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Syllabi: Wounded Storytellers: Narratives of Illness in Literature
INSTITUTION: University of California, Irvine
INSTRUCTOR: Johanna Shapiro, Ph.D.
Department of Family Medicine
University of California, Irvine
email: jfshapir@msx.ndc.mc.uci.edu
SEMESTER: Spring 2000
Wednesdays, 2-4; no class Wednesday, April 19
ENROLLMENT: freshman honor students; seminar; elective
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
What is it really like to experience serious illness, even to face the possibility of death? Biomedical research investigates the causes and cures of disease, while social science quantifies and categorizes patients' subjective reactions. But where in all of this are the unfiltered, uncensored voices of the sufferers - the patients themselves? This course will use fictional literature - poetry, short stories, and excerpts from novels - as well as first-person accounts (writings of actual patients) to explore the psychological, emotional, and relational aspects of patient experiences of such conditions as cancer, heart disease, disability, alcoholism, AIDS, and mental illness. We will also examine the power of narrative to bring coherence and meaning to our lives at moments of great physical and emotional crisis. This course may appeal especially to students planning careers in medicine, but is open to anyone. Grade based on attendance, class participation, completion of short (1/2 page) weekly writing assignments, one creative project, and a final paper (5 pages).
GRADING POLICY:
Final grade will be based on attendance (20%), class participation (10%), completion of 9 brief (1/2 page) writing assignments (30%), final paper (20%), and a creative project (20%).
COURSE OUTLINE:
WEEK 1: Introduction: Stories of Illness
Reading: None
In-class: Stephen Schmidt "A piece of my mind: When You Come Into My Room"
WEEK 2: In the Country of Hearts: Cardiac Disease
Reading: Martha Lear ch. 1,3,7 Heartsounds (24 pgs)
Phillip Roth "Epstein", Goodbye Columbus and Other Stories (25 pgs)
In-class: John Stone "The Hands"
M. Wreibeck "A Lesser Chaos"
Lawrence Ferlinghetti "Plane Life"
Paula Tatarunis "EKG
Michael Gravanis "The Senescent Heart"
Diane Ackerman "Intensive Care"
WEEK 3: A Whole New Life: Cancer Chronicles
Reading: Lorrie Moore "People Like That Are the Only People Here" p 212-250 (38 pgs)
Reynolds Price excerpts from A Whole New Life p. 8-36 (26 pgs)
Layle Silbert "Losses" p. 29-32 (4 pgs)
Anne Brashler "He Read to Her" p. 84-87 (4 pg)
Bobbie Ann Mason "Spence + Lila" p. 156 - 162 (6 pgs
In-class: Adrienne Rich "A Woman Dead in Her Forties"
James Dickey "The Cancer Match"
Patricia Goedicke "In the Hospital"
Helene Davis "Here and There"
Aimee Grunberger "Chemotherapy"
Jack Coulehan "Bad News"
Short paper #1 due
WEEK 4: On Being a Cripple: Tales of Disability
Reading: Raymond Carver "Cathedral" p. 329-345 (16 pgs).
Robert Murphy excerpts from The Body Silent; p. 64-66, 85--92, 193-199; 212-220; 221-223; 229-231 (28 pgs)
Nancy Mairs "On Being a Cripple
Sue Miller "Appropriate Affect" p.55- 68 (13 pgs)
In-class: Susan Irene Rea "Stroke
Vassar Miller "Spastics"
Philip Dacey " The Handicapped"
Michael Cleary "Fingers, Fists, Gabriel's Wings"
Howard Stein "Retarded"
Short paper #2 due
WEEK 5: Our Modern Plague: AIDS
Reading: Alberto Antonio Araiza "H.I. Vato" - A Performance Piece 93-98 (5 pg)
Richard Selzer "Imagine a Woman" p. 115-144 (24 pgs)
Alice Elliott Dark "In the Gloaming" p. 229-249 (20 pgs)
Sharon Oard Warner "A Simple Matter of Hunger" p. 193-207, (14 pgs).
Adam Mars-Jones "Slim", p. 21-30 (9 pgs)
In-class: Michael Lassen "How to Watch Your Brother Die of AIDS"
Michael Blumenthal "No More Kissing - AIDS Everywhere"
Rafael Campo "Her Final Show"
WEEK 6: If the River Were Whiskey: Alcoholism
Reading: T. Corraghessan Boyle "If the River Was Whiskey", p. 366-375 (9 pgs)
William Carlos Williams "Old Doc Rivers" p. 13 - 41 (28 pgs
Suzanne Sommers excerpts from Keeping Secrets; ch. 3-6, pp. 31-45 (14 pgs)
In-class: Joan, ACA "I Won't Tell
Jane, ACA "She Was My Mother Bless Her Soul"
Jack Coulehan "The Power of Inclination"
Eugene Hirsch "Two Suffering Men"
Anne Sexton "The Addict"
Short paper #3 due
WEEK 7: An Unquiet Mind: Mental Illness
Reading: Kay Redfield Jamison excerpts from An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness p. 36-45;74-75; 78-80; 82-83;90-92;114-116;120-123;217-219 (28 pgs);
William Styron excerpts from Darkness Visible; ch. 4 (36-50); 6 (59-67) (23 pgs)
Amy Bloom "Silver Water" p. 69-74 (6 pgs)
In-class: Sylvia Plath excerpt from The Bell Jar ch 11, pp. 104-111
Susan Hahn "Agoraphobia"
John Wright "The Parade"
Judith Minty "The Legacy"
Wislawa Szymborksa "The Suicide's Room"
Mary Kay Biggs "Aberrants"
WEEK 8: What is Lost: Cross-Cultural Medicine
Reading: Anne Fadiman excerpts from When the Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down; ch 3 (20-31); ch. 5 (38-59); ch. 11 (140-153); ch 15 (210-224) (49 pgs)
Lawrence Schneiderman "The Appointment" p. 299-306 (7 pgs)
Alice Walker "Strong Horse Tea" pp. 76-82 (7 pgs)
Bharati Mukherjee "Fathering" p. 135-143 (9 pg)
In-class: Jack Coulehan "Medicine Stone"
Peter Pereira "What Is Lost"
Short paper #4 due
WEEK 9: Do Not Go Gently: Death and Dying
Reading: Leo Tolstoy excerpts from The Death of Ivan Ilyich, ch 2 (p 49-60); ch. 4 (73-83); ch 6-8 (93-116); ch 10 (121-124); ch 12 (131-134) (50 pgs
Richard Selzer "Tube Feeding" p. 108-113 (6 pg)
In-class: Dylan Thomas "Do Not Go Gentle"
Raymond Carver "My Death"
Denise Levertov "Death Psalm: O Lord of Mysteries"
Aimee Grunberger "If the Doctors Are Right"
Alvin Laster "Living Will"
Edna St. Vincent Millay "Dirge Without Music"
WEEK 10: Doctors and Patients
Reading: Richard Selzer "Fetishes", p. 98-107 (9 pgs)
William Carlos Williams "A Face of Stone", p. 78-87 (9 pgs)
John Stone "The Long House Call", p. 29-37 (8 pg).
Anatole Broyard "The Patient Examines the Doctor; p 33-57 (24 pgs)
In-class: John Wright "Therapy"
Raymond Carver "What the Doctor Said"
Carolyn Page "Telephone Booth"
Jack Coulehan "The Knitted Glove," "Irene"
Short paper #5 due
FINALS WEEK: Presentation of creative projects