Gluttony and Gratitude: Miltons Philosophy of Eating (Medieval & Renaissance Literary Studies)

ISBN: 027108376X

Author: Stelzer, Emily E.

Condition: New

Despite the persistence and popularity of addressing the theme of eating in Paradise Lost, the tradition of Adam and Eves sin as one of gluttony-and the evidence for Miltons adaptation of this tradition-has been either unnoticed or suppressed. Emily Stelzer provides the first book-length work on the philosophical significance of gluttony in this poem, arguing that a complex understanding of gluttony and of ideal, grateful, and gracious eating informs the content of Miltons writing. Working with contextual material in the fields of physiology, philosophy, theology, and literature and building on recent scholarship on Miltons experience of and knowledge about matter and the body, Stelzer draws connections between Miltons work and both underexamined textual influences (including, for example, Gowers Confessio Amantis) and well-recognized ones (such as Augustines City of God and Galens On the Natural Faculties).