Medicine and literature share common ground. Both deal with the human condition, pain, illness, and death, as well as the figure of the physician, which has been the subject of many important literary works (some of which will be discussed in this lecture). On the other hand, writers often demonstrate a special sensitivity to understanding the doctor-patient relationship, which can be very useful for doctors and medical students. Finally, both deal with words; in the case of medicine, the word is a therapeutic instrument, in the case of literature, an instrument of aesthetic creation. But interesting parallels can be drawn between these different uses of the word. The interrelationship between medicine and literature is one of the main aspects of the so-called Medical Humanities, which have been introduced into the curricula of several medical schools.<\/p>\n
Speaker:<\/strong> Moacyr Scliar.
\nDiscussant:<\/strong> Professor Jos\u00e9 Carlos C. Silveira, Faculty of Medicine, UFMG.<\/p>\n