This is a class for students interested in the field of bioethics and medicine, and the literary narratives that take identitiarian ethical crises in science and medicine as their subject. We will read from contemporary literature and classic bioethics as well as explore the translational issues that emerge regarding ethics as it moves from film to narrative to public discourse. Thematic foci include reproduction, gender and race, death and dying, and genomics.
Readings will likely include: My Sister’s Keeper (Picault); As I Lay Dying (Faulkner); Children of Men (James); Wild Seed (Butler); 1984 (Orwell); Never Let Me Go (Ishiguro). Films will likely include: Wit, Children of Men, 1984, Gattaca.
Evaluation to be determined from: (1) weekly response papers (2) a mid term reading exam and (3) final take-home essay examination.
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