An important subject, but not for prose and poetry? The reception of five works of fiction about anorexia and bulimia

The aim of this thesis is to examine how five works of fiction about anorexia and bulimia have been received in Swedish daily press reviews. The investigation is based on 60 reviews, which are analysed with a qualitative method consisting of close-reading and where a feministic perspective is used. The main question concerns how and to which extent the basis of valuation in the reviews is effected by the fact that the books describe a primary female world of experiences. The investigation shows, among other things, that many reviewers consider the books about eating disorders to be too many. They categorize the books about anorexia and bulimia as a genre of its own and place the books into the literary system principally by referring to other books about anorexia and bulimia. There is a tendency that the reviewers read the books rather as professional literature instead of fiction. Some of the books are recommended to those who want to learn more about eating disorders and the connection to reality is more discussed in these reviews than literary forms and methods.Uppsatsnivå: