The Malaise of Illness
A Conversation with Brad Bolman
About the Event
Join us for a conversation with historian Brad Bolman about Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, a novel that powerfully explores themes of illness, death, time, and love. Together, we will discuss what Mann’s work might have to say about our contemporary experience of uncertainty, lingering illness, and social upheaval in this pandemic era. The conversation will preview Bolman’s upcoming course The Malaise of Illness: Reading The Magic Mountain During COVID.
Who's Speaking
Brad Bolman
Institute on the Formation of Knowledge
Open Enrollment Instructor
Brad Bolman is a historian of science, medicine, and technology focused on the history of capitalism and inquiries into nonhuman life. His first book project, The Dog Years, explores how the beagle became the de facto and de jure breed of experimental dog in disciplines as far afield as radiobiology, pharmacology, periodontology, inhalation toxicology, and Alzheimer’s research.
His second project, The Decomposition Book, explores the global history of mycological science, analyzing shifting experimental and field practices as well as industrially sponsored research as scientists attempted to make sense of the strange universe of fungi. In 2021, he received a PhD from the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University. He has four peer reviewed journal articles and two book chapters published or forthcoming as well as several articles or chapters under review and a number of popular publications.