Going Mental

In this course, we are going to investigate how various genres of literature treat the topic of going mental or being mentally ill.
Amongst other works, we are going to read is an excerpt from Sylvia Plath's semi-biographical novel The Bell Jar from 1963, which explores a young woman's life with a mental disease. 
The issue is also treated in the song 4st 7lbs by the band Manic Street Preachers in 1994, in which the guitarist and lead-lyricist Richey Edwards refers to his experience with anorexia, self-harm, and depression.
Finally, we will watch Milos Forman's film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which is a film about a brash rebel WHO is admitted to a mental institution, and rallies the patients to take on the oppressive head nurse.