Description
Book SynopsisExplores the philosophical significance of gluttony in Paradise Lost, arguing that a complex understanding of gluttony and of ideal, grateful, and gracious eating informs the content of Milton’s writing.
Trade Review“Quite a good book of its kind, its particular virtue being the scope of its inquiry, which extends from heaven to hell and from the garden of Eden to the fallen present, in the process offering an integrated overview of the role of dietary concerns in Milton’s work.”
—Bruce Boehrer Modern Philology
“This book will provide a valuable introduction to the theological and cultural traditions behind Paradise Lost that will be most helpful to readers who are relatively new to medieval and Renaissance studies, and a provocative challenge to the assumptions of senior scholars.”
—Elizabeth Skerpan-Wheeler Renaissance Quarterly
“Stelzer’s study throughout provides interpretive payoffs regarding diverse passages and issues in Paradise Lost, and the fourth and most compelling chapter sensitively explores the rich interplay between eating and other activities for the angels and unfallen humankind.”
—Joshua Scodel Milton Quarterly
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
A Note on the Text
Introduction: “Unsavory Food Perhaps”
1. Patristic, Medieval, and Early Modern Views of Gluttony
2. An Anatomy of Gluttony in Paradise Lost
3. Scatology and Devilish Glut in Paradise Lost
4. Perfect Consumption, the Food of the Gods, and the Great Chain of Eating
5. The Food of Love, the Paradise Within, Augustinian Triads, and the Body Resurrected
6. The Temperate Poet and “This Flying Steed Unrein’d”
Notes
Bibliography
Index
