Literature and Medicine
Course Syllabus First Semester 2018
Professor Daniel Scarfo, Ph.D. (Yale University)
Austral University
International Program
Every healing practice is a humanistic practice and literature can be a medicine, can teach us on life, illness and cure. And the medical practice is also a symptoms reading practice, that also includes the accounts -non unfrequently literary- that pacients produce about their pains. Ever since Aristotle’s association of tragedy with catharsis, literature and medicine have been intertwined in the western tradition.
Literature has an enormous capacity to teach us on suffering, pain, loneliness, death and the human condition. It is possible to take some literary works as points of departure to discuss the representations of the diverse healing spaces and ask ourselves on our own healing and literary experiences. Some of the many stories that we will read or refer to hear might be of your interest in order to expand the repertoire of questions and tools used to better understand the cultural dimensions of medical practices, medicine as reading and reading as medicine.
Course Objective:
The course aims to
i. expose students to the ways in which the fields of “literature and “medicine” have been linked and are related, and to gain a sense of the centrality of narrative to both fields;
ii. Introduce students to texts which enable them to examine the interrelations between ideas of healing and well-being and the purpose of literature as a medicine for the human condition;
iii. To give students ways of understanding and articulating a sense of the bridges between what C.P. Snow has called “The Two Cultures” of Sciences/Humanities.
Tentative Schedule of Readings: The date listed on our schedule is the day for which the reading should have been completed. Readings should be completed for discussion on the date mentioned on the syllabus. Students will be expected to bring their copies (or the electronic version) of the designated text to every class.
Class 1 (March 19) Introduction to the topic
Class 2 (March 20) Aristotle and the idea of Catharsis: Literature as a purging of Emotions. The Epic of Gilgamesh; the oldest sorrow in the world: Mortality and the Human Condition; the herb of immortality. Gilgamesh Civilization as Cure. Seneca/Plutarch/Boethius: the Consolation of Philosophy. Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron. Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy: knowledge/writing as cure for what ails us; “I writ of melancholy to be rid of melancholy”. Renaissance Humanism and the cure. Middlemarch: The Emergence of Modern Medicine and the diagnosis of the ills of provincial life. Art and Medicine, twin arts of healing. Social Change and Medicine. Ibsen, An enemy of the people. Robert Stevenson, The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Class 3 (March 22): Franz Kafka, The metamorphosis
Class 4 (March 26): Williams Carlos Williams, The use of force
Class 5 (March 27) Albert Camus, The plague
Class 6 (April 3) John Berger, A fortunate man and Multiple Choice Examination I
Class 7 (April 5) Susan Sontag's Illness as metaphor and Aids and its metaphors
Class 8 (April 9) Students' presentations
Class 9 (April 10) Raymond Carver, “Errand” and “A small good thing”
Class 10 (April 12) Movie: Awakenings
Class 11 (April 16) House M.D.
Class 12 (April 17) Multiple Choice II and Readings on Medical Humanities today
Class 13 (April 19) Final papers individual discussions
Class Policies
Attendance
●Students may only miss two classes in each course. Failure to meet this requirement will translate into failing the course.
●If as a result of being absent a student misses an exam, he/she will receive zero points and fail the class.
●It is up to the Director of International Programs to decide whether an absence is justified due to an illness or other force majeure causes. (In case of medical emergencies which require hospitalization, or disastrous family circumstances exceptions will be made.) The student will have to produce proof of such situations. In any case, only two absences are normally allowed for any reason. There is no distinction between “excused” and “unexcused” absences: whether you notify me beforehand or not; whether it is due to illness, or unforeseen emergency, or family responsibilities; or simply because you are too tired; or because of athletic events, you have to accept the consequences of your absence-- missing a quiz; having points docked for not turning in an assignment, etc.
Please consult me or your classmates about assignments, specially after having missed a class: do not come to the next one unprepared. If you miss a class, please get notes from a classmate.
Punctuality
Arriving late or leaving early equals to an absence. The tolerance will be five minutes.
Coming in and out of the class repeatedly will translate into an absence.
It is up to the faculty to make exceptions. The student must inform and explain the situation in advance or as soon as circumstances allow him/her to.
