Published: 2024-12-20

„Ciałość”: Subjectivity and the Body in the Perspective of Maladic Discourse

Monika Ładoń Logo ORCID

Abstract

The text concerns Katarzyna Kaczyńska-Piwko’s rarely interpreted autopathography about living with a chronic disease (congenital brittleness of the bones). The starting point is the title neologism – ‘ciałość’ – which allows us to ask about the intersection of three elements: the body, the bones (as a sign of the disease) and the whole (the subject and the body). Thanks to this, Kaczyńska-Piwko’s text becomes a literary illustration of philosophical questions: do we have a body? are we a body? The methodological framework for the reading is the maladic discourse, which places the individual experience of illness at the centre and, through it, sharpens the meaning of the body. The themes chosen for interpretation relate mainly to pain, understood in accordance with Elaine Scarry’s theory, and the relationship between the body and writing (writing with the body) with references to Jean-Luc Nancy’s philosophy. The author’s argument aims to present the dynamic relationship between the ailing subject and the body, which leads to transcend the Cartesian division in favour of capturing the unity of thought and body. The author traces the formation of the subject’s intimate relationship with the body: from rebellion, to listening to its speech, to tenderness, to acceptance. The body becomes the protagonist of the story, shattering the natural hierarchical nature of the relationship with the subject. The article proposes the application of an eclectic maladic discourse to Polish and literary studies.

Download files

Citation rules

Ładoń, M. (2024). „Ciałość”: Subjectivity and the Body in the Perspective of Maladic Discourse. Postscriptum Polonistyczne, 34(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.31261/PS_P.2024.34.04

Cited by / Share

Vol. 34 No. 2 (2024)
Published: 2024-09-19


ISSN: 1898-1593
eISSN: 2353-9844
Ikona DOI 10.31261/PS_P

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

This website uses cookies for proper operation, in order to use the portal fully you must accept cookies.