PRIMER ON THE SCIENCE OF STARVATION, PUBLISHED LATE LAST MONTH BY THE HERALDED SUNDAY REVIEW, WITH HEAVY DEFERENCE PAID TO LOW-CALORIE WEIGHT-LOSS APPROACHES OF MODERN FIRST-WORLD ADOPTION. ALSO SPEAKS OF MENTAL & PHYSICAL CRISIS-STATE BEARING UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE TO THE ANOREXIC ARCHETYPE, WITNESSED IN MY OWN PRIVATE ENCOUNTERS AND MEDICAL HISTORY. FED A DIET "CHOSEN TO REPRESENT THE FARE OF EUROPEAN FAMINE," A POOL OF THIRTY-SIX WW2-ERA RESEARCH SUBJECTS DEMONSTRATED TO OBSERVERS MARKED DETERIORATION OF BOTH BODY AND CHARACTER, WITH AT LEAST ONE MAN'S DECLINE SO EXTREME AS TO WARRANT REMOVAL BY-WAY-OF PSYCH WARD. TWENTY-FOUR WEEKS OF CONTROLLED RESTRICTION SAW THESE UNFORTUNATE TRIALISTS "OBSESSING OVER FOOD," UNABLE TO THWART DEPRESSION OR INTOLERANCE TO COLD -- METABOLIC AND HORMONAL SYSTEMS ON THE FRITZ. GARY TAUBES' EYE-OPENING ESSAY CONCLUDES WITH A FITTING, SOLEMN HAT-TIP TO GREEK KING ERYSICHTHON OF THESSALY, WHO IN ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY WAS CURSED BY GODDESS CERES WITH INSATIABLE HUNGER, ULTIMATELY CANNIBALIZING HIS OWN MORTAL FORM.
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| IMAGE CREDIT: TED HUGHES, TALES FROM OVID: "THE SACRED GROVE" (ISBN 0141802480) |
