THE SEMANTIC ASPECT OF FOOD AS PUNISHMENT AND COMFORT IN THE WORKS BY L. CARROLL, CH. DICKENS AND P. TRAVER

Abstract

The article deals with the semantic aspect of food functioning as punishment/reward and lovelessness/comfort in the English literature of the XIX and early XX centuries in the works by L. Carrol, Ch. Dickens and P. Travers. The research investigates the food motif as a means to reflect eating traditions of a particular historic period and a social marker for the protagonists. The author explores how the writers use eating habits to express acceptance, resistance, emotional affection, taboo behaviour, power and celebration traditions. It is suggested that food imagery is positively related to cultural identity which includes various issues from social position to gender issues. It is shown that the presentation of food in literature can mirror the writers’ own preferences allowing them to tap on their personal experience in the works, thus giving “food” for bibliographers. Recent literary culinary studies have stimulated the development of gastronomic tours on the pages of the renowned writers, the so-called food trails, and theme fests such as the Great Dickens Christmas Fair and Victorian Holiday Party or Whitby’s White Rabbit Trail as part of niche gastronomic tourism in Great Britain. So, the present interdisciplinary research may be of great interest not only for philologists but also for students specializing in tourism and country studies and the general public.