By investigating the meaning of medicine in society, the foundation for Literature and Medicine looks at the way in which illnesses, medicine, patients and medics are portrayed in novels, poetry, autobiographical stories and movies. Writers are good at observing medical practice and the culture in which that practice takes place. The description of that is therefore valuable for doctors as well as for patients: they often provide additional and surprising insights. This website is divided into an ‘Activities’ chapter (in which all projects are listed that have been finalized and that are currently ongoing) and a ‘Databases’ chapter (in which all databases are listed which have been or are being developed in the fields of literature, movies and documentaries, poetry, biographies of illnesses and art in a medical context).
Activities
The activities in the field of Literature and Medicine consists of courses for honors students of the Free University and the University of Amsterdam; courses for the higher education for elderly program of the Free University; courses on location in 10 different European cities and continuing education for doctors. And we have four databases about Novels and stories, Films, tv series and documentaries, Images of Medicine and (Books and articles) About literature and medicine.
Dutch and English
The English website is based on the Dutch website, but in the English version, the information which is only interesting for a Dutch public is left out. The Dutch site is being translated bit by bit, so the information in the English site is also less at the moment. Over 400 books entries still have to be translated. The translations are partly done by translators, and partly by using Google translate and DeepL. When using the databases you may switch from English to Dutch when you click on the Dutch flag in the right hand top. You can return to English by clicking on the British flag.