Disease and Representation

Sander L. Gilman, whose pioneering work on the history of stereotypes has become a model for scholars in many fields, here examines the images that society creates of disease and its victims.

Sander L. Gilman is Goldwyn Smith Professor of Humane Studies in the Departments of German Literature and Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University and is also Professor of the History of Psychiatry at the Cornell Medical College.

With skill and insight, Sander Gilman explores how people imagine disease and how disease is represented in their cultures. His essays are impressive in range and content, drawing on evidence from poetry, art, literature, and science over time and space.