https://doi.org/10.31261/SSP.2026.27.02
This article examines the somatic dimensions of addiction treatment in Inga Iwasiów’s prose. The analysis focuses on the figure of the alcohol implant (Esperal) as a medical practice which not only modifies the subject’s relationship with alcohol, but above all reorganises the experience of corporeality and the way addiction is conceptualised. At the heart of the discussion is a shift in emphasis from psychological and social models of treatment towards its material and somatic dimensions, in which the body becomes a space in which the illness and therapeutic intervention are inscribed. The text demonstrates that the alcohol implant is not merely a tool of control, but also a means by which addiction is inscribed in the body. A key element of the analysis is also the gender perspective, revealing diverse ways of experiencing and interpreting addiction treatment, as illustrated in the section comparing the prose of Inga Iwasiów and Aleksandra Zbroja. In women’s narratives, the implant is domesticated and integrated into the realm of intimate bodily experience, whilst in men’s representations it remains, above all, a foreign element of control, provoking resistance and a desire to have it removed. The article demonstrates that the somatic dimensions of addiction treatment are not neutral, but are strongly conditioned by culture and gender, which influences the way in which the relationship between the body, power and illness is portrayed.
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Vol. 27 No. 1 (tom w przygotowaniu) (2026)
Published: 2026-10-16
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