Rabelais’s praise of Triboullet differs from earlier works on folly by using the fool’s differing perspective to conduct its search for authentic meaning. The descriptions of the sage mondain and the divine fool initiate the process, establishing folly and wisdom as relative terms, whose meaning is determined by shifting perspectives. In the praise of Triboullet, Pantagruel’s and Panurge’s differing referential frames are embodied by parallel columns of epithets. While each list’s internal coherence and its relation to the other is guaranteed by analogy, they use difference to generate new epithets, constantly moving from the known to the unknown. Finally, the text’s unconventional configuration forces readers as well to adopt a detached perspective, actively engaging them in the pursuit of meaning.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Nilles, C. J., (2025), "Re-Reading Folly: Rabelais’s Praise of Triboullet", HSSCommons: (DOI: )

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1. Renaissance and Reformation

Original publication: Nilles, Camilla J. "Re-Reading Folly: Rabelais’s Praise of Triboullet." Renaissance and Reformation 30 (1): 2010. 19-31. DOI: 10.33137/rr.v30i1.11477. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Iter Canada / Renaissance and Reformation. Copyright © the author(s). Their work is distributed by Renaissance and Reformation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For details, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.