Rabelais adopts the ancients as his fathers yet finds his own voice and presents his own vision.

            This success; however, is provisional. When Gargantua’s boat, La Chélidoine, appears on the horizon the native father revindicates his rights and asserts his authority. Thus Pantagruel is forbidden to neglect or abandon his past. And, from the beginning, this episode is characterized by aggression. Malicorne, the messenger, evokes the primacy of the father in his name, as Dr. Stone has pointed out in class. Though Pantagruel has bought several ‘licornes’ in the market he is forced to accept the licorne (ma licorne) of the father. And the gifts he brings, though on the surface tokens of affection, connote antagonism and rivalry. The carrier pigeon is for Gargantua’s convenience so he can quickly have news of his son; the letter, ‘de ta maison paternelle’ commands authority while the books signify the education of Pantagruel as dictated and carried out by his father. (591) Moreover, these gifts compete with Pantagruel’s purchases on the island and eventually take supremacy.

            This episode contains two letters from father and son. Gargantua’s letter has a familiar tone and an oral style.  Pantagruel’s letter, by contrast, has a dense Latinate style that is difficult to follow. What the letters have in common are expressions of affection and fear. Words like ‘paour’, ‘craincte’ and ‘anxiété’ are repeated often in both.

            Gargantua fears Pantagruel’s future that may exclude him while the latter’s anxieties center on his burden to live up to the past.  The crux of the issue is how to escape the burden of the past without killing it. For Berry, the answer lies in transforming the structure of inheritance into a structure of exchange. The element of recompense balances father and son and makes them equals. By willingly accepting his father’s gifts, Pantagruel shows gratitude and is relieved of a burden of debt. Likewise he sends gifts to the father that demonstrate his originality and his equality with the father.  In support of this view I interpret the chain Pantagruel gives to Malicorne as a figure for the family. Each link of the chain is golden and represents one generation of the family. The links are of equal value and bind both previous and successive generations together. Though gold is of great value, the symbol is, nonetheless, an ambivalent one for chains may also be imprisoning.

            The second instance in the Quart Livre (45-54) in which a painting plays a prominent role comes in the episode concerning the Papefigues and Papimanes. Chapters 45-47 recount the enslavement of the Papefigues by the neighboring Papimanes following an incident in which the Pope’s image was disrespected. The remaining chapters of the episode make it clear that the Papimanes idolize a picture of the Roman pontiff, which they consider the “idea” of god. In punishment for their ancestors' irreverence, the formerly wealthy Papefigues are reduced to poverty and squalor. As part of a divine economy of retribution they are visited by plagues and famines that seem to emanate from God.

            The papefigues, those who thumb their noses at the pope, are introduced in chapter 45 when Pantagruel and company land on their island. The papefigues are said to have once been rich and free. For this reason they were called ‘Guaillardetz’, the ‘cheerful ones’. This prosperity came to an end; however, due to an incident on the neighboring island, Papimanie. During the great yearly festival a papefigue disrespected the portrait of the pope. “L’un d’eulx, voyant le portraict Papal (comme estoit de louable coustume publicquement le monstrer es jours de feste a double bastons), luy fist la figue, qui est en icelluy pays signe de contempnement et derision manifeste.” (701)

            In revenge, the Papimanes launch a surprise attack on the Papefigues and sack the island. They reduce the island to ruins and kill all adult males. “…taillèrent à fil d’éspée tout homme portant barbe.” (701) Though the women and children are spared, they are enslaved, “faicts esclaves et tributaires”.  They are also given the name Papefigues, “parce qu’au portraict Papal avoient faict la figue” (702) The narrator states that since this occurred the Papefigues have not prospered. Instead they suffer every year from storms, plagues, famine, and other misfortune as an eternal punishment for the sin of their ancestors. “…eterne punition du péché de leurs ancestres et parens.” (702) This line is significant because the Papefigues’ action is presented as original sin. In the economy of this episode a sin against the pope’s portrait is a sin against God. Therefore, the Papimanes worship this painting as God. If in the earlier episode paintings were related to tradition and the father in a cultural and family sense, here the shift is to religion, particularly to a political controversy concerning papal authority in Rabelais’s day.

            The themes of exchange and vision are equally important in this episode and are evidenced by the Papefigue and devil story. This story recounts how a laborer outsmarts a devil and defeats him economically at the marketplace. Likewise, the devil is defeated by the mere sight of the laborer’s wife’s genitalia, which she leads him to believe is a wound inflicted by her husband. Each of the devil’s failures is based on a misinterpretation of what he sees. Not knowing which is the more valuable part of a particular plant, the devil exchanges root for stalk and comes up short each time. Likewise he mistakes genitalia for a great wound. The farmer succeeds in his exchanges with the devil because of his manipulation of what the devil sees. Now I would like to consider the Papimanes’ obsession with vision and the portrait of the pope that they worship.

