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EL40HQ: LITERATURE AND MEDICINE (2018-2019)

Last modified: 22 May 2019 17:07


Course Overview

This course explores the relationship between literature and medicine, and asks what kind of ground the two disciplines might share and how they might enrich one another.  The use and abuse of literary concepts in medical practice and of medical ideas and history in literature will be considered along with the literary representations of the physician and narratives of illness, focusing on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The final part of the course explores the representation of psychiatry and psychiatric theory in twentieth- and twenty-first century literature.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 4
Term First Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus None. Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Catherine Jones

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Programme Level 4
  • Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)
  • Either English (EL) or BSc Medical Science (Medical Humanities)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

Challenging conventional boundaries between the humanities and the sciences, this course explores the relationship between literature and medicine, and asks what kind of ground the two disciplines might share and how they might enrich one another. The first part of the course considers the use and abuse of literary concepts in medical practice and of medical ideas and history in literature. The second part examines literary representations of the physician and narratives of illness, focusing on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The third part explores the representation of psychiatry and psychiatric theory in twentieth- and twenty-first century literature.


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

1st Attempt: 1 essay, 1,500-2,000 words, (20%); 1 essay 3,000-3,500 words, (60%); in-class presentation (10%); seminar assessment mark (10%).

Resit: For honours students only: candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit a new essay.

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Feedback

Plenary, group and individual discussion. Written feedback on first essay (mid-semester). Written feedback on second essay (after end of semester). Written feedback on presentation and seminar performance (after end of semester).

Course Learning Outcomes

None.

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