Whether it is actual physical fat or metaphoric fat.”For more than a decade, I’d read and admired Murakami’s body of work without paying much attention to his actual body. As I cried, every part of my body heaved with me, shuddering with its own life. When Prince Hal shouts, “Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal!” and “Peace, you fat guts!” or says of his friend, “There is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of an old fat man. To view Fernando Botero’s painting “Dancers at the Bar” or Lucian Freud’s “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” is to be presented with a picture that is ultimately inseparable from weight, body image and their social implications. It’s a sobering image: a literary titan incapacitated by the fear of consuming food, of gaining weight.

Source: Washington Post December 22, 2025 05:42 UTC