Texts

form y separately published work icon Ten Canoes Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Fandango Australia Vertigo Productions , 2006 Z1262398 2006 single work film/TV (taught in 11 units)

A story within a story and overlaid with narration, Ten Canoes takes place in two periods in the past. The first story, filmed in black-and-white as a reference to the 1930s ethnographic photography of Donald Thompson, concerns a young man called Dayindi who takes part in his first hunt for goose eggs. During the course of several trips to hunt, gather and build a bark canoe, his older brother Minygululu tells him a story about their ancestors and the old laws. The story is also about a young man who had no wife but who coveted one of his brother's wives, and also of the stranger who disrupted the harmony of their lives. It is cautionary tale because Minygululu is aware that Dayinidi desires his young and pretty third wife.

The second story (shot in colour) is set much further back in time. Yeeralparil is a young man who desires the third wife of his older brother Ridjimiraril. When Ridjimiraril's second wife disappears, he suspects a man from another tribe has been seen near the camp. After he spears the stranger he discovers that he was wrong. Knowing that he must face the man's relatives he chooses Yeeralparil to accompany him during the ritual payback. When Ridjimiraril dies from his wounds the tribe's traditions decree that Yeeralparil must inherit his brother's wives. The burden of these responsibilities, however, is more than the young man expects.

form y separately published work icon Suburban Mayhem Alice Bell , ( dir. Paul Goldman ) 2006 Australia : Suburban Mayhem Pty Ltd , 2006 Z1301938 2006 single work film/TV crime (taught in 2 units)

'Can a girl really get everything she wants? Welcome to the world of Katrina, a 19-year-old mum who believes she can. Katrina inhabits a world of petty crime, manicures and fast cars - and she'll stop at nothing to get what she wants, even murder.'

Source: Screen Australia.

y separately published work icon Disquiet Julia Leigh , Camberwell : Penguin , 2008 Z1457081 2008 single work novella (taught in 3 units) An elegant young woman stands with her two children at the gate of an austere chateau, locked out. The three have come from Australia, escaping violence, and their arrival is unexpected. The two children have never been here before. The woman, Olivia, has come home. But home is not what it was. Even when Olivia gains entry, what she finds is not what she left. While the children are entranced by the house, the formal gardens and the inviting lake, Olivia learns that members of her estranged family have experienced tragedies they cannot openly discuss - just as she has, herself - leading them to behave in ways that destabilise a world of exquisite artifice and control. - from dust jacket flap
y separately published work icon The Ghost's Child Sonya Hartnett , Camberwell : Penguin , 2007 Z1402459 2007 single work novel young adult fantasy (taught in 6 units)

'Maddy yearns for her life to be mystifying, to be as magical as a fairy story. And then one day, on the beach, she meets the strangest young man she has ever seen.

'The Ghost's Child is an enchanting fable about the worth of life, and the power of love.' (Publisher's blurb)

form y separately published work icon Noise Matt Saville , ( dir. Matt Saville ) Australia : Retro Active Films Pty Ltd , 2007 Z1304559 2007 single work film/TV thriller crime (taught in 1 units)

The community reels after a mass murder on a suburban train. A young cop, beset with doubt and afflicted with tinnitus, is pitched into the chaos that follows this tragic event. He struggles to clear the screaming in his head while all around him try to deal with the afterburn of the terrible crime.

(Source: Australian Film Commission website)

y separately published work icon Breath Tim Winton , Camberwell : Hamish Hamilton , 2008 Z1457075 2008 single work novel (taught in 21 units) 'Breath is a story about the wildness of youth - the lust for excitement and terror, the determination to be extraordinary, the wounds that heal and those that don't - and about learning to live with its passing.'
Source: Publisher's website
y separately published work icon Smoke Encrypted Whispers Samuel Wagan Watson , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2004 Z1123977 2004 selected work poetry (taught in 5 units)

'These poems pulse with the language and images of a mangrove-lined river city, the beckoning highway, the just-glimpsed muse, the tug of childhood and restless ancestors. For the first time Samuel Wagan Watson's poetry has been collected into this stunning volume, which includes a final section of all new work.' (Source: UQP website: www.uqp.uq.edu.au)

y separately published work icon The Narcissist Stephen Carleton , 2007 Fortitude Valley : Playlab , 2007 Z1356453 2007 single work drama satire (taught in 4 units) 'Xavier is a narcissist. He is a jaded, single, urban professional living in New Farm for whom middle age looms, and the prospects of finding a psycho sexually well-adjusted partner are beginning to fade. Enter Bronwyn, an equally committed boozy malcontent and his best friend, who challenges Xavier to a duel - "Six weeks to bag a man! No ifs, no buts, no limits, no boundaries and no rules!" The gloves are off - whoever scores first, wins!' Source: http://www.theprogram.net.au/ (Sighted 15/02/2007).

Description

This unit provides an opportunity to analyse how Australia is represented in contemporary writing and film. Through a series of modules that identify common issues across prose, poetry, narrative film and drama, the unit encourages students to critically analyse texts within their national context. Key issues will include: the construction of race, theories of place, class and gender politics, and ethnicity. The unit uses methodologies from both literary and film studies in order to map a complex picture of Australia's contemporary culture.This unit provides an opportunity to analyse how Australia is represented in contemporary writing and film. Through a series of modules that identify common issues across prose, poetry, narrative film and drama, the unit encourages students to critically analyse texts within their national context. Key issues will include: the construction of race, theories of place, class and gender politics, and ethnicity. The unit uses methodologies from both literary and film studies in order to map a complex picture of Australia's contemporary culture.

Assessment

3,500 words of internal written assessment (60%), 1x 2hr examination (40%).

Supplementary Texts

Bennett, Andrew and Nicholas Royle. Introduction to Literature Criticism and Theory. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman, 2004.

Carter, David. Dispossession, Dreams and Diversity: Issues in Australian Studies. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Longman, 2006.

Corrigan, Timothy J. A Short Guide to Writing about Film. 6th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007.

Elder, Catriona. Being Australian. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2007.

Huggan, Graham. Australian Literature:Postcolonialism, Racism, Nationalism. Oxford:OUP, 2007.

Turner, Graeme. National Fictions: Literature, Film and the Construction of Australian Narrative. 1986.

Other Details

Current Campus: Launceston
Levels: Undergraduate
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