Człowiek z przeszczepionym sercem – Nowy Człowiek? O metamorfozach motywu przeszczepu w prozie XX i XXI wieku

Abstract

Although by the second half of the twentieth century organ transplantation had become a standard medical procedure, in late-twentieth- and early twenty-first century films and literature it is still closely aligned with anti-utopias and fantasy, demanding symbolic interpretation. Organ transplantation per se is never really the subject of a given work; it is a metaphor and pretext for philosophical considerations. Maylis de Kerangal’s novel Réparer les vivants (Mend the Living) published in France in 2013, proposes a new approach to the transplantation motif which focuses on the process of the biological modification itself, without invoking traditional ethical dilemmas, and recognizes the biological survival of the body as the highest good. The book may be an indication that a shift in the ethical paradigm is taking place, but its consequences are not fully recognized.