LITR 035R. Medicine and Russian Literature

(Cross-listed as RUSS 035)
This course examines narratives of illness, healing, and recovery in Russian literature, from the mid-19^th century to present. We will read works by leading literary figures who were also physicians (Chekhov, Bulgakov), as well as semi-fictional and fictional case histories (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Palei, etc.), and analyze how these texts reveal and affect cultural assumptions about disease and medical authority. We will discuss how literary representation helps us make sense of our lives and our worlds in times of crisis as we trace how medical ideas and history find reflection in literature and, conversely, how literary concepts are marshaled by medicine.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Fall 2026. Svynarenko.
Catalog chapter: Modern Languages and Literatures: Russian
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/russian

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