The Author: Greta Olson is a guest professor at Bonn University and a research fellow at Freiburg University. She has published work in philosophy, narratology, eighteenth-century novel, and the body as monster in writings by American women.

«This book is a unique attempt to understand literary and autobiographical accounts on eating disorders from a cultural perspective. It is respectful of the extensive scientific literature on eating disorders, and yet it addresses previous literary theory accounts, such as those of Ellmann and Heywood, as well as broader issues in literary theory.» (Richard Gordon, Ph.D. Author, Anorexia and Bulimia: Anatomy of a Social Epidemic)

• Contents: Eating Disorders and their Causes – Perspectives on Literary Accounts of Eating Disorders – Jenefer Shute’s Life Size: A Socially Critical and Confessional Account of an Anorectic’s Hospitalization – Stephanie Grant’s The Passion of Alice: An Ironic Take on the Atmosphere of Coerced Confession at an Eating Disorder Clinic – Marya Hornbacher’s Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia: The Apotheosis of Confession.