| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this paper is to examine Blaga Dimitrova's novel „Face“
through the illness as a metaphor. An attempt is made to discover and analyze the
pathological and its functions: both in the individual – mainly through the main
female figure Bora Naydenova, who is simultaneously a "patient" and a
"diagnostician" in the novel, as well as in society, which actually appears to be
the subject of Naydenova's sociological survey. The only healthy organism that
has preserved its „humanity“ turns out to be Bora’s indoor ficus which is able to
influence the characters psycho-emotionally, guiding them to their healing. The
novel is documentary when it comes to the fact that it creates a „medical report“
of the Bulgarian society from the end of the 1950s. Highly stylized, „Face“ is the
kind of a diagnosis that instills fear into those in power, whose reluctance to admit
the pathology of their own actions results in the banning of the novel. | en_US |
