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Two sides of an anorexic coin in Die Wahlverwandt‐schaften and Die Verwandlung : Ottilie as Heilige , Gregor as Mistkäfer
Author(s) -
Dickson Sheila
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
orbis litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1600-0730
pISSN - 0105-7510
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0730.1999.tb01947.x
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , interpretation (philosophy) , psychology , character (mathematics) , psychoanalysis , reflection (computer programming) , hatred , social psychology , eating disorders , philosophy , psychiatry , computer science , linguistics , geometry , mathematics , politics , political science , law , programming language
Two very different characters, Ottilie from Die Wahlverwandt‐schaften and Gregor from Die Verwandlung , display character traits that are recognised within clinical psychology as conductive to the illness anorexia nervosa. Although termed an eating disorder this illness is a much more complex reflection of self‐hatred and represents an attempt to gain control over one's life by sensitive, intelligent young people in situations where they feel pressured from outside. This body of knowledge is a useful tool with which to analyse the behaviour of these characters and offers new insight into their actions which may change our interpretation of the works as a whole.