The representation of epidemics reveals a lot about social attitudes, fears of contagion and collective coping mechanisms. While the focus of the course will be on the ways in which topics such as the plague, tuberculosis, cholera, syphilis and AIDS are woven into fiction, the epidemics will be studied and discussed in the broader socio-cultural and historical context in which they arose. In our critical reading of the texts, we will draw on the theories and ideas of Foucault, Freud, Gilman, Hutcheon, Showalter, Sontag, and others. A selection of short texts, such as Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron (The First Day), short stories by Guy de Maupassant and Franz Kafka and non-fictional sources will also be included. The course will be taught in English. However, students of French will be asked to read the French texts in the original. They will also be required to write the final paper and one in-class assignment in French.
This course may not be repeated for credit.

Sections