THE ALTERITY OF ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE IN SHORT STORIES OF GÉZA CSÁTH

Abstract

Géza Csáth was deeply impressed by Darwin’s teachings. He saw the Freudian and Breuerian psychoanalysis, which he later dealt with in detail, aspart of the scientific turn that began with Darwin in the 19th century. The author of the paper is of the opinion that certain questions of Darwin’s teachings, such as the difference between the animal and human, shape Csáth’s narratives more deeply than Freudianism. The animal sphere is already present in Csáth’s early short story, The Frog. The hairy, toothy toad embodies the unknown excluded from existence by the rational worldview promising to explain the world. Géza Csáth was particularly interested in Darwin’s teaching, according to which all forms of life are motivated by the desire to maintain their own existence. The thesis examines the manifestations of the pleasure principle in Csáth’s prose. In his short stories, one possibility of pleasure is represented by the childhood perception of existence, and the other by the pleasure of drugs promising direct enjoyment of existence.