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RUSS 420/C LIT 496:
ILLNESS, DEATH & DISABILITY IN MODERN EUROPE
TIME/LOCATION TBA

 José Alaniz, instructor ( jos23@u.washington.edu )
Office Hours: TBA and by appt. in M256 Smith Hall

 We call that against nature which goes against custom. There is nothing, whatsoever it may be, that is not according to nature. – Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

 
THE COURSE

We will examine illness, death & dying and disability in modern European literary/representational practices, with special emphasis on the roles played by hegemonic forces shaping gender, class, ethnicity, nation and the body. We will investigate the various ideological uses of the dead/dying body, focusing especially on how states, societies and other institutions of power actively determine and construct the experience of “embodiedness,” of what constitutes the living, the healthy, the sick and the dead. Students will gain an understanding of the socio-cultural forces which shape and enforce taboos of the dead, dying, “disabled,” “ill” or otherwise “defective” body, and how European authors/artists since the late 19 th century have both resisted and reflected those taboos in such genres as the novel, short story, memoir and film . Though Europe-wide in its ambit, the course will place particular emphasis on modern Russian literature and culture.

Required Texts
TBA
Course Reader

THE BASICS

We will be discussing each listed work on the date it appears on this syllabus. The completed course reader will be available at Rams Copy Center (4144 University Way , 632-6630) by the end of the week. I will be sending out occasional e-mails with suggestions on approaches/topics to consider while you read your assignments. But this doesn't let you off the hook! Come to class prepared to discuss your own observations and questions on what you read. Some of the theory selections, though fairly short, might strike you as dense. Allow yourself time to digest, reread and ponder.

REQUIREMENTS & GRADING

Active Class Participation: 30%

We have the luxury, at a large state university, of relatively small class size. This means I will expect you to engage actively and consistently in our class discussions. The more points of view get an airing, the more questions get asked, the more reactions to our course's provocative material get expressed, the more all of us will learn – from each other no less than from the course readings and films. Of course, we will conduct our discussions with respect and tolerance for all views, especially those we might not agree with. So talk awready!

Response Papers/Portfolio: 10%

To encourage your reflecting on and actively grappling with the course concepts, please write a brief (one page maximum, single-space, typed) response paper per week during weeks 2-10 of the course. In these papers you may address, expand upon or challenge any of the readings for that week, but you must turn in the paper on the day we are discussing your chosen reading(s) . To enhance discussion, I reserve the right to read out loud from (anonymous) response papers during class – so make ‘em good! At the end of the quarter, please revise three of the response papers and bundle them into a portfolio, to be handed in along with your final paper. I will grade this portfolio based on 1) thoughtfulness, rigor and engagement with the issues, and 2) whether you were turning in the response papers regularly and on a weekly basis, as explained above.

Mid-Term Paper 20%

Expect guidelines later in the quarter.

Free Form Assignment/Oral Presentation: 10%

Sometime during the course, you are to turn in a short (2-3 page) paper based on your reaction to a work, event or experience related to our course content. The approach and style of this paper is up to you. The paper itself will not be graded, but you will introduce your project before the class in a 10-minute (max) presentation for a grade. TALK TO ME before initiating the free-form assignment. Details/sign-up sheet forthcoming.

Final Paper: 30%

Expect guidelines later in the quarter.

A WORD ABOUT THE COURSE

This course will contain subject matter which some may find objectionable or disturbing. These themes and images invoke social taboos, chiefly involving the human body (living and dead) and its functions. Please speak with me early on if you are questioning your level of comfort with such content.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS

To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, (206)543-8924. If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating that you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter so we can discuss the accommodations you might need in this class.

MY POLICY ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

It saddens me to say that cheating, plagiarism and academic dishonesty of various sorts has been on the rise at this and other universities throughout the country. I have even encountered it in my own classes. Students need to know the facts, as sometimes these problems arise from simply not having a clear idea of what constitutes a violation of academic codes. You all begin this course with my full trust and confidence. However, if you still have questions about your school's expectations in this area, you may wish to refer to the College of Arts and Sciences' website on Academic Honesty by following this link:

< http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm#plagiarism >

Among other things, it defines plagiarism as “using another writer's words or ideas without proper citation.” Keep in mind that this rule applies both to work graded for content (such as your essays) and work not graded for content (like your weekly response papers). PLEASE speak with me if these rules remain unclear. I will refer any and all warranted cases of Academic Dishonesty to the relevant University legal authorities.

