Cloudstreet
Melbourne
:
McPhee Gribble
,
1991
Z204365
1991
single work
novel
(taught in 16 units)
'From separate catastrophes two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives again from scratch. For twenty years they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts.' (Source: Publisher's website)
Praise
North Sydney
:
Allen and Unwin
,
1992
Z563591
1992
single work
novel
(taught in 16 units)
'Praise is an utterly frank and darkly humorous novel about being young in the Australian of the 1990s. A time when the dole was easier to get than a job, when heroin was better known than ecstasy, and when ambition was the dirtiest of words. A time when, for two hopeless souls, sex and dependence were the only lifelines.' (from back cover)
My Brilliant Career
Edinburgh
London
:
William Blackwood
,
1901
Z161522
1901
single work
novel
(taught in 56 units)
'My Brilliant Career was written by Stella Franklin (1879-1954) when she was just nineteen years old. The novel struggled to find an Australian publisher, but was published in London and Edinburgh in 1901 after receiving an endorsement from Henry Lawson. Although Franklin wrote under the pseudonym 'Miles Franklin', Lawson’s preface makes it clear that Franklin is, as Lawson puts it 'a girl.'
'The novel relates the story of Sybylla Melvyn, a strong-willed young woman of the 1890s growing up in the Goulburn area of New South Wales and longing to be a writer.' (Publication summary)
Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature
Nicholas Jose
(editor),
Kerryn Goldsworthy
(editor),
Anita Heiss
(editor),
David McCooey
(editor),
Peter Minter
(editor),
Nicole Moore
(editor),
Elizabeth Webby
(editor),
Crows Nest
:
Allen and Unwin
,
2009
Z1590615
2009
anthology
correspondence
diary
drama
essay
extract
poetry
prose
short story
(taught in 23 units)
'Some of the best, most significant writing produced in Australia over more than two centuries is gathered in this landmark anthology. Covering all genres - from fiction, poetry and drama to diaries, letters, essays and speeches - the anthology maps the development of one of the great literatures in English in all its energy and variety.
'The writing reflects the diverse experiences of Australians in their encounter with their extraordinary environment and with themselves. This is literature of struggle, conflict and creative survival. It is literature of lives lived at the extremes, of frontiers between cultures, of new dimensions of experience, where imagination expands.
'This rich, informative and entertaining collection charts the formation of an Australian voice that draws inventively on Indigenous words, migrant speech and slang, with a cheeky, subversive humour always to the fore. For the first time, Aboriginal writings are interleaved with other English-language writings throughout - from Bennelong's 1796 letter to the contemporary flowering of Indigenous fiction and poetry - setting up an exchange that reveals Australian history in stark new ways.
'From vivid settler accounts to haunting gothic tales, from raw protest to feisty urban satire and playful literary experiment, from passionate love poetry to moving memoir, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature reflects the creative eloquence of a society.
'Chosen by a team of expert editors, who have provided illuminating essays about their selections, and with more than 500 works from over 300 authors, it is an authoritative survey and a rich world of reading to be enjoyed.' (Publisher's blurb)
Allen and Unwin have a YouTube channel with a number of useful videos on the Anthology.
This subject provides an introduction to some major themes and texts in Australian literature, giving a thematic overview of Australian literature. It will explore Australian cultural traditions, using specific texts to highlight historical and social issues and developments in Australia. Course reading will be a number of extracts from longer works, combined with three novels, in order to give the broadest possible overview of and introduction to Australian writing. The course emphasises prose writing, both fiction and non-fiction. Some relationships between visual art, film and literature will be explored.
Seminar attendance and participation 10%
Seminar presentation 10%
Major essay 60%
Quiz (20 multiple choice) 20%
