Language and Money in Rabelais

Combining speech act theory and economic history with the work of Marx, Foucault, and Goux, this study investigates representations of economic and linguistic exchanges in the novels of Rabelais in order to view the tensions within the society of Renaissance France. The various chapters critically examine the logic of substitution in the texts, the relationship between credit and the practice of interpretation, and Rabelais's thought on the status of language in the context of budding capitalism.