In medical training, humanity takes second place to scientific achievement. The realization that we are producing a generation of less than humane doctors has begun to trouble both medical educators and clinicians. Might the study of the humanities, especially the reading of literature, in medical training help doctors to be more humane? Some proponents certainly think so (American Board of Internal Medicine; Association of American Medical Colleges; Baker; Barnard; Charon et al; McManus; Risse;), and the multifaceted contributions of literature to clinical practice have been recently reviewed (Association of American Medical Colleges). Although the study of humanities in medical school curricula is one way to encourage humanistic qualities in the practice of medicine (Association of American Medical Colleges; Almy et al), less attention has been paid to models for teaching humanistic qualities in residency training (Arnold et al; Barnard). Lack of time, of leader expertise, and of residents interest have been cited as barriers to the study of liberal sits in residency training programmes (Povar and Keith). Furthermore, few robust models have been proposed for the integration of such training into residency programmes.