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Literary texts are infused with references to food—as sensuous experience, feast, excessive or cannibalistic transgression, creative outlet, as much as (religious) self-discipline, necessity, painful absence, as destructive or sustaining, as ethical or palatal choice. While the analysis of food as trope is itself fruitful (sorry, couldn’t resist), food is also related to questions of power and identity in terms of race, class, and gender. Literary food studies have increasingly become of interest in animal studies, critical race theory, ecocriticism, postcolonial studies, gender studies, to name but a few.
Our readings will include shorter texts or excerpts as well as Toni Morrison’s novel Tar Baby (1981) and Sara Suleri’s memoir Meatless Days (1989). According to Allison Carruth, Toni Morrison’s novel presents a “narrative of hunger, consumerism, and environmental exploitation” in a fictional Caribbean setting. Sara Suleri, who has roots in Pakistan and Wales and has been living in the US, addresses the complexities of cultural identity within her family setting as expressed through the metaphor of food.
Please buy the following editions of the texts:
Morrison, Toni. Tar Baby. Random House UK, 1997. ISBN 978-0-09-976021-4
Suleri, Sara. Meatless Days. Penguin Books UK, 2018. ISBN 978-0-241-34246-6
The shorter readings will be provided in Moodle. |