            In chapter 48 Pantagruel’s ship arrives at Papimane Island. From the beginning the importance of sight is underscored. Before they are even able to disembark four Papimanes arrive shouting in unison, “Have you seen him, travelers? Have you seen him?” At first Pantagruel’s companions think they are referring to God but eventually they realize that the Papimanes are talking about the Pope.             “C’est (dirent-ilz) celluy qui est. L’avez vous jamais veu? – Celluy qui est (respondit Pantagruel), par nostre Théologique doctrine, est Dieu. (…) Nous [Papimanes] parlons du Dieu en terre.” (709) This obsessive veneration of the Pope demonstrates the idolatry of the inhabitants of this island. It is clear that at the center of the conflict between the Papimanes and the Papefigues is a conflict over papal authority. This was a raging conflict during Rabelais’s day and thus provides a context within which to interpret these chapters.

            F. W. Marshall, in his article, Papimania, the Blessed Isle: Rabelais's Attitude to the Roman Church, comments that the phrase Dieu en terre, Deus in terris, signifying the Pope, was common in polemical literature during Rabelais’s time. Opposing factions drew battle lines around this phrase. For some, the Pope was the Vicar of Christ on earth. As St. Peter’s successor, he was above all temporal rulers and all laws.5  Others opposed the Pope’s authority to interpret Christian doctrine and impose his will through the use of Decretals. This latter group saw the King of France as holding his power through divine will and not subject to any other human authority. The Papimanes episode concerns the Popes temporal power, and ridicules the Decretals as instruments of Papal authority.6

            When the travelers are taken to the Papimane church they discover the gilded and diamond encrusted Decretals, “…un gros livre doré, tout couvert de fines et précieuses pierres…”, suspended above the church door. (711)  It is important to remark that these apparently religious writings are meant to be viewed and handled but not read, “Nous le reguardions en admiration. Pantagurel le manyoit et tournoyt a plaisir…” (711) The narrator makes it clear that these are not writings to be studied or interpreted. They constitute nothing less than divine law, “…les sacres Décrétales escriptes de la main d’un ange Cherubin.” (712)  As such, a major shift in the theme of representation has occurred. The paintings on the isle of Medamothi were failures in imitation, nothing more than counterfeits, yet they held symbolic value for the future and became currency in the exchange between father and son. The Decretals; however, mark a transformation from the symbolic to the divine itself. The book is no longer valuable for the writings it contains nor does it symbolize future potential. The Decretals are presented as holy in their own right and worthy of worship. This shift will be completed in the discussion of the pope’s portrait.

            In chapter 50 Homenaz (Stoutmoron), reveals to Pantagruel and his companions the holy image of the pope. “…tirant un rideau de satin cramoisy, nous monstra une image paincte assez mal scelon mon advis, y toucha un baston longuet et nous feist a tous baiser la touche.” (714)  Clearly, this is the image of God for the Papimanes. They await his return as many religions await a messiah. Now the crystallization is complete. The poorly painted image is itself holy, “…l’idée de celluy Dieu de bien en terre…”; it has become an idol. This painting of the pope is for viewing and touching but is not subject to interpretation. Obviously, Rabelais is attacking the temporal authority of the pope and his Decretals.

As on Medamothi, and in the case of the suspended Decretals, there is an emphasis on vision in this episode. As I have already noted, the greeting the travelers are met with at the port, “Have you seen him? Have you seen him?”, indicates that vision is most important on this island. Furthermore, after showing the painting, Homenaz describes his people awaiting the saviour thus, “la venue duquel nous attendons dévotement et lequel espérons une foys veoir en ce pays.” Again the emphasis is on vision when Homenaz continues, “Et vous, heureux et bien heureux, qui tant avez eu les astres favorables que avez vivement en face veu et realement celluy bon Dieu en terre, duquel voyant seulement le portraict, pleine rémission quaignons de tous nos péchez…” (714)

In conclusion, what is most significant in this episode is the function of supreme authority that this painting fulfills. The paintings on Medamothi had an opposite function. Their value was found in demonstrating a potential and ultimately in becoming currency of exchange. The painting of the pope is an all-powerful god for the Papimanes in a society that has no currency of thought, much less an exchange of ideas. There exists only the law of the Decretals.