READINGS/VIEWINGS

Those unable to attend screenings please see the films on your own (most are available at the Odegaard Library Media Center ).

R = Course Reader 

WEEK I

Introductions
Mini-Essay
SCREENING: Caro Diario (d. Nanni Moretti, 1994) (excpt.) 

WHAT IS DISABILITY? WHAT IS ILLNESS? WHAT IS DEATH & DYING?

Orwell, “How the Poor Die”
Turgenev, “A Living Relic”
Seale, “Experiencing and Representing the Body”
Tolstoy, “Three Deaths”
Goodwin & Bronfen, Introduction to Death and Representation
Davis, Introduction to The Disability Studies Reader
DIAGNOSTIC ESSAY DUE

WEEK II

Olesha, “Liompa”
Freud, “Thoughts for the Times on War and Death”
Taussig, “Reification and the Consciousness of the Patient”
Armstrong, “The Medical Gaze”
Palei, “The Bloody Women's Ward”
Garland-Thomson, “Seeing the Disabled”
Gordon, “Tenacious Assumptions in Western Medicine”
Stannard, “Death in the Western Tradition”
McBryde, “Unspeakable Conversations”
Garland-Thomson, “Feminist Theory, the Body …”
Mairs, “Carnal Acts”

WEEK III

 MODERN DEATH

Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Solzhenitsyn, Cancer Ward
Lattanzi-Licht, The Hospice Choice: In Pursuit of a Peaceful Death (excpt.)
Gumley, Hospice Care on the International Scene (excpt.)
De Beauvoir, A Very Easy Death (excpt.)
Zorza, The Way to Die (excpt.)

SCREENING – Cries and Whispers (d. Bergman, Sweden , 1972)

WEEK IV

DEATH AND ILLNESS AS METAPHOR

Camus, The Plague
Mann, Death in Venice
Kafka, “The Metamorphosis”

SCREENING: The Second Circle (d. Sokurov, USSR, 1990)
SCREENING: Mother and Son (d. Sokurov, Russia, 1997)

WEEK V

Treves , The Elephant Man
Merrick , The Autobiography of Joseph Carey Merrick
Graham/Oehlschlaeger, “If Only I Could Find Her”

SCREENING: The Elephant Man (d. David Lynch, USA , 1980)

WEEK VI

 BODY POLITICS

Hrabal, Too Loud a Solitude
Verdery, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies (excpt.) R
Chekhov, “Ward No. 6” R
Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic R
Zoshchenko, “A Medical Case” R

SCREENING: Lilya 4-ever (d. Moodyson, Sweden, 2002)
SCREENING: Dirty Pretty Things (d. Frears, UK, 2002)
SCREENING: The Sea Inside (d. Amenábar, Spain, 2004)
SCREENING: Live Flesh (d. Almodovar, Spain, 1997)
SCREENING: The Night is Clear (d. Balayan, Russia, 2004)
SCREENING: Land of the Deaf (d. Todorovsky, Russia, 1998)

WEEK VII 

BODY POLITICS: CHERNOBYL

Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl (excpts.)
Tischer, “Identity and Meaning: Chernobyl and Literature”
IAEA/WHO/UNDP, “ Chernobyl : The True Scale of the Accident”

SCREENING: Chernobyl Heart (d. De Leo, USA, 2003)

WEEK VIII

DISABILITY AND THE GROTESQUE

Lessing, The Fifth Child
Erofeyev, “Life with an Idiot”
Fiedler, “The Tyranny of the Normal ”

SCREENING: The Idiots (d. Von Trier , Denmark, 1998)
SCREENING: On Freaks and People (d. Balabanov, Russia, 1998)

WEEK IX

DISABILITY AND POWER

Klimova, “ Steps”
Bogdan, “The Social Construction of Freaks”
Davison, The Spiral Cage (excpt.)
David B., Epileptic (excpt.)
Sorokin, “A Month in Dachau ”

WEEK X

González-Gallego, White on Black
Pelevin, Omon-Ra
Aleshkovsky, Skunk

The End
** LAST DAY TO PRESENT/TURN IN FREE-FORM ASSIGNMENT **

 ** FINAL PAPER/PORTFOLIO DUE ON TBA **