„Dzisiaj wymiotowałam po raz ostatni”. Zaburzenia odżywiania w Sobibor Jeana Molli

This article discusses the problem of eating disorders in Sobibor, a Young Adult novel by the French writer Jean Molla in the light of illness narrative studies, the sick body aesthetics and physical sickness. The article goes over the narrator’s list of possible causes of her psychosomatic condition, i.e. family tensions, social pressure to conform to the prevailing beauty canon, and her own rebellion against the female identity. Emily’s narration combines two strands, a struggle with adolescent personal problems and the discovery of a nasty family secret. An analysis of her experiences and reflections reveals the connections between the anorexia/bulimia syndrome and the effects of a generational trauma. Her condition is complicated further by the revelation of her late grandfather’s Nazi past, an exemplary case of post-memory trauma. The article suggests that her anorexic vomiting is a an iconic gesture corresponding to the writing (i.e. getting something off one’s chest) of the story of her traumas (both her own and inherited from an earlier generation).