Insane, mad, crazy... : about the functions of insanity in literature (on the basis of works by G. Kanovich, L. Fuks, P. Schneider and J. Krzysztoń)

Abstract

The short characteristics of chosen works, which I have presented above, makes us aware how great is the variety of ways of using insanity in literary works. However, they simultaneously show that there exist certain premises for building a particular typology, which could encompass all possible variants or several complementary typologies allowing quite a clear description of this complicated material. The basic rule of such a systematisation could be the place of insanity in a literary work or in literary communication, as different works treat this phenomenon in different ways. First, the insanity can simply be an object of a more or less accurate description. Thus, then the insanity is a trait of character’s personality, it functions as a ‘presented subject,’ which is not attributed any special semantic functions — it is neither a great metaphor of the world, nor a symbol of social relations, etc. Secondly, one can separate the works on the basis of rhetorics used to describe insanity. The insanity is described differently when it is just an object of presentation, and differently when it becomes a special ‘code,’ a way of presenting reality, when it is given a symbolic meaning, etc. In the first case one can speak of an immanent scope, in the second — of a contextual one. (fragment tekstu)