Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture . By Jason König. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. xi + 417 pp. $120.00 cloth.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture . By Jason Konig . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2012. xi + 417 pp. $120.00 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesJason Konig succeeds at offering a truly magnificent feat. We encounter his understanding of the literary traditions of banqueting when he presents the works of Plutarch or Clement or Macrobius or many others. Konig reveals how they weave voices past and present, obscuring such distinctions. His encyclopedic thoroughness illustrates how these authors push the boundary between proliferation and control. Exploring this tension he draws upon the methodological work of Mikhail Bakhtin. As guests at this feast we experience this proliferation as well. Konig argues that others have "view[ed] the work of imperial-period authors as minor footnotes in the afterlife of the Platonic symposium tradition" (14), and he aims to correct this. His remarkable notes and bibliography match his ambition, offering current and key primary and secondary sources for these many varied texts. This book should be essential reading for anyone interested in meals, ancient narratives, or abundance and control.Konig explores these literary representations of meals and table talk over the course of twelve rich chapters divided into two major sections. In the first section he introduces imperial era literature related to dining traditions. Following his introduction, each chapter reveals his skillful reading of yet another author, yet another text: Plutarch; Athenaeus; a quick review of New Testament and earliest Christian contributions; Clement; Methodius; Augustine; Chrysostom; Julian; and Macrobius. He envelops the reader in particulars of meal customs while simultaneously invoking Plato, his symposium, and other earlier meals. He particularly highlights the blurred distinctions between past and present. Konig repeatedly illustrates how these ancient authors make a reader work to keep track of where one voice ends and another begins. Konig argues that "Athenaeus' editors have generally underestimated the importance of that fact in their eagerness to identify each speaking voice firmly" (109). In contrast, Konig reveals how voices from centuries apart may enter into dialogue with one another, "the sympotic setting thus allows Athenaeus to dissolve the time barriers of the past, allowing authors of very different times to speak together, albeit often in a rather precarious fashion" (106). He invokes Bakhtin to consider further what it means that they seem to speak to one another, explaining Bakhtin's "presentation of utterances which seem to blend two different voices, or to contain within them the marks of dialogue with some unnamed other--what he refers to as 'double-voiced speech'" (53). Konig finds this to be a suggestive model for thinking about sympotic narratives. He also argues that this focus reveals that later authors, especially Christian authors, move to a more monologic approach to table talk, perhaps signaling an interest in a less shared, more singular authority. …