Literature and Medicine

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Course Title

Literature and Medicine

Course Description

We will consider how contemporary medicine, illness, and disability have been portrayed in a variety of genres, especially fiction, memoir, and movies since the 1980s. As we explore depictions of healthcare professionals and of persons apparently ill, we will pay careful attention to their form, style, and uses of perspective. Culturally, what forces have shaped these portrayals of doctors and patients, and how do these works influence our own expectations of medicine? Our overarching theme will be alienation: a condition of persons who, through experiences medical or otherwise, become strange to themselves, others, or both.

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Geographic Location

Houston

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Literature and Medicine