Article / interview
Studying Maladic Narratives: A Meeting with Dr. Joanna Szewczyk and Wiktoria Kulak (MA)
Why is the story so necessary (within) illness? What does the statement that illnesses are political mean? What is maladic discourse and what are its characteristics? And why did Susan Sontag change her stance towards metaphors of illness?
These and other important questions are answered by the editors of an issue of "Ruch Literacki" titled Maladic Discourse – Figures and Ontologies (No. 5/2023) – Dr. Joanna Szewczyk and Wiktoria Kulak, MA. The issue of "Ruch Literacki", which served as the pretext for this conversation, is available on the journal's website: https://journals.pan.pl/rl/151762#tabs.
Joanna Szewczyk – Assistant Professor at the Department of Literary Anthropology and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University, and a member of the Centre for Research on Cultural Discourses of Illness. Her interests include women’s history from the perspective of feminist and gender discourses, the anthropology of illness, and mourning and pandemic narratives in contemporary culture. She has published in, among others, "Teksty Drugie", "Zagadnienia Rodzajów Literackich", "Ruch Literacki", and "Tekstualia".
Wiktoria Kulak – PhD student in literary studies at the Doctoral School of the University of the National Education Commission, Krakow. Her research interests include literary anthropology, feminist and gender criticism, women’s history and literature, maladic discourse, and literary genology. As part of her doctoral dissertation, she is developing a monograph on contemporary women’s columns (felietonopisarstwo). Since 2023, she has been a member of the Centre for Research on Cultural Discourses of Illness at the Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University.
The interview was conducted by Klaudia Muca-Małek, a participant in the project "Engaged Polish Studies".
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Cultural texts and scholarly publications mentioned in the conversation (in alphabetical order):
• Agata Andrzejewska, "Dostałaś raka tylko po to, aby go opisać", czyli literacko-fotograficzna narracja o raku piersi w książce Annie Ernaux L'usage de la photo, “Ruch Literacki” 2024, nr 5, s. 813-824.
• Agnieszka Dauksza, Humanistyka medyczna: o leczeniu (się) w patosystemie, “Teksty Drugie” 2021, nr 1, s. 38–58.
• Emilia Dłużewska, Jak płakać w miejscach publicznych, Kraków 2023.
• Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics, Chicago 1995.
• Olga Hund, Psy ras drobnych, Kraków 2018.
• Mark Johnson, George Lakoff, Metafory w naszym życiu, przeł. T. P. Krzeszowski, Warszawa 2010.
• Barbara Klicka, Zdrój, Warszawa 2019.
• Beata Koper, Sublingualis. Problemy i poetyki dyskursu medycznego w literaturze polskiej po roku 1989, Gdańsk 2024;
• B. Koper, Lektura patograficzna Dzienników raka Audre Lorde i Lewej, wspomnienie prawej Krystyny Kofty, “Ruch Literacki” 2024, nr 5, s. 647-661.
• Monika Ładoń, Choroba jako literatura. Studia maladyczne, Katowice 2019.
• Aleksandra Młynarczyk-Gemza, Zapiski wariatki, Kraków 2022.
• Alicja Müller, Choreografie niepełnosprawności a klasyczny etos. Asymilacje i negocjacje, “Ruch Literacki” 2024, nr 5, s. 679-693.
• Małgorzata Okupnik, W niewoli ciała. Doświadczenie utraty zdrowia i jego reprezentacje, Kraków 2018.
• Mateusz Pakuła, Jak nie zabiłem swojego ojca i jak bardzo tego żałuję, Warszawa 2021.
• Michał Rymaszewski, Typograficzna reprezentacja choroby, “Ruch Literacki” 2024, nr 5, s. 663-677.
• Susan Sontag, Choroba jako metafora; AIDS i jego metafory, przeł. Jarosław Anders, Warszawa 1999.
• Justyna Wicenty, Kołysanka z huraganem, Warszawa 2020.
• Karolina Wiktor, Wołgą przez Afazję, Kraków 2014.
• Virginia Woolf, O chorowaniu, przeł. M. Heydel, Wołowiec 2010.
• Aleksandra Zbroja, Mireczek. Patoopowieść o moim ojcu, Warszawa 2021.
• Aneta Żukowska, Mięcho, Kraków 2019.
• Spektakl Jak nie zabiłem swojego ojca i jak bardzo tego żałuję, reż. M. Pakuła, Teatr Łaźnia Nowa, Teatr im. Stefana Żeromskiego w Kielcach, premiere date 20.01.2023 r.
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Information
Jest m.in. współredaktorką monografii Współczesne życie literackie (2018; z J. Osińskim), współredaktorką monograficznego numeru „Tekstów Drugich” o studiach o niepełnosprawności oraz autorką książki Poiesis doświadczenia, poiesis tożsamości. Narracje o afazji (2019).
Jej najnowsza książka ukaże się jesienią 2024 r. i będzie dotyczyła narracji niefikcjonalnych o niepełnosprawności, czytanych m.in. jako narzędzie wytwarzania nowej wiedzy o niepełnosprawności.
Dziedziny: humanistyka zaangażowana, studia o niepełnosprawności, literatura współczesna, dyplomacja naukowa
Wykaz publikacji: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BKprct4AAAAJ&hl=pl
Interesuje się historią kobiet z perspektywy dyskursów feministycznych i genderowych, antropologią choroby, narracjami żałobnymi i pandemicznymi w kulturze współczesnej.
Publikowała m.in. w „Tekstach Drugich”, „Zagadnieniach Rodzajów Literackich”, „Ruchu Literackim” i „Tekstualiach”.
See also
From Maladic Narratives to Community. A Meeting with Dr. Iwona Boruszkowska and Maria Świątkowska, MA.
What attitudes do contemporary literary studies take toward maladic narratives? What is the communal and emancipatory aspect of these narratives? How can we view the theory of the "wounded narrator" from today's perspective, 30 years after the publication of Arthur Frank's The Wounded Storyteller (1995)? These and other important questions are answered by the editors of an issue of "Ruch Literacki," titled "Maladic Discourse – Illness as Narrative: Theories and Interpretations" (No. 4/2023). The issue of "Ruch Literacki," which prompted this conversation, is available on the journal's website at: https://journals.pan.pl/rl/150189#tabs.
Między językiem a medycyną. Marta Chojnacka-Kuraś o medycynie narracyjnej i humanistyce medycznej
The diagnosis lies hidden within the patient's narrative. However, whose voice speaks through it? What is the place of narrative in communication between physicians and medical staff, and between patients and their families? Narrative medicine offers an approach which helps to answer these questions and improve our communication skills. It is playing an increasingly important role in healthcare systems worldwide (at Columbia University, it has already become a separate field of study: https://sps.columbia.edu/academics/masters/narrative-medicine).
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