"La enfermedad extraña": Inapetencia, Class and Eating Disorders in La esfinge maragata

Sickly women populate the pages of Concha Espina's 1914 novel La esfinge maragata. While on the one hand the inhabitants seem to be strong and enduring, on the other hand, their bodies are represented as broken down, aged, and wasted. What I propose to add to the scholarship on Espina, and specifically to the study of La esfinge, is to align her with other women writers in her exploration of the metaphor of illness. This article explores how contemporary feminist theories on eating disorders can help us understand the dynamics of illness in this novel, in particular how these theories apply to the two main characters Mariflor and Marinela. A study of the body and what the women consume or refuse to consume along with their struggles with gender conformity will lead me to explore the ways Espina's novel illuminates the relationship between social class and women's illness.