Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, cilt.19, sa.1, ss.11-22, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi)
A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor is an essay and a narrative, illustrated with photographs, whichexplores the personal story of a country doctor as well as the story of society and humanity. The text discussesthe issues of healing and illness, concentrating on the social and human aspects of these concepts. It explores theidea of healing primarily as a social construct. It is observed that the figure of the healer is handled through theexamples of the doctor, as well as the master mariner and the storyteller with regard to humanism and socialresponsibility. Thus, “healing” is a metaphor in Berger’s view which signifies empathizing and human responsibility. Storytelling is a central concept in Berger’s outlook as Berger believes the storyteller is a healer as s/herescues the reader from absurdity while the healer/doctor is a storyteller who records the story of his patients, thecommunity. The aim of this article is to investigate the ideas of healing and the figure of the healer in A Fortunate Man, mainly in social and human terms. It is revealed that the value of a healer and the value of society aremeasured socially.