L431/ L680 Fall 2011 [29501]
M 6-8:40 p.m. [SL 056]
274-0082 (o); 274-2258 (English Dept.)
jschult@iupui.edu
Jane E. Schultz
CA 501 R
Office Hours M 4-5; TR 1:30-3
and by appointment
Illness Narrative
Course description:
Illness Narrative explores the world of medical story-telling in literature and the arts. The course
proceeds from the assumption that the physical and psychological realities of suffering are
intrinsically difficult to describe. Students will use their critical knowledge of narrative as it is
grounded in representations of illness, pain, recovery, and transcendence. In genres ranging
from fiction to nonfiction, we will read novels, poems, plays, essays, and pathographies, and we
will study medical cases, films, art work, and medical humor.
The course is divided into three segments. Unit I, “Defining Illness and Narrative,” will broaden
our sense of what constitutes illness in western culture with critical excerpts by medical theorists
and selections in European and American literature. Unit II, “Pathographies: Thinking through
the Body,” will survey accounts of illness from the patient’s perspective. We will consider the
ways in which Alzheimer’s Disease, cancers, AIDS, and debilitating syndromes are written on
the body in a diverse array of media. Unit III, “Watchers and Vigils,” concerns practitioners and
the ill person’s intimate relationships. Our focus will be to understand how illness is mutually
constituted by patients and their practitioners, as well as by patients and their intimates.
In completing the course, students will advance their preparation in critical thinking, PUL 2.
L431/L680/M592 also builds on other PULs: understanding society and culture (#5) and values
and ethics (#6) through close reading and analysis of diverse literary and cultural texts.
Objectives:

to explore notions of illness metaphorically and through representational structures;

to compare fictional and nonfiction renderings of illness narrative;

to examine the ways in which illness is written on the body and the ways in which illness is
embodied in narrative

to assess the cultural value placed on medicine from the diverse perspectives of physicians,
nurses, patients, and family members (this is known as “positionality”)

to come to terms with the social construction of deformity and disability in the Western
literary tradition
1
Books and Course Materials:
Please purchase the following books: Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor (Farrar, Straus, &
Giroux); Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories (Signet); Anatole Broyard,
Intoxicated by My Illness (Fawcett Columbine); Jean-Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the
Butterfly (Knopf); Tony Kushner, Angels in America; Margaret Edson, W;t (Faber & Faber);
Richard Selzer, Raising the Dead (Viking); J. Bernlef, Out of Mind (David Godine); and Marisa
Marchetto, Cancer Vixen (Random House). In the schedule of readings, materials designated
[ho] are available as pdf files in the “Resources” folder of our Oncourse site; study questions are
available under the “Syllabus” heading of the site.
Assignments:
for Undergraduates (L431):





Tell a medical joke to the class [see sign-up sheet]
Write three 500- to 750-word position papers on course readings that you select [see
sign-up sheet]
Write a 1250- to 2000-word pathography due in class #7, on Oct. 10. Post to Oncourse.
Post a two- to three-page project proposal on Oncourse by class time on Nov. 14.
Proposals must include an annotated bibliography of at least 5 items.
Prepare a final project (2000 to 3000 words) on one of four options: Standard critical
paper on any of the course texts; a practical paper, such as setting up a website and plan
for a local library; a multimedia visual narrative project; or a creative project based on
positionality. Students will present 10- to 15-minute summaries of their projects during
class #15. Due 16 Dec. by noon in my office.
for Graduate students (L680):


