Country depicted in jacket of Rabelais book (6)
I believe the answer is:
romans
'book' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'country depicted in jacket of rabelais' is the wordplay.
'country' becomes 'oman' (Oman is an example).
'depicted in' indicates putting letters inside.
'jacket of' suggests removing the centre (only the word's outer letters or 'jacket' remain).
'rabelais' with its middle removed is 'rs'.
'oman' inserted into 'rs' is 'ROMANS'.
(Other definitions for romans that I've seen before include "Inhabitants of Italy's capital" , "Countrymen of Mark Antony" , "Empire builders" , "Citizens of Italian capital" , "New Testament book" .)