ENGL215

School of Liberal Arts

Students in this course will explore literary representations of physical and mental health and illness, as well as depictions of caregivers, patients, treatment, and the surrounding social and culture perceptions that shape understandings of health and disease. Through study of genres that could include fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry, we will consider how ethics, empathy, and emotional intelligence factor, and will weigh questions such as: how do patients and caregivers cope with questions of life and death? How does society react to unexpected medical emergencies, such as plagues and epidemics? What is the role of government in responding to epidemics or other health situations? How do we determine the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of interventions and assistance? And how might studying literature deepen our understanding of, and ability to navigate, these intersections of health, illness, medicine, and society?

Pass/Fail (P), Standard (S)

Humanities (GEHU), Liberal Arts (LA)