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EL40HQ: LITERATURE AND MEDICINE (2022-2023)

Last modified: 31 May 2022 13:31


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 Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Catherine S. Jones

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

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

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

First Attempt

1750-word essay (20%)

3000-word essay (60%)

Project (10%)

Your project should take the form of a PowerPoint presentation (no fewer than 4 slides but not more that 6). You can either record a commentary to accompany your slides or write the commentary in the notes field.

An oral commentary accompanying the PowerPoint presentation should last no more than 10 minutes. A written commentary should be no longer than 1500 words (+/-10%).

Seminar Assessment Mark (10%)

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
FactualRememberILO’s for this course are available in the course guide.

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