Lauer, Jessica R.

Profile Picture

Filters

20111
Reset filters

Settings

Citations

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Hungry for more: Reading Under the Tuscan Sun as a gastrography
    (2011) Lauer, Jessica R.; Chansky, Ricia A.; College of Arts and Sciences - Arts; Irizarry, José; Pratt, Ellen; Carroll, Kevin; Department of English; Just, Frederick
    This thesis examines the best-selling memoir Under the Tuscan Sun as an autobiographical narrative in the genre of gastrography that demonstrates how food is used as a metaphor and also as a mode of escape in 21st century women‘s autobiographical writing. In order to understand the patterns and functions that food serves in contemporary women‘s writing, this new and original project situates Under the Tuscan Sun as a gastrography written in The Prophetic Mode that also incorporates elements of scriptotherapy. These three theories of Autobiography Studies are further used to analyze the relationship between food and life writing, specifically focusing on the memoir Under the Tuscan Sun. This thesis uses an interdisciplinary approach to literary analysis that includes aspects of Cultural Studies, and also incorporates the study of recipes as a literary device. Furthermore, this research project also integrates an investigation of readers‘ responses selected from online audience feedback to the text and subsequent consumer products for the purpose of articulating a societal desire and need for escapism that this text responds to, and in doing so providing an additional layer of support to my argument that Frances Mayes, the author of Under the Tuscan Sun, employs food as a metaphor and method for escapism in this text.