Die doel van hierdie ondersoek is nie om net vas te stel hoe vetsugtige protagoniste in vetfiksie uitgebeeld word nie, maar waarom hulle só beskryf word. Vetstudie, wat beskou word as ’n interdissiplinêre navorsingsveld wat ’n afgebakende aspek van vet en obesiteit ondersoek, bied hier die nodige wegspringplek. Liggaamsbeskouing (Eng. ‘body image’), ’n begrip wat in vetfeminisme en gender- sowel as vetstudie oorvleuel, is die primêre raakpunt en fokus omdat vetsug vereenselwig word met andersheid, die abnormale, die onbeheerste en die walglikheid van ʼn liggaam en aptyt buite perke.
Die gebruik van vetstudie as raamwerk bied aan hierdie navorser die geleentheid om die verskynsel van vet/obesiteit in bepaalde literatuur uit ʼn multidissiplinêre en holistiese oogpunt te benader. Die doel is om vas te stel wat die verskillende vlakke van lyf- en magsdiskoers rondom liggaamsbeskouing in elke geselekteerde teks is, en watter betekenis dit aangaande die karakterisering van die protagonis weergee.
Die eerste hoofstuk bevat die inleiding tot hierdie studie, die agtergrond van die beskouing van vet deur die eeue heen tot by hedendaagse vetstudie, asook die probleemstelling en ondersteunende navorsingsvrae wat die analise dryf. In die tweede hoofstuk word die literatuuroorsig gedek, die teoretiese begronding neergelê en die toepaslike metodologie bekendgestel. Die literatuuroorsig verskaf die raaklyn van hoe die lyf in verskillende denkskole uitgebeeld word, vanaf die voorlopers van feminisme regdeur vetfeminisme, genderstudie tot by vetstudie. Dit stel die navorser in staat om te vra: Wie word die vetsugtige protagonis toegelaat om in vetfiksie te wees en wat weerspieël dit van die samelewing waarin dié fiksie geskep is?
Weens raakpunte met die Franse filosoof en postmodernis, Michel Foucault, se opvattinge oor die sentrale rol van die menslike liggaam in magsverhoudinge en lyfdiskoers, vind hierdie navorser aanklank by die Foucauldiaanse kritiese diskoersanalise. Daar is dus besluit dat dit toepaslik is om liggaamsbeskouing as vergrootglas daarmee saam in te span, om geselekteerde teksgedeeltes uit ʼn bepaalde invalshoek te benader. Die vetfiksie wat vir hierdie doel gekies is, sal aan die hand van twee van Foucault se ontledingstegnieke, naamlik 'blik' (Eng. ‘gaze’) en ‘taalgebruik’ as fokuspunte ontleed en geïnterpreteer word.
Om ʼn eenvormige riglyn en woordeskat vir hierdie teksontleding op te stel, sal daar van Foucault se teorieë oor ‘lyfmag’ (Eng. ‘bio-power’), ander magsverhoudinge, waarheidstelsels, selfonderneming teenoor gesagsbestuur (Eng. ‘agency’ en ‘governance’), asook die metafoor van die panoptikoniese tronk gebruik gemaak word. Die fokus van hierdie proefskrif is om te bepaal hoe die omskrywing van vet/obesiteit in bepaalde narratologie die rol, stand en betekenis van die vetsugtige protagonis aandui. Verder sal daar na Erving Goffman se teorie oor stigma en stereotipering verwys word om die lewensegtheid van uiteenlopende vetsugtige protagoniste, uit verskillende subgenres van vetfiksie, met mekaar te vergelyk.
In die derde hoofstuk word ʼn omvattende opsomming van vyf voorbeelde van vetfiksie uit die literatuur van die hedendaagse Verenigde State van Amerika gegee om elkeen se hooftemas te identifiseer. Sou daar vasgestel word dat kop/lyf dualiteit en disassosiasie ʼn deurlopende tema is wat in elkeen van die romans voorkom, sal hierdie teksanalise daarop toegespits word om die volgende te bewys: dat al is daar ’n verwydering van ʼn karakter se denke van hul lyf, is daardie lyf nie stom nie. Die uitbeelding van hierdie lywe dien as vetfiksie se ‘stem’. Die keuse van Amerikaanse vetfiksie berus op die feit dat die Amerikaners alom die mees bekende eerstewêreldse Westerse bevolking is wat met die obesiteitspandemie en kitskos geassosieer word.
English: The goal of this research is not only to discover how fat/obese protagonists are portrayed in fat fiction, but to determine why they are portrayed in a specific way. Fat studies are considered to be an interdisciplinary field of research that has set boundaries in its investigation of how society views and deals with overweight individuals. As such it provides the necessary starting point for this study. Within this construct, body image as a line of investigation which overlaps in fat feminism, gender studies as well as in fat studies, is the primary focus. The reason for this is that in Western society, fat and obese are most often equated with being different, abnormal, grotesque and the harbinger of both an uncontrolled appetite and body.
By utilizing the framework of fat studies, this researcher was able to approach the portrayal of the fat/obese protagonist in selected literature from a multidisciplinary viewpoint. The first goal is to discover which different levels of bio- and other power revolves around how bodies are perceived in the selected texts. Secondly, to determine what meaning is attached specifically to the weight of the protagonists when 'fat' and 'obese' are the dominant features of characterization.
Chapter 1 includes the introduction to this study, the background to how fat and obese have been viewed through the centuries, as well as the research and supporting questions which drives this inquiry. The second chapter covers the literary review from which the theoretical framework and the most appropriate methodology have been drawn and set up. The literary review seeks to establish the way in which body image has been dealt with by the various fields of research, from the forerunners of feminism right through fat feminism, gender studies up to fat studies. This enables the researcher to post the question: Who is the overweight protagonist allowed to be in modern American fat fiction, and what does this reflect about the society in which it was created?
It is the French philosopher and postmodernist Michel Foucault's belief in the prominence of the physical human body in relation to power and body discourse, which motivated this researcher to select Foucauldian critical discourse analysis as research method. Due to Foucault's insistence on the centrality of the body in the dynamic fluctuation of power in society, this study will combine some of his premises with perceptions of body image to analyse the given selection of literary texts. The selected fat fiction will be scrutinized along two lines of investigation, namely Foucault's use of 'gaze' and the conscious manipulation of specific language to influence the way in which a reader will view the overweight protagonist.
Seeking to establish a uniform vocabulary for this study, Foucault's definitions regarding bio-power, systems of truth, agency as oppose to governance, as well as the metaphor of Panopticon will be used as foundation. Bio-power refers to the influence of, and on bodies to conform to modes of accepted behaviour and discipline. The focus of this dissertation is to establish how the use of fat/obesity in the description of the protagonist determines the role, status and power of the character. Expanding on the above, Erving Goffman's theory of stigma and stereotyping will be employed to determine whether the overweight protagonists are presented in an authentic and believable fashion, or not.
In Chapter 3 an in-depth summary of five selected examples of modern American fat fiction are presented which will also aim to identify the main themes of each. Perchance this researcher should discover that mind-body dualism and dissociation are a theme found in more than one, or in all the selected text, it will function as further incentive to prove the following: even when a character's inner identity may reject the appearance of the physical body, the body does not remain silent, but speaks for the true self who remains hidden. It is the portrayal of these dissociative bodies that become the 'voice' of fat fiction.
The motivation to select American novels for this research concerns the fact that the USA is the first world country most associated with a culture of fast food and a growing obesity pandemic among its population. As such, Chapter 4 deals with the representation of the overweight protagonists a
