MALADIES OF LIFE, MALADIES IN FICTION. A READING OF JEFFREY EUGENIDES’ “COMPLAINERS”

Abstract

The present paper deals with the intricate interplay of malady, medicine and humanity in Jeffrey Eugenides' story “Complainers”, the opening story in his volume of short prose Fresh Complaint, published in 2017. The story traces the destinies of two women (one of whom is diagnosed with dementia) who manage to save each other from life’s maladies by means of their friendship. Written in the typical half melancholic, half tongue-in-cheek manner characteristic of all of Eugenides’ texts, the story hints at the possibility that the real-life maladies of our world are not physical but emotional and societal. The emotionally and medically sterile environment we have created to cradle us in the illusion of safety and rationality is contrasted to the rich inner world of the two women and human beings in general. Eugenides thus poses a series of interesting questions: Is it preferable for the “human machine” to slowly shut down by decaying or disappear swiftly and suddenly? What is more painful, disease and decay or annihilation? How much of our humanity does disease take away?

Keywords

• malady
• disease
• decay
• medicine
• society
• humanity
• jeffrey eugenides