This book traces the various configurations of food as hunger, desire, and appetite which point to the complex dialectic of consumption and consummation of ideas and forms underpinning the arts. It examines the relationship between nature and science, space and the act of artistic creation, desire and the arts, appetite and hunger. One of the aims of the book is to explore established theoretical and historical conceptions of nature in the arts and re-think their relationship to appetite in the globalized world. Examining the many guises and figurations of hunger in literature and the arts, this book gives an overview of the themes that emerge from the idea of the Hunger Artist alongside the fact of food: the latter's significance as a barometer of social class; its rich source as a metaphor in literature and art; its unequal distribution throughout the world; and the means by which its consumption can lead to gluttony and further exploitation of the hungry. One of the great strengths of this book is the trans-disciplinary nature of the contributions achieved by mapping how the arts in their representation of social, psychological, political, and philosophical perspectives draw attention to the problems associated with excessive human cravings.
About the Author: Ann McCulloch (PhD) is a Professor of Literary Studies in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Her most recent book was Dance of the Nomad: A Study of the Selected Notebooks of A. D. Hope. She is the director and writer of a documentary series on Hope and many articles on his life and work. Ann McCulloch's book on the works of Patrick White and Nietzsche heralded her original interest in tragedy and theory which has led to numerous articles on aesthetics, philosophy and literature. She has written and produced twelve theatrical productions including three plays: The Odyssey Enflamed, The Girl with Green Eyes, and Let Gypsies Lie. Ann McCulloch is Executive Editor of the on-line journal Double Dialogues and co-convener of associated international conferences. Pavlina Radia (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in English Literary Studies at Nipissing University, Ontario, Canada. She specializes in modernist and contemporary American literature, as well as gender and media studies. Her interests in American literature, gender studies, and art (both theory and practice) highlight the importance of transdisciplinary crossings as a means of joining academia and the art world. She has published chapters in books and articles in international journals. She was a guest editor of the Double Dialogues issue 15 on hunger in the arts. She is currently finishing her book Nomadic Modernisms and Diasporic Journeys of Djuna Barnes and Jane Bowles.