The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast
This artide explores the significance of the enjoyment of food in relation to spirituality, as (re)presented in two texts - Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (2007) and the cinematic version of Karen Blixen's novel Babette's Feast (1987). It is argued that the pleasure derived from...
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ftunisafricaojs:oai:unisapressjournals.co.za/oai:article/15499 2024-01-07T09:42:07+01:00 The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast Olivier, Bert 2012-03-01 application/pdf https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/15499 eng eng Unisa Press https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/15499/7479 https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/15499 Copyright (c) 2012 JLS/TLW http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 Journal of Literary Studies; Vol. 28 No. 1 (2012): Der Mensch ist was er isst (Feuerbatch) – Texts on Food, the Eating Process and the Philosophy of Recipes; 19 pages 1753-5387 0256-4718 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Peer-reviewed Article 2012 ftunisafricaojs 2023-12-12T01:32:00Z This artide explores the significance of the enjoyment of food in relation to spirituality, as (re)presented in two texts - Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (2007) and the cinematic version of Karen Blixen's novel Babette's Feast (1987). It is argued that the pleasure derived from food occupies a crucial position in both texts, firstly in its own "hedonistic" right, but secondly also as far as it functions allegorically (Babette's Feast), or temporally (Eat, Pray, Love) regarding the (re)presentation of spiritually significant experience. That is, the enjoyment of food is (re)presented as a means of repeating (and perhaps anticipating) spiritually meaningful culinary experience (Babette's Feast). In Eat, Pray, Love, the spiritual awakening of the protagonist, in the "dark night of her soul", is succeeded by a kind of "carnival", followed by something resembling the Lent of the Christian tradition. Hence, her journey through space and time takes her from sensuous (though celibate) pleasure in food (Eat) to spiritual sacrifice (Pray) and eventually romantic love (Love). The narrative logic of this sequence, it is argued, consists in sensuous, culinary enjoyment preparing her for the meaning of sacrifice through spiritual commitment. These two phases of her journey, or existential quest, become intertwined (their complex interlacement being constituted by a kind of interpenetration of pleasure and sacrifice through commitment). Opsomming Hierdie artikel fokus op die betekenis van die genot van kos in verhouding tot spiritualiteit, soos dit verteenwoordig word in twee tekste - Elizabeth Gilbert se Eat, Pray, Love (2007) en die rolprentweergawe van Karen Blixen se roman Babette's Feast (1987). Daar word aangevoer dat die genot wat uit kos verkry word 'n deurslaggewende posisie in beide tekste verteenwoordig: Eerstens in sy eie "hedonistiese" reg, maar tweedens ook in soverre dit funksioneer as allegories (Babette's Feast), of tydelik (Eat, Pray, Love), en verteenwoordig dit 'n spiritueel beduidende ervaring. ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Artide Unisa Press Journals (University of South Africa) Eie ENVELOPE(7.983,7.983,63.033,63.033) Kos ENVELOPE(143.432,143.432,75.709,75.709) Lent ENVELOPE(-66.783,-66.783,-66.867,-66.867) |
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Unisa Press Journals (University of South Africa) |
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ftunisafricaojs |
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English |
description |
This artide explores the significance of the enjoyment of food in relation to spirituality, as (re)presented in two texts - Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (2007) and the cinematic version of Karen Blixen's novel Babette's Feast (1987). It is argued that the pleasure derived from food occupies a crucial position in both texts, firstly in its own "hedonistic" right, but secondly also as far as it functions allegorically (Babette's Feast), or temporally (Eat, Pray, Love) regarding the (re)presentation of spiritually significant experience. That is, the enjoyment of food is (re)presented as a means of repeating (and perhaps anticipating) spiritually meaningful culinary experience (Babette's Feast). In Eat, Pray, Love, the spiritual awakening of the protagonist, in the "dark night of her soul", is succeeded by a kind of "carnival", followed by something resembling the Lent of the Christian tradition. Hence, her journey through space and time takes her from sensuous (though celibate) pleasure in food (Eat) to spiritual sacrifice (Pray) and eventually romantic love (Love). The narrative logic of this sequence, it is argued, consists in sensuous, culinary enjoyment preparing her for the meaning of sacrifice through spiritual commitment. These two phases of her journey, or existential quest, become intertwined (their complex interlacement being constituted by a kind of interpenetration of pleasure and sacrifice through commitment). Opsomming Hierdie artikel fokus op die betekenis van die genot van kos in verhouding tot spiritualiteit, soos dit verteenwoordig word in twee tekste - Elizabeth Gilbert se Eat, Pray, Love (2007) en die rolprentweergawe van Karen Blixen se roman Babette's Feast (1987). Daar word aangevoer dat die genot wat uit kos verkry word 'n deurslaggewende posisie in beide tekste verteenwoordig: Eerstens in sy eie "hedonistiese" reg, maar tweedens ook in soverre dit funksioneer as allegories (Babette's Feast), of tydelik (Eat, Pray, Love), en verteenwoordig dit 'n spiritueel beduidende ervaring. ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Olivier, Bert |
spellingShingle |
Olivier, Bert The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast |
author_facet |
Olivier, Bert |
author_sort |
Olivier, Bert |
title |
The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast |
title_short |
The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast |
title_full |
The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast |
title_fullStr |
The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast |
title_sort |
pleasure of food, and the spiritual: eat, prqy) love and babette's feast |
publisher |
Unisa Press |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/15499 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(7.983,7.983,63.033,63.033) ENVELOPE(143.432,143.432,75.709,75.709) ENVELOPE(-66.783,-66.783,-66.867,-66.867) |
geographic |
Eie Kos Lent |
geographic_facet |
Eie Kos Lent |
genre |
Artide |
genre_facet |
Artide |
op_source |
Journal of Literary Studies; Vol. 28 No. 1 (2012): Der Mensch ist was er isst (Feuerbatch) – Texts on Food, the Eating Process and the Philosophy of Recipes; 19 pages 1753-5387 0256-4718 |
op_relation |
https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/15499/7479 https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/15499 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2012 JLS/TLW http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 |
_version_ |
1787423012389126144 |