Class Participation
Such participation is an important part of your performance. Please come to class with written notes, your questions and thoughts about the possible meanings of the texts you have read. What strikes you? What paragraphs, elements, or points seem to you to be the most significant or enigmatic? Why? I note participation at the end of each session. Come to class each day ready to participate. Complete all reading, bring assigned texts to class, and try to speak at every meeting. If you do not bring your text, if you have not read it before the class or seem distracted, you will not receive participation credit that day.
This is a reading-intensive course, requiring a commitment to reading, comprehending, and analyzing demanding texts. In addition, I require students to be fully engaged with the material, and will demand your utmost attention in class and rigorous devotion to preparation for the course outside it. While you are not expected to have fully mastered every aspect of the materials, you are required to have at least a basic understanding of and response to the materials--what is happening in the text, who’s doing what, to whom, where, and why--when you come to class.
We will not be able to go over all the readings in class, but you are still responsible for knowing what was not discussed in class. You may/will be tested on all the materials, including the introductions. You will be able to produce evidence of reading the texts with your participation in class and with the Multiple Choices that you will have to take.
Assignments
Student’s responsibilities:
●Following the professor’s instructions regarding content, structure, format, etc.
●Meeting the deadline
●Submitting the assignment properly
●Making sure the assignment is received by the professor
The burden of delivery falls on the student, who is responsible for checking the file is not corrupted and that file format can be opened with any standard software. Students are encouraged to CC or CCO themselves at a different address to make sure the email is deliverable and the file can be opened.
Missing the deadline will result in losing one point every 24 hours past the deadline.
Presentations (2 pages + discussion, 15 mins. total): Students read short papers aloud in class. Presentations offer a brief reading of a writer. Each student leads class discussion with 2 questions after his or her presentation. Students hand in hard copies of their presentations and questions the day his/her presentation is due.
Guidelines for the final paper (due June 25th 11:59pm)
Final papers should demonstrate mastery of course materials and reading practices. They should show that you have been a student in this course and followed the class presentations and discussions. Also,
a) They should contain between 8 and 10 pages, besides the bibliography.
b) I recommend to start writing many more pages (early!!!) and then proceed to clean up the document discarding what is unnecessary to the point you are trying to make.
c) I expect an essay on one of the topics we discuss in class or that are available in the syllabus, or a topic in a dialogue with them, and you should keep that dialogue.
d) It must also show a dialogue or discussion with at least one text from the bibliography
e) Then you can also add all the bibliography you want to add (available or not in the syllabus)
f) originality of thinking, perceptiveness in reading, quality and clarity of writing, and breadth of scholarship will be specially taken into consideration when grading the paper.
Formatting Instructions: Assignments should be double-spaced with standard margins in 12-point Times New Roman font. Number pages and include a title. Do not include additional spaces between paragraphs.
The day the paper is due, send a digital copy to scarfedu@yahoo.com.ar and alfajoraltazor@gmail.com
Assessment
Participation 20%
Presentation on selected writer 20%
Multiple Choice I 15%
Multiple Choice II 15%
Final paper 30%
To pass a course the following criteria must be met:
a. Getting at least a 4 (60%) as a final grade.
b. Getting at least a 4 (60%) in the final paper.
c. Getting at least a 3 (50%) in all other assessment instances.
d. Meeting the attendance requirement.
There will be no make-up exams or make-up assignments
Missing the deadline will result in losing one point every 24 hours past the deadline.
You must also request an extension at least one day before an assignment is due, otherwise the extension will not be given and the late assignment will not be accepted.
Academic integrity
Students must show the utmost sense of honesty and responsibility.
Any form of plagiarism, cheating or collusion is subject to severe academic punishment, ranging from failing the class to being expelled from the University.
It is the student’s responsibly to know how to use, quote and reference sources adequately, or to ask the professor if the student is unsure.
Code of conduct in class
Students must be respectful of others. They must not disrupt the class with their behavior, nor should they make comments or exhibit attitudes of a derogatory or inflammatory nature that may likely offend or hurt other people in the class.
Eating in class is not permitted but drinking could be if the professor allows it.
Use of electronic devices
1. The use of cell phones in class is not permitted.
2. Other electronic devices are not allowed either unless explicitly authorized by the professor.
3. In no case should a tablet, laptop, or similar, be used for non-academic purposes. 4. Failure to abide by any of the above will result in an absence and/or losing points for participation.
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