The Harlequin Eaters

Autor*innen

• Janet Beizer

Parameter

• Lehrbücher
• Sozialwissenschaften
• Universitätslehrbücher

Mehr zum Buch

How representations of the preparation, sale, and consumption of leftovers in nineteenth-century urban France link socioeconomic and aesthetic history. The concept of the “harlequin” refers to the practice of reassembling dinner scraps cleared from the plates of the wealthy to sell, replated, to the poor in nineteenth-century Paris. Janet Beizer investigates how the alimentary harlequin evolved in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from the earlier Commedia dell’arte Harlequin character, rethinking the entangled place of class, race, and food in the history of modernism. By examining various popular and canonical works, newspaper articles, postcards, and lithographs, Beizer illustrates that the discourses surrounding this mixed meal reflect not only food but also the marginalized “harlequin eaters” who consume it during the emergence of a global society. She reveals the connection between kitchen narratives and intellectual-aesthetic practices, integrating socioeconomic history with literature and visual arts. This exploration also offers insights into contemporary issues of food inequity, unpacking the for-profit recycling of excess food across class and race divisions.

• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2024
• Einband: Paperback