Literature and Medicine

Catalog description

In this seminar, students will examine literary representations of illness, disability, and disease. Through close readings of poems, short stories, plays, essays, and medical memoirs, we will consider questions such as the following: How does illness define and sometimes transform us? What do our responses to the sick tell us about ourselves? What is a "good death"? What shapes public responses to disease and epidemics? Who defines normality, and how do we react to those who deviate from it? What are the obligations of the healthy to those who suffer? This course is interdisciplinary in nature, and will examine how social, cultural, and historical forces have shaped attitudes toward illness, disability, and medical treatment. Prerequisite Course(s): Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161) Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3