Introduction to Narrative Medicine

Narrative competence is a crucial dimension of health-care delivery, the capacity to attend and respond to stories of illness, and the narrative skills to reflect critically on the scene of care and its contexts.  Narrative Medicine explores and builds the clinical applications of literary knowledge.

The objectives of this foundations course include furthering close reading skills, and exploring theories of self-telling and relationality. At the center of this project is the medical encounter.  In examining the complexities of this exchange, to help clinicians to fulfill their "receiving" duties more effectively, we will turn to narrative theory, autobiographical theory, psychoanalytic theory, trauma scholarship and witnessing literature. Classwork integrates didactic and experiential methodologies to develop a heightened awareness of self and others and build a practical set of narrative competencies.

Readings will include works by Toni Morrison, W.G. Sebald, Lucy Grealy, Kazuo Ishiguro, Alison Bechdel, Arthur Frank, Paul Ricoeur, Jonathan Shay and Jens Brockmeier.