Holy Anorexia [Paperback]

Rudolph M. Bell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226042057 | ISBN-13: 978-0226042053 | Publication Date: June 15, 1987 | Edition: First Print

Is there a resemblance between the contemporary anorexic teenager counting every calorie in her single-minded pursuit of thinness, and an ascetic medieval saint examining her every desire? Rudolph M. Bell suggests that the answer is yes.

"Everyone interested in anorexia nervosa . . . should skim this book or study it. It will make you realize how dependent upon culture the definition of disease is. I will never look at an anorexic patient in the same way again."—Howard Spiro, M.D., Gastroenterology

"[This] book is a first-class social history and is well-documented both in its historical and scientific portions."—Vern L. Bullough, American Historical Review

"A significant contribution to revisionist history, which re-examines events in light of feminist thought. . . . Bell is particularly skillful in describing behavior within its time and culture, which would be bizarre by today's norms, without reducing it to the pathological."—Mary Lassance Parthun, Toronto Globe and Mail

"Bell is both enlightened and convincing. His book is impressively researched, easy to read, and utterly fascinating."—Sheila MacLeod, New Statesman

Product Details

• Paperback: 255 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; First Print edition (June 15, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226042057
• ISBN-13: 978-0226042053
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The present as window on the past, May 1, 2002

By 

KG "oraclegreen" (the Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Anorexia (Paperback)

Bell compares modern descriptions of anorexia nervosa with the recorded behavior of some of the best-known Italian female saints from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. He argues that Clare of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, and other holy women were not only victims of a disease, but also in a way victims of a medieval Christian culture which allowed young women no other way to experience the disease's effects than as symptoms of religious fervor.

Bell's attitude toward his sources is capricious - sometimes he treats his medieval sources as literal truth, sometimes as distorted, agenda-ridden hagiography. They are, undoubtedly, a bit of both. Nonetheless, it is obvious that these holy women were more likely than their male counterparts to practice ascetic - even bizarre - food rituals in lieu or excess of other ascetic behavior. In this respect, Bell's book necessarily suffers in comparison with Caroline Walker Bynum's _Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women_, for Bynum spends a great more deal of time considering the phenomenon of female fasting in the both its broad medieval and specific Christian contexts. Still, Bell's argument for a connection between the rise of "holy anorexia" and the development of the mendicant orders is an intriguing bit of historical cause and effect.

Bell's methodology suggests that the "bizarre" behavior of women so removed from our own time is actually very familiar. While the argument itself falls flat at times, he does shed new light on an issue which could otherwise too easily be dismissed as spiritual excess.

25 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holy Anorexia, March 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Holy Anorexia (Paperback)

This book is an excellent historic study of women possesed with piety, most of these women were nuns from the 14-15th century. They expressed a dedication to Christ through an aesthetic lifestyle that included starvation, self-inflicted torture, mystical hallucinations and extreme self-denial. The women who starved to death gained a martyr like status. A facinating book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful piece of history, May 12, 2011

By 

Jo S. Jackson "Liam Jackson" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Holy Anorexia (Paperback)

Bell compiles some wonderful information about the topic of anorexia among Catholic saints. I have given it five stars simply for the work that went into compiling this informative piece of work. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.