This course examines a range of Australian literary, theatrical and cinematic crime narratives from the 19th century to the present. It explores Australian literary, stage and screen history through the ideas of crime and the criminal, introducing students to key 19th and 20th century Australian texts and investigating the relationships between literature, ethics, law and society. It also introduces students to a range of critical approaches to reading generic or popular' fiction and film. Writers considered may include Marcus Clarke, Mary Fortune, Fergus Hume, Peter Temple, Doris Pilkington and Andrew McGahan.
Course Syllabus
The course will examine a selection of literary, theatrical and cinematic texts in the context of theories about crime, genre fiction and the popular. Topics to be addressed include:
*Australian "true crime" as a genre
*theories of genre and/or popular fiction
*reading "stolen generation" narratives as crime literature
*criminals on the 19th century stage
*crime on film and television
*women and crime
*crime and the Australian city
