The symbolic expressions of dementia in literature and in arts: Maupassant, Arturo Truque, and Goya

Document Type : Scientific research papers

Author

Department of French Language Faculty of Arts - Cairo University

Abstract

In this research, we study in a comparative perspective the symbolic expressions of dementia in literature and in arts. We have chosen the following corpus: The Hair and the crazy woman by Maupassant, the fugue by Arturo Truque and selected paintings by Goya extracted from the black painting, The Caprices, and the Disparates. In order to analyze dementia’s symbols, we have been inspired by Charles Bernard's theory because it has an existential and ontological dimension. The dementia is manifested in two forms: the morbid geometric and the complex of fateful water. At first, we have presented the definition of these two notions and later we studied how the elements of the material imagination are used to reflect the obsessions. To conclude, we emphasized the idea that irrational logic is, paradoxically, the product of elements organized according to the same scheme resulting from a mental disease.

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