An introductory level exploration of the study of literature and history. Examining the literature and historical events of a chosen period (ancient, medieval, renaissance and early modern, modern, contemporary), we will engage in readings of literature, art, and critical texts in order better to understand the imaginative and real worlds of other times and places. Readings and topics to vary from semester to semester.

From cutting-edge medical research to the promises of social media influencers, the cure is everywhere. The desire to be relieved of suffering seems as endless as there are remedies. What is it about the potential of the cure that captures our attention? What is it about the possibility of perfect health that captivates us? What are we seeking when we ask to be cured? This class invites students who are ready to think critically about an idea that seems so ordinary that we rarely pause to consider it deeply, and who are willing to think imaginatively about the cure beyond the absence of symptoms. We will delve deeply into various case studies of the cure, including ancient Greek tragedy and ritual practices, ethnographic accounts of shamanistic cures, the “talking cure” of psychoanalysis, experimental cinema and dreams, and the striving for immortality in literature and beyond. To disentangle frameworks of the cure, we must understand how they emerge. Turning to philosophical, psychological, and theological theories, we will grapple with what the cure consists of. If the cure has been defined as a treatment of a disease and the restoration of health, what does healing look like when there is no proven remedy? When mental pain and physical symptoms resist medical intervention, can aesthetic experiences and artistic practice offer relief? In this class we will try to understand what the search for a cure reveals about the struggle to live life fully.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills