Özet
Central European Folk Medicine Examples In The Context Of Painted Bird Novel In Years Of The World War II
Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird is a novel that has concern World War II from the perspective of a child and the difficult lives of people who lived in this war. In the novel, the challenges of war are told on the people in the distant villages of Central Europe’s battle field. It begins in the early years of the war when a family handed over a 6-year-old child to another family living in one of the villages in Central Europe, far from Germany, to protect the Nazis. However, the child is forced to constantly relocate in the turmoil of war days. In these obligatory changes, the child usually takes refuge in the house of the oldest and wise woman of the village wherever he goes. He learns treatment methods and applications from these people by living / doing. What happened to this child given in the novel coincides with the author's own life. In addition to the events dealt with by the eyes of a child who escaped from war, the existence of healer women in distant villages in central Europe, the eldest of the village to cure diseases such as a doctor, the names of diseases and treatment methods are frequently encountered in the novel. During World War II, people had to fight not only the enemy but also poverty and infectious diseases. During World War II, the public also had difficulty in accessing healthcare, which is one of the basic life needs. Difficulty in reaching modern health conditions, which is one of the reasons for the development of folk medicine, has directed people to the folk physicians. The Painted Bird novel is also a memorial and realistically describes the diseases and treatment methods experienced by the author during the war years. The main feature that distinguishes this novel from the films, novels and memorials of the period is that it tells the folk medicine practices behind the battle field rather than the physical struggle of the war. For this reason, the data mentioned in the novel within the scope of the article is worth evaluating in terms of folk medicine practice.
Anahtar Kelimeler
The Painted Bird, Jerzy Kosinski, folk medicine, treatment, war.