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Delirio y posesión en «La paciente y el médico»: Silvina Ocampo desenmascara al galeno

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Abstract

In the case of Silvina Ocampo, the ‘patient’ emerges within the apparent normality of the doctor-patient relationship. This is evident in the type of services provided and the attention given to the patient’s illness or ailments. This relationship is based on an agreement that includes good faith, humane treatment, trust, honesty, and responsible professional service. However, this dynamic, typically governed by the Hippocratic Oath, becomes disordered and destabilized when Ocampo places it on the edge of delirium and possession, as seen in the story “La paciente y el médico” from La furia (1959). The relationship between the two parties of the Hippocratic pact becomes a setting in which healing and therapy are refracted through the lens of the fantastic. Ocampo structures the narrative with two simultaneous, non-alternating sequences of interior monologues that generate the anxiety and instability defining the ambiguous conclusion through their juxtaposition.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: May 8, 2025 | Accepted: June 6, 2025 | Published Sept. 9, 2025 | Language: es

Keywords Fantastic literature • Doctor and patient • Relations between medicine and literature • Silvina Ocampo

Copyright © 2025 Jorge Chen Sham. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-939-9/010


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