Fat Boys: A Slim Book [Paperback]

The fat mana cultural icon, a social enigma, a pressing medical issueis 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, Gilmans 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 examplesranging from Santa Claus to Sancho Panza, from Falstaff to Babe Ruth, from Nero Wolfe to Al Rokerillustrate 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, Gilmans book examines and illuminates how cultures have imagined and portrayed the fat boy.