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“Fat Swim” and Literature’s Fatphobia Problem

4/28/202620 min

Emma Copley Eisenberg is the author of a new collection of short stories entitled “Fat Swim.” Her work questions body image and the suppression of fatness in contemporary culture; Eisenberg recently paid for a billboard over a busy highway in Philadelphia bearing the slogan “Your gut is a terrible thing to lose.” Eisenberg talked with The New Yorker’s Jennifer Wilson about using fiction to explore body image, and the fatphobia that she finds in literature by some of today’s acclaimed writers.  
 

Further reading: 

  • Fat Swim,” by Emma Copley Eisenberg

 

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  2. Jason Adam Katzenstein0:03

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    I never paid much attention to my old mattress. I'd had it for years, and it was, meh, good enough. But when it came time to replace it, I had to ask myself, "Is good enough really good enough?" It was time

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