Rituals of Hunger. Laurie Halse Anderson’s <i>Wintergirls</i>

Autor

  • Zuzanna Szatanik University of Silesia

Abstrakt

The following article discusses rituals of control and purification characteristic of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, as shown in Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Wintergirls. One of the main assumptions of the paper is that eating disorders should be analyzed in the context of contemporary Western culture and the conventional models of femininity. As the Beauty Myth becomes the modern religion, rituals of hunger are interpreted as a present‑day version of religious rites.

Key words: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, the Beauty Myth, rituals of control and purification

Biogram autora

Zuzanna Szatanik - University of Silesia

Zuzanna Szatanik is an assistant professor at the University of Silesia, Katowice (Poland). In 2005 she received a PhD from the University of Silesia. Her research interests include Canadian literature, American literature, minority literatures, gender studies, shame psychology and children’s literature. She taught courses on the history of American literature, interpretation of literature, and literary theory. Her 2012 book entitled De‑shamed. Feminist Strategies of Transgression… is a monography of Lorna Crozier’s poetry.

Bibliografia

Anderson Laurie Halse, 2009: Wintergirls. New York: Viking.

Banks Caroline Giles, 1996: “‘There Is No Fat in Heaven’: Religious Asceticism and the Meaning of Anorexia Nervosa.” Ethos, vol. 24, no. 1 (March), pp. 107—135.

Bartky Sandra Lee: “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power.” Available: http://weber.ucsd.edu/~pmichelb/Bartky.pdf. Accessed: 18.1.2014.

Bird Frederick, 1980: “The Contemporary Ritual Milieu.” In: Browne, Ray B., ed.: Rituals and Ceremonies in Popular Culture. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1980, pp. 19—35.

Bordo Susan, 1993: Unbearable Weight. Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.

Brumberg Joan Jacobs, 2000: Fasting Girls. The Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa as a Modern Disease. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: England, Harvard University Press.

Chernin Kim, 1981: The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness. New York: Harper and Row Publishers.

Fox‑Kales Emily, 2011: Body Shots. Hollywood and the Culture of Eating Disorders. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

Halse Christine, Honey, Anne, Boughtwood, Desiree, 2008: Inside Anorexia. The Experiences of Girls and their Families. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Hornbacher Marya, 1998: Wasted. A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Krugovoy Silver Anna, 2002: Victorian Literature and the Anorexic Body. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lelwica Michele Mary, 1999: Starving for Salvation: The Spiritual Dimensions of Eating Problems among American Girls and Women. New York: Oxford University Press.

Nieves Pascual: “Depathologizing Anorexia: The Risks of Life Narratives”. Available: http://www.questia.com/read/1G1‑97074189/depathologizing‑anorexia‑the‑risks‑of‑life‑narratives. Accessed: 19.2.2014.

Sceats Sarah, 2000: Food, Consumption and the Body in Contemporary Women’s Fiction. Cambridge University Press.

Wolf Naomi, 2002: The Beauty Myth. How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Jak cytować

Szatanik, Z. Rituals of Hunger. Laurie Halse Anderson’s <i>Wintergirls</i>. Romanica Silesiana, 9(1). Pobrano z https://trrest.vot.pl/ojsus/index.php/RS/article/view/5926

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