Fat Boys: A Slim Book

by Sander L. Gilman, Gene A. Budig

The fat man—a cultural icon, a social enigma, a pressing medical issue—is the subject of this remarkably rich book. The figures that Sander L. Gilman considers, from the ugly fat man with the beautiful sylph trapped inside to the smart fat boy to the aging body desirous of rejuvenation, appear and reappear in different guises throughout Western culture. And as is often true, such marginal cases help define the shifting center of our dreams and beliefs. An exploration into the world of male body fantasies, Gilman’s book examines how the representation of the fat man alters with time and alters how men relate to their own bodies and the bodies of others, both male and female. His examples—ranging from Santa Claus to Sancho Panza, from Falstaff to Babe Ruth, from Nero Wolfe to Al Roker—illustrate the complexity perennially associated with fat men. From discourses about normality to the playing fields of baseball, from Greek male beauty to the fat detective, Gilman’s book examines and illuminates how cultures have imagined and portrayed the fat boy.

324 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Sander L. Gilman is an American cultural and literary historian. He is known for his contributions to Jewish studies and the history of medicine. He is the author or editor of over ninety books. Gilman's focus is on medicine and the echoes of its rhetoric in social and political discourse.

Reviews

[Kristinaweena · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining but at some points dense read. As a cultural history, the focus is more on high culture, which was not entirely what I expected. Much of the fat boy analysis is on literature and even opera, but towards the end of the book, the author examines figures like Babe Ruth and fat detectives. It is interesting in that it looks at fat and masculinity, which is sometimes rare.