World Literature/World Health: Global Writing on Illness and Healing

This class provides a survey of writing about health and medicine, primarily from non-Western (as well as a few Western) countries. While the focus is on literature, and an introductory literature class is strongly recommended as a prerequisite, we will also consider broader questions: literary and medical authority; private experience and the public sphere; and what the "world", or worlds, in the course title might or might not be (according to different theories of globalization and cultural exchange). We will review a selection of critical approaches to literature and medicine and read texts from a variety of cultures and genres. The ideal student for this course would have a strong interest in both health care and writing, but everyone is welcome.