Delineation of the boundaries between normality and non-normality on the example of the novel by Stanislaw Lem "Hospital of the Transfiguration" Cover Image

Wytyczanie granic między normalnością a nie-normalnością na przykładzie powieści Stanisława Lema "Szpital przemienienia"
Delineation of the boundaries between normality and non-normality on the example of the novel by Stanislaw Lem "Hospital of the Transfiguration"

Author(s): Sylwia Góra
Subject(s): Philosophy, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature
Published by: Uniwersytet Opolski
Keywords: heterotopia; standard; health; madness; hospital

Summary/Abstract: This article is an attempt to present the frontier of mental health and madness on the example of the novel by Stanislaw Lem Hospital of the Transfiguration. The boundary is here in two different meanings. The first is the material, spatial boundary - the walls of hospitals for the insane. It is a well-defined boundary, which in the novel do not exceed the people "normal", in addition to doctors who treat patients. The second meaning of the boundary is the border of what is normal and what is not. This is the border of mental and social, but also physical sphere, which can clearly be shown on the examples of the novel and the theory of Foucault . Border can be understood more broadly than just the space that separates one place from another. There are also symbolic boundaries which we keep building more and more today.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 29-36
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Polish