Animal People
Crows Nest
:
Allen and Unwin
,
2011
Z1799698
2011
single work
novel
(taught in 2 units)
A sharply observed, 24-hour urban love story that follows Stephen Connolly – a character from the bestselling novel The Children – through one of the worst days of his life. The day he has decided to dump his girlfriend.
On a stiflingly hot December day, Stephen has decided it’s time to break up with his girlfriend Fiona. He’s 39, aimless and unfulfilled, he’s without a clue working out how to make his life better. All he has are his instincts – and unfortunately they might just be his downfall . . .
As he makes his way through the pitiless city and the hours of a single day, Stephen must fend off his demanding family, endure another shift of his dead-end job at the zoo (including an excruciating teambuilding event), face up to Fiona’s aggressive ex-husband and the hysteria of a children’s birthday party that goes terribly wrong. As an ordinary day develops into an existential crisis, Stephen begins to understand – perhaps too late – that love is not a trap, and only he can free himself.
Hilarious, tender and heartbreaking, Animal People is a portrait of urban life, a meditation on the conflicted nature of human-animal relationships, and a masterpiece of storytelling.
Animal People invites readers to question the way we think about animals – what makes an ‘animal person’? What value do we, as a society, place on the lives of creatures? Do we brutalise our pets even as we love them? What’s wrong with anthropomorphism anyway? Filled with challenging ideas and shocks of recognition and revelation, Animal People shows a writer of great depth and compassion at work.
The course introduces approaches to writing a novel against a background of the form's historical development and the range of its contemporary possibilities. Students are asked to investigate the novel in its contemporary and literary form in order to define and situate the work they wish to write. They will read and analyse four recent works of fiction, two examples of literary fiction (one Australian, one international) and two examples of genre fiction (crime, speculative, fantasy, romance or historical fiction). They will engage with the work and presentations of authors visiting for Adelaide Writers Week, where attendance is required. Concepts of genre, audience, style, voice, the relationship between fiction and non-fiction, including memoir, plot (beginning, middle, end), expectation and experiment, and aspects of writing technique (person, tense, detail, elaboration and editing) will be explored. Students will learn how to prepare a submission (a workshopped proposal for a novel), including an outline, a chapter or sequence of chapters to final draft stage, and a 'pitch' to present their work to an academic or industry gatekeeper.
Writers Week written response (500 words) 10%, Group Oral Presentation and Paper (100 words) 20%, Participation 10%, Creative Work 60%
