Customer Reviews

Gluttony (The Seven Deadly Sins)

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Today the idea of gluttony seems almost like a strange anachronism. People in the United States eat a lot, and restaurants continually meet the demand for larger and larger portions, and shamelessly wave their "NOW BIGGER THAN BEFORE!" banners to all who enter the doors of fast food-hood or of international restaurant chains. Gluttony almost seems accepted, if not a social norm. Eat more! Live! Unfortunately, fat is the outcome of following the rules, and our society also chastises the fat for giving into the social conditioning of "MORE IS BETTER, ESPECIALLY WITH SPECIAL SAUCE!" As a result, obesity and guilt are currently rampant. People with weight problems are pulled in many directions with no seeming resolution to the tension.

"Gluttony" touches on this theme and these tensions. Consumers of food are in a strange position these days. Eat to fit in, but don't eat so much that the cellulite shows, otherwise you won't fit in. One of the most interesting themes that the book does a touch and go on is the notion that those that can get away with gluttony (i.e., those with mega-metabolisms) are not looked down on but envied, but those who gain with every masticulation are shunned. The book could have developed this very fascinating idea more, but as it is, it is mentioned only briefly.

Most of the book is contained in the first chapter. Here, an interesting history of gluttony is demarcated. Just why is gluttony a sin, and why is it often placed at the top of the sin ladder? These questions are answered, along with some very interesting tidbits such as how Saint Francis of Assisi used to put ashes on his food to ward off the pleasure of taste, and Thomas Aquinas' "weight problem". This makes up the bulk of the book. The second chapter describes some of the consequences of gluttony as seen by the Middle Ages and our own age. The weaving of the medieval idea of gluttony and the modern idea of gluttony is not an easy thing to do. There are too many differences between these ideas to really make a solid and incorrigible connection between them. The idea of gluttony today is just incredibly different from the medieval/classical view of it. This tension rides through the entire book, and sometimes the two notions just seem pasted side by side and result in a "yes, okay... that was then, this is now..." type of response that begs to know what the two ideas put side by side are supposed to teach us. Both are interesting in their own right, no doubt, but the book fails in connecting the two in an interesting way. Also, the final two chapters have the feeling of filler. They don't really advance the argument or the theme of gluttony very much. The last chapter, entitled, "Great Moments in Gluttony" is simply a collection from various works of extravagant scenes of gluttony (these scenes are memorable and fun in their own right, such as passages from Rabelais and Petronius). Lastly, there is a great collection of artworks included, some in color. Many of these works are not mentioned in the book itself, and some of the artworks mentioned in the text are not represented in the pictures. They are strangely disconnected from the text (there are no direct references in the text to the artwork, such as "see folio 10").

Nonetheless, this is an entertaining and fun little book to read. There is much to learn about gluttony here, and much to learn about the seven deadly sins in general (since Gluttony was seen as the worst of them and thus able to lead the innocent into violation of the other deadly sins, particularly lust). It may leave one with more questions than answers, but that's to be expected from a topic as enormous as this one. It may be best to think of it as a starting point for further reading on the subject. What it will do, which is why it's worthwhile in the end, is make you think about what you eat and why you eat it.

Gluttony is perhaps the most misunderstood of the seven sins, but in this book we discover that there is much more to it than eating a lot. For one thing most people tend to associate it with overeating, but in reality it also encompasses any harmful kind of indulgence, including alcohol and drugs. Also in the first chapter, the other aspects of gluttony are revealed: too expensively and too delicately, things nowadays most people would be unaware to be related to the sin of gluttony. Once all of this is taken into consideration, one realizes that gluttony may be one of the most common and prevalent of the seven sins today.

The author examines heavily on the medieval views of gluttony; Back in the day, the monks and priests of early churches viewed it as a treacherous, very-easy-to-commit sin, one with a twist: A person must eat to survive, but to enjoy or take pleasure in eating was outright sinful. As well as this, the author also explores the medieval obsession for the consequences of such sin, such as the artistic works of Pieter Brueghel and the sin-obsessed Hieronymus Bosch. In the next chapter, the author brings us to modern times and our paradoxical infatuation with the sin: Our culture that stresses so much on being thin and fit, and yet everywhere we look we see fast food joints and obesity on the rise. The author examines the infamy of gluttony as a killer and humiliating to its indulgers, pointing out the scorn and prejudice that many obese people face from the public and their peers as well as the rising toll of obesity-related deaths. One particularly memorable passage is the story of former singer Carnie Wilson, who underwent laparoscopic bypass surgery after coming close to 300 pounds and near fatal cholesterol and blood pressure levels (perhaps you've seen that commercial).

Overall, one of the most informal of all the books I've read in the seven sins series and one that can be read and understood by casual readers and intellectuals alike; it is a marvelous read! (Though there is some unpleasant imagery in this book, I refuse to let it hurt my rating of this great book)

Francine Prose argues in her acute and trenchant book (really a long essay) Gluttony: The Seven Deadly Sins, that the Fat Police and their calorie-counting acolytes look upon fat people as a breed of bloated sinners. In doing so, the Fat Police have co-opted religious language and metaphor to divide society into two sides: The reedy svelte souls bound for heaven and the scandalously obese souls bound for hell. To reinforce this polarization, the Fat Police, and even self-loathing fat people themselves, assert big government micromanagement of "fat behavior," so that there are fat taxes imposed on lovers of movie popcorn, colossal burritos, super-sized buckets of ice cream and soda, and other foods that pose a threat to one's salvation.

The Fat Police and their disciples have also proselytized the gospel that moral depravity, "immoral self-indulgence," is at the root of obesity, so that it is clear that fat people are not helpless victims of the environment or genetic hard-wiring but the result of their own damnable sloth, gluttony, and avarice.

