Literature is only one way we can help our students learn about the holistic work that we do as nurses, understanding the power of the human spirit when individuals are most vulnerable. As nurses we help others to understand the meaningfulness of their own lives, their suffering and pain, and their joy in relationships with us as care providers and with their families.
As I write this editorial, we are all preparing for the beginning of the academic year, a new beginning in academic circles. As you read this, you are thinking of the beginning of the holidays, a break from the academic calendar, and, yes, planning for semester two. You may also be planning ahead and making New Year's resolutions. Some of us have already fallen off our exercise routine, or our nutrition plans, or, importantly for our academic work, our stretch reading.
I spent a significant part of my summer stretching back to reacquaint myself with some of the classic literature that I had read early in my academic journey. How many of you remember the lessons learned in Hemingway's or Fitzgerald's classic works? We expect our students to integrate the humanities into their nursing work. One way we can help them is to share the lessons learned from these giants in American literature. Here are a few suggestions about lessons I recently relearned.
F. Scott Fitzgerald presents us with a compelling satire on the aging process in his short story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which the main character is born old and ages backward. There are key lessons about the developmental process embedded in this work, and importantly, Fitzgerald challenges our views of aging and older persons.
Ernest Hemingway superbly teaches us about moral bankruptcy in his classic tale, The Sun Also Rises, where the lead character, Jake, is amoral and dispassionate, living in an emotional vacuum. How better to learn about the human psyche and the human experience of life than to read Hemingway, an author who traveled through the ups and downs of his own existence.
Very recently, we were reintroduced to the work of Harper Lee, author of the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Although there has been considerable controversy about whether Go Set a Watchman, the second of her novels to be published, was a sequel or a first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, the lessons in both are important to our teaching. Lee teaches us about the social dynamics in our world colored by disparities based on differences among groups. Although her writing specifically addresses race relations, we can extrapolate the lessons learned to other dimensions of lack of understanding between and among social groups.
Literature is only one way we can help our students learn about the holistic work that we do as nurses, understanding the power of the human spirit when individuals are most vulnerable. As nurses we help others to understand the meaningfulness of their own lives, their suffering and pain, and their joy in relationships with us as care providers and with their families. We have much to learn from the giants of American literature. Many of you no doubt integrate the humanities into the curricula in creative and unique ways. We encourage you to share these experiences through the Innovation Center and research outlets of Nursing Education Perspectives.