ENG-170 Narrative and Medicine
This course will provide an introduction to the literature written about medicine and medical research. We will study the ways in which narrative represents experiences of illness, disability, doctor-patient relationships, health insurance, and other medical issues, including the end of life. The nonfiction books, short stories, and poems we read this semester are written from the viewpoints of patients, doctors, researchers, and literary critics, and provide us with nuanced, often ethically-challenging examples of how literary techniques - plot, character, point of view, setting, and figurative language reveal the subjective experiences of diagnosis, treatment, healing, and paying in the world of healthcare, and how these experiences ultimately posit questions about what makes life and the body worth valuing. Our readings will also explore the intersections between storytelling and science.
Offered
Fall, Spring