Anorexi — begäret efter ingenting

Om mat och språk ur ett psykoanalytiskt perspektiv

Abstract

Anorexia/bulimia, enigmatic "illnesses" that attract so much attention in today's industrial world, is here situated in the intersection of individual development and cultural structure. Oral desire, food, eating, maternal body and mother tongue are discussed in a historical and anthropological perspective. As Lévi-Strauss and Kristeva have shown, taboos in relation to incest, to food and to the female body have structuring effects on society and on the individual psyche. Anorexia is finally discussed within the frame of Lacan's lingvistically oriented psycho-analytic theory.