Epidemia jako siła napędowa historii (?) Choroba w ujęciu Petra Zelenki
“Epidemic as a driving force of history (?)” Disease as seen by Petr Zelenka

Summary/Abstract: The article “Epidemic as a driving force of history (?)” Disease as seen by Petr Zelenka explores the play Elegance molekuly (2018). The Czech playwright reconstructs the story of a chemist Antonín Holý, whose research contributed to the invention of, among other things, antiretroviral drugs that inhibit the development of the AIDS syndrome. Thanks to Zelenka’s use of all three layers of the AIDS myth distinguished by the Polish anthropologist Monika Sznajder man, the true story of the Gilead Sciences company is a contribution to the presentation of the cultural image of the disease and the epidemic it caused in the 1980s and 1990s. While interpreting the drama, Susan Sontag’s reflections (Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors) were also used as a commentary. The play and its continuously popular stage production at Prague’s Dejvické divadlo theatre (from 2018, also directed by Petr Zelenka) constitute an important voice in the Czech maladic discourse of the last decade.

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