Here the metaphor of a return towar

Here the metaphor of a return toward origins, genealogical investigation, explicitly creates the text—it is the pretext by which the narrator achieves presence. The discourse, however, is metacritical: the narrator, not Pantagruel the hero or protagonist, is on a parental quest. Whereas classical and medieval traditions provide the foundation for the hero’s genealogical exploration, notably the search for the father, Rabelais transposes the discourse, from the start, to the level of the narrative itself, to the level of writing.28