​​Sample "close readings" and writing prompts

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Close reading can explore any creative work, including graphics, painting, drawing, architecture, theater, photography, installations, dance, music, film, sculpture, and the written word. The work does not need to be medically oriented; in fact, it might be better to use non-medical writing for early learners and mixed audiences. 

 

The Columbia Narrative Medicine program tends to use longer, complex pieces, for example, "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin, "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, or "To Esme with Love and Squalor" by JD Sallinger. They generate some wonderful conversations and inspire great writing.

 

I tend to use shorter works. Below are sample close readings I have used with students, residents, practicing physicians, and community members in Narrative Medicine sessions. I like to use poetry because so few of us in medicine are comfortable with it and it lends itself to interpretation. These are simply ideas to get you started. 

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As a facilitator, you will create a simple, open-ended prompt by focusing on the theme or choosing a word or phrase from the piece. You might use the form of, "Write about a day when..." or "Write about a time when..." For example, if you choose "She Does Not Remember," your prompt might be, "Write about a time when you were cold." If you choose "Girl," your prompt might be, "Write how to be a 'good' medical student or resident." If you choose "Midsummer Rain," your prompt might be, "Write about a time when you wanted to follow." People can respond in whatever way they are inspired. 

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Poetry

• Wild Geese - Mary Oliver

• The Summer Day - Mary Oliver

• In Blackwater Woods - Mary Oliver

• The Death of Fred Clifton - Lucille Clifton

• Nine Wild Turkeys - Ted Kooser

• Midsummer Rain - Ted Kooser

• Painting the Barn - Ted Kooser

• She Does Not Remember - Anna Swir

• After the Diagnosis - Christian Wiman

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For more ideas, poke around the Poetry Foundation website. 

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Nonfiction

• The House Call (from The Soul of Care) - Arthur Kleinman

• Like a Prayer (from A Life in Medicine: A Literary Anthology) - Rafael Campo​

• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (excerpt) - Jean-Dominique Bauby

• Practicing Medicine Can Be Grimm Work - (from the New York Times) - Valerie Gribben​

• The Nod - Kimberly D Manning - JAMA 323:1684-85, May 5, 2020​

• Systole and Diastole, Strength and Openness - Colleen M Farrell - JAMA 323: 1726-27, May 5, 2020

• Reflecting on Year One: A Beginning and an End - Caitlin Parke

• Excerpt from The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

• "The Patient" - Katie Thure

 

Fiction

Short fictional pieces/excerpts suitable for close reading sessions​

• Girl (from the New Yorker) - Jamaica Kincaid

• Blankets (excerpted from "War Dances" in the New Yorker) - Sherman Alexie

• The Plague (excerpts) - Albert Camus - Academic Medicine 75(9):p 945, September 2000​

• Bullet in the Brain - Tobias Wolff

• Two Men Arrive in a Village - Zadie Smith

• Joke Man - David Watts

• The Use of Force - William Carlos Williams

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Examples of longer works (to be read ahead of a close reading session)

• For Esmé with Love and Squalor - JD Salinger

• Sonny's Blues - James Baldwin

• Good Country People - Flannery O'Connor

• Cathedral - Raymond Carver​​

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Audiovisual

​Audio: Living with Multiple Sclerosis - Story Corps interview - Melanie Rowen and Kristina Wertz

Video: Bear Story – Gabriel Osorio Vargas

Video: Eleanor Rigby - Paul McCartney and John Lennon

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Great essays about writing by writers

• Write Till You Drop - Annie Dillard

• Why I Write - Joan Didion

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Insightful essays by patients

• Doctor Talk to Me - Anatole Broyard​

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The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine​

The definitive textbook in the field is The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine, edited by Rita Charon, Sayantani DasGupta, Nellie Hermann, Craig Irvine, Eric R. Marcus, Edgar Rivera Colon, Danielle Spencer, and Maura Spiegel. P&P is an erudite and spirited description of the basis and value of Narrative Medicine, including a wonderful description on the history and value of close reading, NM's "signature method."

 

The book was published by Oxford in 2016. Search PubMed to see the editors' extensive bibliographies. 

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Journal articles and resources that help understand the basis for Narrative Medicine

 

• ​Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust - JAMA 2001

• Rita Charon's TEDxAtlanta talk on NM

• At the Membranes of Care: Stories in Narrative Medicine (paywall) - Academic Medicine 2012

• Knowing, Seeing, and Telling in Medicine - Lancet 2021

• Close Reading and Creative Writing in Clinical Education: Teaching Attention, Representation, and Affiliation - Academic Medicine 2016

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My own academic publications using narrative techniques 

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These papers describe the narrative approach I have used to help students create personal statements for their residency applications. My approach has evolved into a more NM approach as I completed the Columbia CPA program. They are behind paywalls.

 

• Campbell BH, Havas N, Derse AR, Holloway R. Creating a Residency Application Personal Statement Writers Workshop: Fostering Narrative, Teamwork, and Insight at a Time of Stress. Academic Medicine (March 2016); 91(3):p 371-375. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000000863

• Campbell BH, Treat R, Johnson B, Derse AR. Creating Reflective Space for Reflective and “Unreflective” Medical Students: Exploring Seminal Moments in a Large-Group Writing Session. Academic Medicine (June) 2020; 95(6):p 882-887. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003241 ​​​

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