Another category that insures fat people suffer the stamp of stigmatization is society's collective resentment that corpulent fleshy souls are guilty of hogging or usurping other people's personal space. What kind of wickedness allows the fat person to assert his gargantuan belly into our area when he squeezes next to us on a train, a bus, or an airplane? His rude and selfish sin is so malignant that he and his obese brothers and sisters should pay for not one but two airline or bus tickets to accommodate their elephantine rumps.

Finally, if fat people can be saved at all, they must resort to a Higher Power: Their countless tons of unwanted flab can only be shed if they throw themselves upon the Alter of God's Mercy and embrace a variety of spiritual rehabilitations--Twelve Step Programs, revivalist gospel tracts, and other motivational tools rooted in the language of God, the devil, sin, and divine providence.

Francine Prose examines gluttony as one of the seven deadly sins, and discovers that we may need to update that list. Gluttony is no longer a sin in our society, but obesity is. We don't scorn a thin person who eats a lot, in fact, we envy her. (Oops, another deadly sin rears its ugly head.)Prose looks at the history of gluttony, in the church, in paintings and murals (check out Diego Rivera's Capitalist Dinner), and in popular culture. She uses literature, philosophy, and overheard conversations and jokes to make her points. For such a thin book (108 pages with color photos and index), there is an awful lot to chew on here.

This volume of the Seven Deadly Sins series published by Oxford University Press based on lectures held at NYPL was interesting. Prose traces the history of gluttony and the changing view of gluttony throughout history. She devotes a chapter to the view of gluttony in modern culture and argues that there no longer exists the belief that gluttons will burn in hell but that they suffer a hell on earth as a result of a culture fixated on eternal youth. She does mention the harmful health results of gluttony but seems far too careful not to offend anyone.

This book is really cute and little, but deals with a serious and deadly subject: gluttony and obesity. Really fascinating insights and it is so easy and fast to read. I digested every page and didn't gain a single pound - Amazing! Great read!

So concludes Francine Prose in her insightful analysis of gluttony. Part of the sadly uneven 7 Deadly Sins series, Prose's volume is one of the three best of the lot (the other two are Simon Blackburn's Lust and Robert Thurman's Anger). It's well worth reading.

Prose, a sensitive historian as well as a penetrating observer of contemporary culture, believes that gluttony "may well be the most widespread" of the 7 deadlies, even though it "appears to have become the least harmful of sins" (p. 41). For those of us living in the wealthier nations, the ethos of food is paradoxical. On the one hand, we're surrounded by enducements to eat often and heartily--or, if one is a member of the high cuisine crowd, to eat preciously and expensively. On the other hand, however, we're also hyper-conscious of both the aesthetics of bodily appearance and the relationship between diet and health. As the old advertisement has it, you can't be too rich or too thin (in fact, even though the demographics no longer bear out the correlation, popular culture still associates obesity with poverty).

What this means is that most of us to one degree or another are obsessed with food, either the eating of it or the painful avoidance of it. We may not talk about our food-obsession in the traditional language of sin, preferring instead the language of psychology and therapy (gluttony as a psychological compensatory strategy), but we frequently react to our own and others' over-eating in such strongly judgmental terms that it sounds as if we're condemning a sin. (When I used this book as a text in a philosophy class, for example, my students got pretty heated in their nearly unanimous criticisms of "fat, undisciplined" people.)

But as Prose points out, gluttony has traditionally been seen as one of the 7 deadlies precisely because it becomes an idol--that is, an obsession--for people who fall under its sway. An obsession with food redirects attention away from what's important (in traditional terms, a relationship with God or beauty or service to others) and focuses it on self-pleasure and self-absorption. One's belly (or one's appearance, or one's health) becomes one's god. Is our current obsession with thinness on the one hand and gorging ourselves/titillating our palates on the other hand really so different from this? Prose doesn't think so, and I believe she's made a convincing case.

An excellent, provocative, insightful, sensitive book--and beautifully illustrated as well.

For a work of non-fiction, this book actually is pretty interesting. Prose takes you through the history of gluttony and brings us to our present culture that is obsessed with weight, food, and body image. Gluttony is the reason why people spend billions of dollars a year on weight loss drugs, supplements, and equipment. She really does a wonderful job at pointing out the transition of the sin of gluttony through history and how today it is a complete contradiction as people adore a thin, lean body, but are always interested in the latest food craze, or what McDonalds next big thing will be. Although Prose did not really tell me anything I did not already know, I was satisfied with this book as a way of putting a reality forth that most people ignore or purposely overlook.

Seeing that this book was part of a set on the 7 Deadly Sins, I thought these short little books would be a quick little study into the sins. Prose does a great job of doing just that - entertaining with little tidbits of information on the sin of gluttony. The little time it takes to read this book is well worth the time.

This book does a great job describing the views on gluttony from ancient times, through the early church, up to the Renaissance. It was interesting to read about the various forms gluttony was thought to take, and how drunkeness was at one time understood to be part of that term. The prevailing thought on gluttony and what it means to be fat in today's world is also well explained.

I had hoped, however, that Ms. Prose would spend more time discussing why our comtemporary attitudes toward gluttony have so radically changed from those of the past. Perhaps that is beyond the scope of this introductory text, but I felt it contributed to a lack of cohesiveness.

The discussion of gluttony in art is enlightening, yet the book does not include among its illustrations a fresco by Taddeo di Bartolo which Ms. Prose discusses at some length. Also, while she cites various websites when discussing contempary theological perspectives on gluttony, she neglects to mention that C.S. Lewis adresses the subject in The Screwtape Letters.