Jo Nixon

What do saints’ lives and Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Club (Netflix, 2022) have in common? If the two seem historically distant, both texts nonetheless show disabled characters in complex relation to their communities. This course looks at contemporary texts alongside Middle English ones to ask how medieval English literature can illuminate our present understanding of disability in media.

While Middle English literature lacks our term disability, it is undeniably populated with figures whose bodies and minds are depicted as deviating from the normal body. Through unexpected pairings of medieval and contemporary texts, as well as readings in critical disability theory, we will examine how stories now and then 1) moralize bodily difference, 2) figure disabled bodies of intersecting identities, and 3) attempt to express in words the possibilities for exclusion from and participation in communal life.

Questions we will explore: How do the portrayals of disabled characters reveal a society’s definition of the normal (what disability studies terms the “normate”)? Which stereotypes do literary texts perpetuate about disability, and can we produce readings that counter these harmful portrayals? Can barriers to access lead to opportunities for creativity and imagination? Finally: what role do literary histories play in helping us understand medieval and contemporary conceptions of disability? Our work will culminate with a visit to the Newberry Library to conduct primary research as well as a final creative project.