Eating Animals by Jonatan Safran Foer and Its Reception by Polish Readers

Abstract

In 2013, Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of the bestseller Everything is Illuminated, once again became the center of a lively discussions in academic and non-academic circles thanks to his work Eating Animals (published by Krytyka Polityczna Publishing House, Poland). In this work Foer presented a non-literary text addressing a socially important topic, that gains new significance from the perspective of the year 2021. In this article, provide a platform for Polish readers of Eating Animals, without showing favouritism towards either vegans or non-vegans. We explore its reception, based on the definition, “the reception of a literary work by a literary audience and its functioning among different reading groups” (as defined in the Dictionary of Literary Terms p.464). Although the primary connotation triggered by this definition is sociological, reception pertains to reading, understanding, and subsequenlty interpretating a work. This attribution aligns it to literary history, disconnecting it from sociological associations. The aim of the authors is to situate Foer’s Eating Animals in the sphere of cultural and social research. Additionally, they seek to specify the definition of reception using this book as an example.