This paper aims to explore how literature has shaped the experience of illness through the lens of eating disorders. The starting point is the theoretical starting point is the model developed by Arthur Frank in The Wounded Storyteller, which offers an interpretive framework based on three narrative typologies (restitution, chaos, and quest) and four body types (disciplined, mirroring, dominating, and communicative). These analytical tools are applied to a text that stands as emblematic of the subject in question: The Biography of Hunger by Amélie Nothomb. In this work, anorexia emerges as the central figure of a layered narrative of distress, where deep tensions flow between identity and image, aphasia and expression. The aim is to demonstrate to what extent this pathology can be read as a form of embodied language, capable of translating pain into voice and the body into writing.

La Mantia, F. (2025). Cartografie del dolore. «la narratrice ferita» di Amélie Nothomb. DIACRITICA, 2(56-57).

Cartografie del dolore. «la narratrice ferita» di Amélie Nothomb

Fabio La Mantia
2025-09-01

Abstract

This paper aims to explore how literature has shaped the experience of illness through the lens of eating disorders. The starting point is the theoretical starting point is the model developed by Arthur Frank in The Wounded Storyteller, which offers an interpretive framework based on three narrative typologies (restitution, chaos, and quest) and four body types (disciplined, mirroring, dominating, and communicative). These analytical tools are applied to a text that stands as emblematic of the subject in question: The Biography of Hunger by Amélie Nothomb. In this work, anorexia emerges as the central figure of a layered narrative of distress, where deep tensions flow between identity and image, aphasia and expression. The aim is to demonstrate to what extent this pathology can be read as a form of embodied language, capable of translating pain into voice and the body into writing.
set-2025
La Mantia, F. (2025). Cartografie del dolore. «la narratrice ferita» di Amélie Nothomb. DIACRITICA, 2(56-57).
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Cartografie del dolore. «La narratrice ferita» di Amélie Nothomb – Diacritica.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione Editoriale
Dimensione 581.6 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
581.6 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/698863
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact