Welcome to the writing section of Psychopathology in Literature!

Over the course of this semester we will explore, in concert with your topic section, representations of mental health disorders, illnesses, and aberrations in literature ranging from early fables to contemporary and popular stories. In this section we will work to meet two distinct goals: analyzing the ways in which psychology, particularly mental and behavioral disorders and illnesses, are depicted in a range of literate works, while also working to improve our skills as writers—exploring key elements of rhetoric and methods for crafting meaning through language to better represent ourselves and our ideas within a community.

We will compose in different and dynamic forms, read and discuss works from a diverse group of authors, and share our work and experiences along the way. We will learn to analyze and discuss the written word with compassion, respect, and understanding for our fellow authors and prospective audiences. We will address how writing about mental health can bring us closer not only to understanding but to advocacy and justice. Most of all, I hope we will uncover the ways in which reading and writing might enrich our lives, reveal us to ourselves, and aid us in our pursuits, whatever they may be.

“A society must assume that it is stable, but the artist must know, and he must let us know, that there is nothing stable under heaven…The artist cannot and must not take anything for granted, but must drive to the heart of every answer and expose the question the answer hides.” – James Baldwin, The Creative Process

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**A note on the header image: Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The Scream” (Originally titled “The Scream of Nature”) is a misunderstood work of psychological art. This expressionist depiction of anxiety is often viewed as horrific or frightening, but we should ask ourselves: was it Munch’s intention to make human anxiety somehow scary or grotesque? Or was he, through his art, exploring a psychological state that is difficult to comprehend and reconcile? Creative works have the power to show us something beyond and beneath what we encounter in our everyday realities, to reveal that which we feel but remains, without the creative mind to harness it, buried beneath the surface of our lives.