Trigger warning: explicit anorexic behaviours are cited throughout this thesis. In interpreting the various representations of illness, diagnosis and recovery, I employ concepts from the field of autobiography that can aid me in reading the narratives from a literary perspective, as well as works about the illness narrative as a genre in order to place these three memoirs in a context of other illness life writings. In this way, I can determine to what extent the general explanatory models of anorexia have either been internalised or subverted in these autobiographical narratives, as well as form an understanding of how the practice of diagnosis influences the experience of living with anorexia and the ways in which recovery is conceptualised by these authors.

For this comparison I borrow ideas and concepts developed by theorists working on disability, mental illness/health and anorexia, which enables me to explore the portrayal of illness, diagnosis and recovery in the memoirs while also investigating the underlying notions of health, normalcy, disability and difference that precede the general understandings of these terms. I read these works within the framework of the illness narrative/autobiography and compare the ways in which they represent the lived illness experience of anorexia nervosa. At the age of four Marya Hornbacher studied herself a mirror and decided she was fat. In a review for The New York Times, Caroline Knapp calls the book 'a gritty, unflinching look at eating disorders,' adding, 'Hornbacher is at her best when she zeroes in on the specifics of eating disorders and their origins.Such phenomena aren't new to the literature on eating disorders, but Hornbacher describes them with a stark candor that captures both their pain and underlying purposes.In my thesis, I compare three memoirs written by recovering/recovered anorexics: Wasted (1998) by Marya Hornbacher, How to Disappear Completely (2013) by Kelsey Osgood and An Apple a Day (2012) by Emma Woolf. Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia essays are academic essays for citation. Amazon eBook for Kindle: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia (P.S.) A ‘retired career anorexic’ examines herself and her, and our, culture in a masterpiece of confessional literature. Wasted has sold in the United States over a million copies and has been translated into fourteen languages. The author's young age (she wrote the book at the age of 21) surprised many readers, and the memoir was praised for its maturity and candor. Published by HarperCollins in 1997, Wasted was a critical and commercial success. Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia is an autobiography written by Marya Hornbacher, detailing her fourteen-year battle with eating disorders.

Wasted book marya