Fat: A Cultural History of the Stuff of Life

by Christopher E. Forth

Fat. Such a little word evokes big responses. While "fat" describes the size and shape of bodies—their appearance—our negative reactions to corpulence also depend on something tangible and tactile. As this book argues, there is more to fat than meets the eye. A Cultural History of the Stuff of Life offers reflections on how fat has been perceived and imagined in the West since antiquity. Featuring fascinating historical accounts as well as philosophical, religious, and cultural analyses—including discussions of status, gender, and race—the book digs deep into the past for the roots of our current notions and prejudices. Two central themes how we have perceived and imagined corpulent bodies over the centuries, and how fat—as a substance as well as a description of body size—has been associated with vitality and fertility as well as perceptions of animality. By exploring the complex ways in which fat, fatness, and fattening have been perceived over time, this book provides rich insights into the stuff our stereotypes are made of.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Anthropology

352 pages, Hardcover

Published June 15, 2019

Reviews

[Kingsleadhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forth's book is a pleasant, Foucault -style, history of fatness in western discourse, allegedly with a materialist, embodied twist.
The book does the genealogy work in a nice and compelling way, reconstructing how fat underwent mutable fortunes and lines of continuity from Graeco-Roman antiquity through mediaeval Europe, the Renaissance and modernity. There's also a juicy section on the fabrication of fat bourgeois scare vis-à-vis the emergent colonial imaginaries and racial theories, a section I wished was only longer, deeper and with more positive instances of non-western viewpoints.
As for materiality - the impact of fat as such on the senses and dispositions of human perception - instead, the book falls short of the (noble) endeavour, after a promising introduction. After learning of the lifegiving properties and divinatory and alchemical usages of fat, this sub-plot gets lost through the chapters as discourse takes over.
Anyhow, an enjoyable and insightful read.

[Jeneva Izorion · Rating 3 out of 5]

เล่มนี้เล่าว่า fat ที่แปลว่าความอ้วนและไขมัน ถูกมองยังไงบ้างในแต่ละยุคสมัย ตั้งแต่สมัยที่ถูกมองว่าเป็นแง่บวก [อย่างเช่นรูปปั้นวีนัสสมัยโบราณ] มาจนถึงปัจจุบันที่โดนมองว่าเป็นแง่ลบ [ความเป็นโรค รูปร่างที่ไม่ปรารถนา]

หลาย ๆ topic ก็วนเวียนกลับมาเรื่อย ๆ เช่นการมองว่าเหมือนสัตว์ ความไม่ civilised อะไรพวกนี้ สรุปแล้วพวก standard ต่าง ๆ เช่น ต้องขาว ต้องผอม มันก็มีผลมาจากประวัติศาสตร์ในเรื่องอื่นด้วย

แต่รู้สึกว่ามันเว่นเว้อไปหน่อยนึง ก็เลยให้ดาวไม่เยอะ

[Annette Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Heavy" on history, this is a dense read exploring the moral evolution and devolution of fat, from Graeco-Roman times to the present. It discusses how fat has always been both a metaphor for plenty and an insult to the larger than average.