German Studies 315BH - Medical Tech/Lit. Imagination

This interdisciplinary seminar takes a close look at the connection between German literature and medicine. We will explore what it is to be an embodied being: a body that ails, a body that heals, a body confronted with finitude. We will examine the ways in which technological advances have forced us to rethink our definition of mental health, disability, and even death itself. In our age of transplantation, gene technology and dreams of immortality, what are the benefits and ethical pitfalls addressed by German literature and film? Students will delve into a wide selection of literary genres, media and theoretical articles concerning these issues. Authors include Goethe, Salome, Bernhard.

Prereq: 8 credits beyond German Studies 201.