Department of Family, Community and Preventive Medicine
MEDICAL HUMANITIES ELECTIVE
LITERATURE & MEDICINE
BOOK CLUB
COURSE INSTRUCTOR:
Rhonda L. Soricelli, MD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Drexel University College of Medicine
PURPOSE: Medical students often describe reading for pleasure throughout much of their lives and lament the fact that recreational reading
is frequently lost to the pressures and time constraints of medical education. And yet reading beyond medical texts is nourishing to the soul
and promotes our understanding of the human condition. Initiated by a group of second year students in 2013, this course will take the form
of a traditional book club and is designed for those who are “serious readers” and enjoy discussing what they have read.
REQUIREMENTS: Students are expected to complete assigned readings in advance of each session. Novels and short stories have been
selected for their “readability” during summer and other vacation times as well as during the school year. Students should make every effort
to attend all five meetings of the Book Club in order for everyone to benefit optimally from the experience. Academic course credit will be
awarded to students who attend four sessions, participate actively in discussions, and complete the electronic Course Survey.
READINGS:
Michael Cunningham’s The Hours (1998), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and later (2002) made into an Academy Award winning
film. This rich novel (226 pages) follows a single day in the lives of three female characters that are united by the thread of Virginia Woolf’s
famous novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Along the way, we meet the key men in their lives and appreciate the complexity of their relationships.
Recommended for summer reading before discussion on August 25, 2014.
The House of God (1978) by Samuel Shem. At 369 pages, this raunchy, troubling, and hilarious novel takes us into the lives of Roy Basch
and five of his fellow interns at the most prestigious teaching hospital in the country. A classic Literature & Medicine text and a “good read”
for the summer, it still resonates today as we survey the medical training environment. For discussion on October 6, 2014.
Short stories by Flannery O’Connor: “The Lame Shall Enter First,” “Everything That Rises Must Converge” and “Good Country People.”
O’Connor’s stories are included on almost every “best short stories of all time” list; her Complete Stories won the National Book Award for
Fiction in 1972. Stories will be available as PDF or Word documents with total reading about 60 pages. We will discuss them after the
Thanksgiving break, on December 1, 2014.
The Elephant Man (1977) by Bernard Pomerance. Set in Victorian era London, this short play is based on the life of the horribly deformed
side-show freak, Joseph Merrick, and Frederick Treves, the surgeon who tried to “normalize” him. For discussion on January 6, 2015.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), the classic novella by Leo Tolstoy that explores suffering, dying and the meaning of life AND “The
Yellow Wallpaper” (25 pages), Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s partly autobiographical tale of clinical depression and the struggle for selfhood.
Available online at: http://web.archive.org/web/20110214094847/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccernew2?id=GilYell.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1. For discussion on
February 23, 2015.
SCHEDULE:
There are five Book Club sessions on Mondays and one Tuesday from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m., Room A-1.
I.
Mon. August 25, 2014
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
II.
Mon. October6, 2014
The House of God by Samuel Shem
III.
Mon. December 1, 2014
Short stories by Flannery O’Connor
IV.
Tue. January 6, 2015
The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance
V.
Mon. February 23, 2015
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
*Limited to 10 registrants from each of the Classes of 2017 and 2018 (total 20) on a first-come basis.
Students in the Classes of 2015 and 2016 are welcome even if they can attend only one or two of the sessions.
Advance registration is required. Contact Dr. Soricelli at RLSoricelli@comcast.net or (610) 892-7942. Please indicate Class and track.
Come join us for the fun of reading!