This wine is so good and delicious, that the more I drink thereof the more I am athirst.
~ Rabelais, Pantagruel
The line is spoken by Panurge but the sentiment is echoed in the ‘Hagarene’ etymology Rabelais offers for his hero’s name, which he renders “all-thirsty.” Mynheer Peeperkorn, resident of Mann’s Magic Mountain, had the same complaint. He was perpetually parched but wouldn’t touch water; he only drank wine. Insatiability is both burden and joy in our Dionysian mode: the best things never satisfy.
