O, brave fat world

This slender volume is based on the presentations given at the symposium „Cultural Aspects of Overweight and Obesity in the U. S. A.,“ on November 28, 2003, at the Philipps- Universität Marburg. As Time magazine reported recently, the width of new seats in a Colorado theater were enlarged from 17 inches – the regular size as recommended by the American Institute of Architects – to 22 inches because of Americans' growing girth. A similar enlargement was suggested for the New York subway when the rigid plastic seats proved too narrow for an increasing number of people. These apparently trivial facts point to the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity in Americans which has become a serious problem for the American health system as obesity increases the risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other diseases with a concomitant increase in costs. Although eating is a biological necessity, food habits are also cultural phenomena embedded in, and determined by, a given society; accordingly, the symposium focused on an approach which addresses the interrelationships between cultural, literary, and psychological aspects of overweight and obesity. The introduction by Ingrid Thaler presents some background information on definitions and statistics, Angelique A. Sallas's paper discusses American cultural contradictions, Diana von Finck analyzes the portrayal of overweight and obesity in selected American literary texts, Sylvia Titze reports on physical activity and obesity, Sabine Trenk- Hinterberger proposes psychoanalytical explanations for the phenomenon. The epilogue interprets literary representations of Thanksgiving in the context of American national identity. It is hoped that the papers will open new perspectives for American Cultural Studies. I am happy to acknowledge the pleasant cooperation of the contributors as well as the help of my secretary, Waltraud Nau, and my research assistant, Ingrid Thaler, in preparing, harmonizing, and finalizing the typescript and the bibliographical notations. Further, I extend warm thanks to Angelique A. Sallas for going over the English versions with a finetooth comb.