Znachorka i wiedźma Orzeszkowej
Orzeszkowa’s quack and witch

Summary/Abstract: This article contains an analysis of Eliza Orzeszkowa’s novel {Dziurdziowie} with particular consideration of quackery as a social, ethical and psychological phenomenon. It also characterizes this issue on the basis of another novel by Orzeszkowa, namely {Wiedźma} (Witch) and the series of articles published in “Wisła” in the late eighties and nineties of the nineteenth century. The subject of this article is the author’s specific positivist attitude to folk medicine and its reflection in these literary pieces. The interpretation is based on Orzeszkowa’s distinction between ‘quackery’ and ‘woman wizardry’, and their consequences for the representatives of these professions. This article also raises the issue of primitive mentality compared with widely understood otherness and emphasizes the quake’s ethical and legal responsibility for their paramedical activity.

• Details
• Contents