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How to Drink

Audiobook
Nonfiction: Advice
Unabridged   4 hour(s)
Publication date: 04/14/2020

How to Drink

Available from major retailers or BUY FROM AMAZON
Digital Download ISBN:9781696600149

Summary

In How to Drink, Michael Fontaine offers the first proper English translation of Obsopoeus's text, rendering his poetry into spirited, contemporary prose and uncorking a forgotten classic that will appeal to drinkers of all kinds and (legal) ages.

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Product Description

A spirited new translation of a forgotten classic, shot through with timeless wisdom

Is there an art to drinking alcohol? Can drinking ever be a virtue? The Renaissance humanist and neoclassical poet Vincent Obsopoeus (ca. 1498–1539) thought so. In the winelands of sixteenth-century Germany, he witnessed the birth of a poisonous new culture of bingeing, hazing, peer pressure, and competitive drinking. Alarmed, and inspired by the Roman poet Ovid's Art of Love, he wrote The Art of Drinking (De Arte Bibendi) (1536), a how-to manual for drinking with pleasure and discrimination. In How to Drink, Michael Fontaine offers the first proper English translation of Obsopoeus's text, rendering his poetry into spirited, contemporary prose and uncorking a forgotten classic that will appeal to drinkers of all kinds and (legal) ages.

Arguing that moderation, not abstinence, is the key to lasting sobriety, and that drinking can be a virtue if it is done with rules and limits, Obsopoeus teaches us how to manage our drinking, how to win friends at social gatherings, and how to give a proper toast. But he also says that drinking to excess on occasion is okay—and he even tells us how to win drinking games, citing extensive personal experience.

Reviews/Praise

"How to Drink is a delight―an amusing and at points hilarious book that is also a deeply learned, and occasionally sobering, introduction to ancient drinking customs and their modern parallels."―James Tatum, Dartmouth College

"I'm grateful to be introduced to Vincent Obsopoeus and his art of drinking, and I hope many other readers will be too! This is a lively, fun translation."―Julia D. Hejduk, Baylor University

Author Bio

Vincent Obsopoeus (ca. 1498–1539) was a German humanist, Latin poet, and translator active in the Reformation.