Food and Self in Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and Judith M Fertig's The Cake Therapist

Authors

  • Lekshmi Lal J Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri 690525, Kollam, Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61841/10a1m793

Keywords:

Food literature, Food and identity,, Gastronomic metaphors.

Abstract

The paper aims to locate the presence of Food and Self in Aimee Bender's “The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake” and Judith M Fertig's ‘The Cake Therapist.’ Aimee Bender is an American short story writer and novelist, celebrated for her surreal plots and Judith M Fertig is an award winning cook book author. The Cake Therapist is her debut novel. The novels explore the connection between food and personal identity. The novels portray the protagonists’ journey from awareness to self- discovery through food. Food is the central theme in both the novels. Food is used as a metaphor in literary texts because of its universality. The novels abound in magical menus and gastronomic metaphors which engage all senses of the readers. In the novels, an analysis of a character's attitude towards food reveals their identity.

 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Bender, Aimee. “The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.” Windmill Books, 2011.

2. Fertig, Judith. “The Cake Therapist.” Berkley Books, 2015.

3. Keeling, Kara K., and Scott T. Pollard. “Critical Approaches to Food in Children's Literature.” Routledge, 2011.

4. Kessler, Brad. One “Reader’s Digest: Toward a Gastronomic Theory of Literature.” Gambier: The Kenyon Review, 2005. Print.

5. Pattanaik, Devdutt . “Indian Mythology: Tales, Symbols, and Rituals from the Heart of the Subcontinent.” Inner Traditions/ Bear & Co, 2003.

6. Bonjack, Stephanie. “10 Questions with Aimee Bender.” LitReactor, 5 Feb. 2013, litreactor.com/interviews/10- questions-with-aimee-bender.

7. Stein, Mark. “Curry at Work: Nibbling at the Jewel in the Crown.” “Eating Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Food.” Ed. Tobias Döring, Markus Heide and Susanne Mühleisen. Heidelberg, Germany: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2003. Print.

8. Bynum, Caroline Walker. “Food as Control of Self.” “Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women,” University of California Press, 1988, 193. http://tiny.cc/03lbbz

9. Ashley, Bob, et al. “Eating In.” Food and Cultural Studies. Routledge, 2010. 124. http://tiny.cc/fambbz

10. Gardaphe, F. L., and W. Xu. “Introduction: Food in Multi-Ethnic Literatures.” MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, vol. 32, no. 4, 2007, pp. 5–10., doi:10.1093/melus/32.4.5.

11. Fischler, C. “Food, Self and Identity.” Social Science Information, vol. 27, no. 2, 1988, pp. 275–292., doi:10.1177/053901888027002005

Downloads

Published

30.06.2020

How to Cite

Lal J, L. (2020). Food and Self in Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and Judith M Fertig’s The Cake Therapist. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 24(6), 1608-1613. https://doi.org/10.61841/10a1m793