Writing the "Outbreak Narrative"

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Course Title

Writing the "Outbreak Narrative"

Course Description

As we continue to grapple with the COVID-19 crisis, this course offers a portal into the depiction of health disasters in literature and cinema, across space and time. From the ravaging plagues in medieval and early modern Europe to the deadly flu outbreaks in the twentieth century, the spread of diseases has not only created panic and suffering, often disproportionately affecting vulnerable social groups, but also altered shapes of human society, language, and imagination. We will examine how the outbreak narratives expose a range of emotions: fear, grief, anxiety, as well as delirium and desire, often buried under the everyday life, bending literary genres, and even upending the barriers of gender, race, and class.

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Geographic Location

Gainesville, Florida

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Title

Writing the "Outbreak Narrative"