Juan José Millás explores madness and health

In an essay titled ‘Locura y salud’, Juan José Millás explores the intersection of reason and imagination through the anecdote of a woman who, after accidentally swallowing a fly in her youth, lived with the psychological superstition that she might become pregnant from it.

Millás uses this story to reflect on how superstitions and irrational beliefs coexist with intelligence. He suggests that the distinction between madness and mental health may not lie in the presence of fantasies, but rather in how an individual chooses to interact with them.