Gillie Bolton

Gillie Bolton & David Gelipter

'It's so wonderful being asked what I think!'

Why Literature?

Studying Literature and practising writing can engender rounded understandings and skills essential to doctors. Understanding and learning about others' lives habitually happens in story form, particularly in medicine: patients bring narratives, clinicians create them, and help patients rewrite theirs. But life-as-it-is-lived does not happen in recognisable story form; it is confused, unfinished, and often with no satisfactory beginning or ending. Our great writers present pictures and reflections upon life, human dilemmas, philosophy, deep thinking and insight in story form: accessibly and memorably. The fictionality of literature does not devalue depicted issues, as it is created from deep experience.

Poetry offers concise and precise insight, using tropes such as metaphor in a way which no other written form can. Fiction creates satisfying plot structure, rounded characters, effective description; it can leap over boring bits, tackle issues head on, convey multiple viewpoints, sidestep confidentiality problems, and offer readers the complexity of ambiguity. Clear-cut or final conclusions and summaries are not offered. The reader has to form their own opinions about actions and events, thus developing their own values and ethics.

Objectives: The reading of Literature:

1. offers graspable, comprehensible dynamic experience of issues and perceptions unavailable to individual doctors
2. opens up different ways of perceiving the world
3. Literature, particularly poetry says things which otherwise cannot be said
4. effectively instils insight and understandings of the human condition and our culture
5. offers first rate material for ethical study
6. an understanding of narrative can help develop clearer & more constructive relationships with the everyday complex stories of medical situations.

Objectives: The writing of stories or poems:

1. enhances the writer's skills of observation, listening, and interpretation
2. deepens empathic understandings, and self-awareness
3. facilitates effective reflection upon one's own actions, and those of others
4. enables the expression and exploration of vital ideas and feelings.

Observation writing

Observing as a writer enables the development of an ability to see, listen, smell, understand, and make connections.

'The writings I found were a great way of communicating anxieties, thoughts or feelings about the situations we observed or have encountered.'

Weekly journal

Writing about their experiences, thoughts, feelings and ideas about every part of a course enables students to:

• experience writing as an ordinary process
• sort out ideas etc clearly, through writing
• create a record
• facilitate the use of writing for personal and professional development.

'Even the weekly journal of our sessions was therapeutic writing. I found myself writing things that I would normally never even talk about, yet it seemed easier to say it in the journal.'

'It actually makes a huge difference writing in the journal before writing my essay as it puts all your thoughts on to paper, so when you come to write your mind is clear.'

Literature presentation

The students presenting their own chosen Literature text, and leading the discussion makes them authorities.

Autobiographical story

Writing about an experience which led students to want to become doctors can be illuminating and rewarding.

'We get to know each other through the writings in a way we are never normally privileged to do.'

Evaluation Story

An evaluation method in keeping with course principles, methods, and content.

'can the last four weeks be explained without sentimentality ? to the point of credibility? Stand me next to me four weeks ago and we don't match. Four weeks of thinking in a caring setting. It's saved me for medicine.'

'I even felt that we taught you (our tutors) some things, and we were going through something together, and that's precious.'