“One thing is certain: the link between water and madness is deeply rooted in the dream of the Western man.”

—  Michel Foucault

Part One: 1. Stultifera Navis
History of Madness (1961)
Context: Water and navigation had that role to play. Locked in the ship from which he could not escape, the madman was handed over to the thousand-armed river, to the sea where all paths cross, and the great uncertainty that surrounds all things. A prisoner in the midst of the ultimate freedom, on the most open road of all, chained solidly to the infinite crossroads. He is the Passenger par excellence, the prisoner of the passage. It is not known where he will land, and when he lands, he knows not whence he came. His truth and his home are the barren wasteland between two lands that can never be his own. […] One thing is certain: the link between water and madness is deeply rooted in the dream of the Western man.

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Michel Foucault 128
French philosopher 1926–1984

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