The Medical Humanities, Literature and Language

Abstract

The origin of this special issue of the Nordic Journal of English Studies on the Medical Humanities was a desire to highlight particular research interests of the new editors of the journal and to demonstrate one of many fields that span disciplines within English Studies: literature, culture and language. A volume on the Medical Humanities was especially relevant as we began our editorship during the Covid-19 pandemic: therefore, it is not surprising that the pandemic informs or is the focus of some studies included in this volume. We take this as a starting point for the discussion in this introduction, before turning our focus to the Medical Humanities in general with regard to literature and language, and especially to our work in the Medical Humanities in the Nordic countries.