GSST 056. Outbreak Narratives: A Medical Humanities Exploration of Literature on Germs, Vampires, and Other Plagues

Crosslisted GMST 056/LITR 056G
This Medical Humanities course invites students to pause and think about the contradiction inherent in human contact: on the one hand, we need it in order to flourish, while on the other hand, it poses potential risks. Informed by a theoretical framework that draws on insights from fields such as Disability Studies, Cultural Studies, and Gender Studies, this course offers students the opportunity to analyze literature depicting both contagious outbreaks and life in isolation. This literary examination will also allow students to explore the ethics of cure and human experimentation.

As part of a larger focus on the ways in which cultural representations of contagion are informed by cultural norms and how, in their turn, these representations have an impact on shaping and building cultural communities, students will be asked to consider the many connotations and valences of the term “contagion.” Most simply, the word “contagion” denotes a risk of contamination, a potentially lethal danger to the exposed subject. This course invites students to go beyond this literal interpretation of the word in order to contemplate the ways in which contagion challenges the notion of an isolated, self-contained self. We will find that outbreak narratives enable us both to explore the intriguing possibility of a self with fluid boundaries that is constantly shaped by a community, and to cultivate empathy for other community members in the face of shared vulnerability.

Using literature in English translation to explore contemporary reactions to cholera, tuberculosis, HIV, as well as to vampires, we will consider how race, gender, class, and historical époques shape illness stories. Authors include Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Elfriede Jelinek, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Heine, Fanny Lewald, Namwali Serpell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Bertha von Suttner.
1
Eligible for GLBL-Paired

Access the class schedule to search for sections.