Arctic rolls and gender roles: Female and male eating disorders in Karen Duve’s Regenroman and other texts

Bartel, Heike

Abstract

The following article examines disordered eating in men and women. It discusses the novel Regenroman [Rain] by German writer Karen Duve focusing on gender roles, food consumption and the interconnection between female bulimia and male binge eating in the two protagonists. The essay aims to show that the highly gendered issue of eating and wider aspects of food consumption in contemporary societies require an approach that engages with the fundamental link between perceptions of both male and female eating behaviour as part of a broader construction of ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’. Duve’s fictional exploration in Regenroman and in other texts employs realism counterposed by parody and the grotesque, and undermined by shifting, conflicting perspectives. Her texts offer, this article argues, the discursive space to explore the topic of disordered and gendered eating innovatively.

Citation

Bartel, H. (2020). Arctic rolls and gender roles: Female and male eating disorders in Karen Duve’s Regenroman and other texts. Journal of Romance Studies, 20(2), 225-248. https://doi.org/10.3828/jrs.2020.14

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 7, 2019
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Deposit Date: Nov 14, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 30, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Romance Studies
• Print ISSN: 1473-3536
• Electronic ISSN: 1752-2331
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 225-248
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/jrs.2020.14
• Keywords: Gender, Male eating disorders, Bulimia, Binge eating, The grotesque, Narrative perspectivism, Feminist cultural critique
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3279996
• Publisher URL: https://online.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3828/jrs.2020.14