ENGL45330: Illness and Narrative Practices

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• This module aims to
• Introduce and critically contextualise the literary genre of illness narrative and its centrality to the field of medical humanities
• Explore how literary narratives of illness relate to other contemporary narrative practices of illness that are central to medical humanities research
• Develop critical and close reading skills for engaging with narrative accounts of illness produced within a range of literary, aesthetic, sociological and disciplinary contexts
• Introduce theoretical and interdisciplinary frameworks from critical medical humanities, feminist and gender studies, disability studies, mad studies and related fields prominent in the analysis of narratives of illness
• Develop an awareness of debates surrounding the ethics of reading, and of producing, narratives of illness and recovery.

• This module will examine contemporary narrative practices of illness from a critical medical humanities perspective. Three key sets of texts will be introduced and drawn into dialogue: (i) literary illness narratives, predominantly in the form of published memoirs of ill health or intense mental distress; (ii) foundational theoretical accounts of the production and reception of narratives of illness, including from anthropology and sociology; and (iii) examples of narrative approaches to illness by researchers and practitioners working across the medical humanities. Students will develop and advance their skills in the analysis of literary texts and particularly literary life-writing (with key texts by Stella Bolaki, Anne Boyer, Marian Coutts, Grace Cho and Hilary Mantel), while at the same time being introduced to the ways in which other disciplines describe, theorise and investigate the relationship between narrative forms, practices of narration, embodiment, suffering and the interpersonal and cultural recognition of that suffering (for example in the work of Arthur Kleinman, Arthur Frank, Cheryl Mattingly and Linda Garro). The module is designed with interdisciplinary risk-taking in mind: students will be encouraged to think critically about what constitutes a narrative of illness in intersubjective, ethical and instrumental as well as literary critical and theoretical terms.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• An extensive and detailed knowledge of contemporary literary illness narratives and their relationship to other narrative practices of illness.
• A sophisticated awareness of the variety of ways in which narrative is conceptualised and used across the medical humanities, to achieve a range of scholarly, aesthetic, political and practical objectives.
• An understanding of the ethical issues raised by narrative practices of illness

Subject-specific Skills:

• Advanced critical skills in the close reading and analysis of literary and medical humanities texts;
• An ability to offer advanced analysis of formal and aesthetic dimensions of literature;
• An ability to demonstrate an advanced understanding of the cultural, intellectual, socio-political contexts of literature;
• An ability to articulate an advanced knowledge and understanding of conceptual or theoretical literary material;
• An advanced command of a broad range of vocabulary and critical literary terminology;
• An ability to contextualise literary texts and literary approaches in broader, disciplinary and interdisciplinary debates.

Key Skills:

• an advanced ability to analyse critically;
• an advanced ability to acquire complex information of diverse kinds in structured and systematic ways;
• an advanced ability to interpret complex information of diverse kinds through the distinctive skills derived from the subject;
• expertise in conventions of scholarly presentation and bibliographical skills;
• an independence of thought and judgement, and ability to assess acutely the critical ideas of others;
• sophisticated skills in critical reasoning;
• an advanced ability to handle information and argument critically, in written and oral forms;
• a competence in information-technology skills such as digital presentations, word-processing and electronic data access;
• professional organisation and time-management skills.

• Engagement with asynchronous lectures and linked reflective activities in the online forum will enable students to develop advanced conceptual abilities and analytical skills as well as the ability to communicate an advanced knowledge and conceptual understanding. Some of these online activities will involve written exchange and interaction with other students. Students will in addition have two one-on-one meetings with the module convenor to discuss their progress and receive formative feedback. The capacity for advanced independent study is demonstrated through the completion of two assessed pieces of work a short presentation (weighted at 20%) and an extended research essay (weighted at 80%). The presentations will comprise a digital recording of no more than ten minutes, in which students will use a specific case study to explore divergent approaches to illness narratives. These will be shared with the wider cohort. In a research essay of 5000 words students will undertake an in-depth analysis of an illness narrative on a topic of their choosing.

Essay Proposal 500 words. They will receive feedback on their essay plans through the formative assessment of a 500 word essay proposal.

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