Bite Your Friends: Stories of the Body Militant

Bite Your Friends is a genre-bending memoir that explores the lives of uncommonly brave men and women who have used their own wounded or stigmatized bodies to challenge societal mores and entrenched power structures. It is based on the example of Diogenes, a Greek philosopher who lived "a dogs life," and asks what we can learn from such examples to become braver, more authentic individuals.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 28 March 2024
Publisher: Europa Editions (UK) Ltd

Bite Your Friends: A Memoir of the Body Militant is a captivating and thought-provoking memoir that delves into the lives of extraordinary individuals who have risked physical suffering in the pursuit of freedom. The author, Olivia Laing, sets the tone for this extraordinary memoir with the example of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who lived a life of simplicity, teaching, and engaging in public sex. Through this lens, the book poses crucial questions about what drives certain individuals to embrace unconventional lifestyles and challenge societal norms.

Bite Your Friends also explores the broader societal implications of these individuals' actions, asking what we can learn from their experiences to become more brave, authentic, and socially aware. The book takes readers on a journey through different historical periods, from the Roman amphitheaters where martyrs were fed to wild beasts to the S&M leather bars of New York in the 1970s and the programmatic defiance of groups like Pussy Riot.

Throughout the narrative, the author weaves her own story and the vivid story of her mother, a New York writer and socialite of the 1960s, whose illness-scarred body first led Eberstadt to seek connections between beauty, belief, and the truths taught through the body. The book is a rich tapestry of memoir, social history, and philosophical inquiry, offering readers a unique perspective on the power of the human body to challenge and transform society.

In conclusion, Bite Your Friends: A Memoir of the Body Militant is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the boundaries of human existence, challenging societal norms, and embracing the power of the human body to create change. Through its captivating storytelling and thought-provoking insights, this memoir offers a valuable contribution to the literature on personal agency, social activism, and the intersection of beauty, belief, and the body.

Weight: 376g
Dimension: 217 x 142 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781787705029