“Rire jaune”–The saffron enigma at the end of the Quart Livre From philological game to political satire

The saffron-shit concluding the Quart livre is a pun on pharmaceutical terms; it is also a political reference. From Erasmus’s Adages to Renaissance ethnographies, the saffron shirt, first a shorthand for decadent luxury, becomes the national dress of the “wild Irish,” France’s unreliable ally who ultimately lost to England. By weaving philological wit into a satirical emblem of current affairs, the end of the Quart Livre magnifies the inventive logic of the enigma so dear to Rabelais.