# François Rabelais — The Story of Utopias character guide

> François Rabelais in The Story of Utopias by Lewis Mumford.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** Rabelais

**First appearance:** 0003-the-story-of-utopias

## Who they are

French Renaissance writer whose Abbey of Thélème is a utopian satire.

## In the story

### [The Two Utopias: Escape and Reconstruction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv)

Quoted as 'Anatole France' to assert that without Utopians, men would still live in caves, and that utopia is the principle of all progress.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i)

Referenced indirectly through the mention of Giphantia and the 'Babylonian' mode of life, though not by name.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii)

Author of Gargantua, whose description of the Abbey of Thélème is used as the archetype of the Country House.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iv)

Mentioned for his 'conceit of an anti-monastic order' and depiction of the Country House.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii)

Mentioned as imagining the Country House with a chapel, art gallery, theater, and gymnasium.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/viii)

Referenced as a standard of artistic integrity that American propagandist artists fail to meet.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xii)

Mentioned via the final injunction of Candide: 'Let us cultivate our garden,' as the chief business of eutopians.

### [Bibliography](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/bibliography)

Mentioned in connection with the Abbey of Thélème and its clue to Renaissance culture.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/characters/francois_rabelais
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/characters