Course Catalogue

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This course will examine writings on illness by doctors, patients and creative writers in a European context. The historical and cultural significance of illnesses such as hysteria, neurasthenia, melancholy/depression and schizophrenia, and contagious diseases such as tuberculosis and syphilis, will be investigated, as will the narrative exploration of self and identity, normality and deviance.

4 hours per week at times to be arranged.

Acceptance onto a Masters-Level Programme currently on offer within the University.

N/a

The standard assessments for this course are: 

■ 4,000 word essay or equivalent exercise (weighted at 75%),

■ supporting position piece (approx. 2,000 words with bibliography and other relevant supporting materials) derived from a PDP study diary (weighted at 25%).

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available: 

■ There is no alternative to the assessments, but flexible deadlines may be offered as reasonable adjustment (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor. 

The course aims to:

■ present and analyse medical and literary narratives of illness from different European cultures from the Enlightenment to the pre-Second World War period; 

■ explore the cultural and historical significance of certain illnesses and diseases; 

■ examine critically the narrative modalities of patient narratives, doctors' case notes and creative writers' fictional representations of illness;

■ relate public discourses of normality and deviance to the context of critical and cultural theory.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ demonstrate a clear understanding of the works and key concepts discussed;

■ demonstrate detailed knowledge of the texts and historical, cultural and medical contexts studied, demonstrated through selective, appropriate and accurate reference or citation;

■ demonstrate critical skills in the close reading and analysis of the texts studied, manifested through a command of an appropriate range of critical terminology and concepts and the capacity to apply these approaches with relevance and discrimination;

■ demonstrate the ability to take account of formal elements and generic conventions, as well as the shaping effects of historical and cultural context on the production of narrative within public discourses on illness.