Same as above, except write five position papers
Same as above, except annotated bibliography must contain a minimum of 8 sources,
and final project must be a minimum of 3000 words.
Attendance:
My expectation is that you will make it to every class with the reading assignment prepared. The
world of the classroom is not virtual. You must listen and make sense of discussion in order to
hone your critical thinking and writing skills. You can scarcely model these skills without being
present. More importantly, learning is an aggregate process: We all will contribute to discussion
and it will make all of us more capable and well-informed. When even one person is absent, the
class chemistry changes. When you are ill or have insurmountable obstacles, please let me know
via voice mail or e-mail. Plan to be in touch with two other classmates before the next period to
get copies of notes and any handouts you missed. More than two absences (or chronically
handing in late work) will result in the lowering of your final grade by one increment (B+ to B,
B- to C+, for example). NOTE: If you email me, use my email address above; do not contact
me via Oncourse. If you miss five classes, you will not earn a passing grade.
2
Evaluation:
All assignments will receive letter grades. Excellent or “A” work is excellent because it
demonstrates original thinking and airtight argumentation, draws cogent conclusions, and has
few, if any, mechanical errors. Good or “B” work is good because it offers an adequate
understanding of the material without much originality of thought and without many errors. “B”
papers must show logical argumentation, but may not feature strong introductions or
conclusions. Fair or “C” work shows no originality, deficient argumentation, and mechanical
difficulty. Poor work receives “D” or “F” where the writer has given little thought to the
assignment and demonstrates even less comprehension of the materials or forms that constitute
written work at the college level. For undergraduate students, position papers will each
constitute 10% of the final grade; the pathography 20%; the final project proposal with annotated
bibliography 10%; the final project 30%; and class participation, 10%. For graduate students,
position papers will each constitute 8% of the grade, the pathography 15%, the final project
proposal with annotated bibliography 10%; the final project 25%, and participation 10%. The
quality of your oral comments in class (not necessarily quantity) will form the basis for my
assessment of your participation, as well as your attendance and preparation for each class.
Be meticulous about citing your sources, including those on the internet. The S.L.A. bulletin
defines plagiarism as “the offering of someone else’s work as one’s own. Honesty requires that
any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully
acknowledged. . . Any student who fails to give credit for ideas or materials taken from another
source is guilty of plagiarism.” The penalty for plagiarism is failure in the course.
Syllabus:
# 1: 22 Aug.: Introduction: Illness Narrative, a burgeoning genre
W. H. Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts” (1938) [ho]
Lisel Mueller, “Monet Refuses the Operation” (1997) [ho]
Richard Selzer, “Mercy” (1982) [ho]
UNIT I: DEFINING ILLNESS AND NARRATIVE
# 2: 29 Aug.: Arthur Frank, excerpts from The Wounded Storyteller (1995): “The Body’s
Problem with Illness” and “Illness as a Call for Stories” [ho]
Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor (1977)
Raymond Carver, “What the Doctor Said” (1989) [ho]
Linda Pastan, “After Minor Surgery” (1982) [ho]
Position Papers begin
5 Sept.: Labor Day: No class
# 3: 12 Sept.: Anne Hunsaker Hawkins, excerpts from Reconstructing Illness (1999):
“Introduction” and “Myths of Battle and Journey” [ho]
Thomas Couser, excerpt from Recovering Bodies (1997): “Human Conditions:
Illness, Disability, and Life Writing” [ho]
Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych (1886)
3
# 4: 19 Sept.: Rosemarie Garland Thomson, excerpt from Extraordinary Bodies (1997):
“Disability, Identity, and Representation” [ho]
Sir Frederick Treves, “The Elephant Man” (1923) [ho]
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” (1843) [ho]
Carl Elliott, excerpt from Better than Well (2003): “Amputees by Choice”
[ho]
# 5: 26 Sept.: Richard Chalfen and Michael Rich, “Applying Visual Research: Patients
Teaching Physicians through Visual Illness Narrative” (2004) [ho]
Alan Radley and Diane Taylor, “Remembering One’s Stay in Hospital: A
Study in Photography, Recovery, and Forgetting” (2003) [ho]
DeShazer, Mary. “Cancer Narratives and an Ethics of Commemoration: Susan
Sontag, Annie Leibovitz, and David Rieff.” (2009) [ho]
Please screen Todd Haynes’ film Safe (1995) before class
Select a relevant book, work of art, or website to present to the class
UNIT II: PATHOGRAPHIES: THINKING THROUGH THE BODY
# 6: 3 Oct.: Martha Holstein, “Aging, Culture, and the Framing of Alzheimer’s Disease”
(2004) [ho]
Elizabeth Herzkovits, “Struggling over Subjectivity: Debates about the ‘Self’ and
Alzheimer’s Disease” [ho]
J. Bernlef, Out of Mind (1984)
Anita Desai, “The Narrator Has Alzheimer’s,” New York Times Book
Review, Sept. 17, 1989 [ho]
Zoë Slutzky, “Dismembered Memory,” New York Times Book
Review, July 17, 2011 [ho]
# 7: 10 Oct.: Barbara Ehrenreich, “Welcome to Cancerland” (2001) [ho]
Jane E. Schultz, “A Calculus of Advocacy” (2004) [ho]
Marisa Marchetto, Cancer Vixen (2006)
Pathography due
17 Oct.:
Fall break—no class
# 8: 24 Oct.: Anatole Broyard, Intoxicated by My Illness (1992)
Dana Jennings blog, New York Times [ho]
Jane Kenyon, “Let Evening Come” (1996) [ho]
27 Oct.: Medical Humanities Reading Group: Prof. Schultz’s house, 6:30 p.m. (dinner)
Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies (2010)
# 9: 31 Oct.: Tony Kushner, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (1990)
Michael Lassell, “How to Watch Your Brother Die” (1985)
#10: 7 Nov.: Elaine Scarry, excerpt from The Body in Pain (1985): “Introduction”
4
Jean-Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (1997)
UNIT III: WATCHERS AND VIGILS
#11: 14 Nov.: Kathryn Montgomery, excerpt from Doctors’ Stories: “A Science of Individuals:
Medicine and Uncertainty” (1991) [ho]
Susan Onthank Mates, “Laundry” (1994) [ho]
John Stone, “Talking to the Family” (1972) [ho]
Pauline Chen, Final Exam (2007) [ho]
Final project proposal and annotated bib due by class time. Post on Oncourse.
#12: 21 Nov.: Richard Selzer, Raising the Dead (1994)
William Carlos Williams, “The Use of Force” (1950) [ho]
#13: 28 Nov.: Margaret Edson, W;t (1995)
Emily Dickinson, “Hope Is the Thing with Feathers” [ho]
#14: 5 Dec.:
Judy Schaefer, “Who Owns the Libretto?” (1995) [ho]
Judy Schaefer, “Tea-Master 3-11 Shift” (1995) [ho]
Cortney Davis, “The Nurse’s Pockets” (1995) [ho]
Kelly Sievers, “Between the Heartbeats” (1995) [ho]
Kelly Sievers, “Before Heart Surgery” (1995) [ho]
Jeanne Bryner, “Butterfly” (1995) [ho]
#15: 12 Dec.: Course conclusion: Oral presentations of projects-in-progress
Fri. 16 Dec.: No class: Final project due by noon in my office
5