Center Archives

Medicine and Western Civilization

Instructors: David J. Rothman, Ph.D. and Professor Steven Marcus
Fall, 2004

Offered through Columbia College, this undergraduate course was taught by Center faculty member David J. Rothman, Ph.D., and Professor Steven Marcus of the Department of English and Comparative Literature. It covered classic literary medical texts from Shelley (Frankenstein), Defoe (Plague Year), Pasteur, Koch, Freud, Foucault, and others. Themes addressed included the cultural significance of the body, changing concepts of illness and health, the redefinition of medical authority, and the prerogatives of the patient.