Texts

y separately published work icon The Slap Christos Tsiolkas , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2008 Z1739894 2008 single work novel (taught in 40 units)

'At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own.

'This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the event.

'In this remarkable novel, Christos Tsiolkas turns his unflinching and all-seeing eye onto that which connects us all: the modern family and domestic life in the twenty-first century. The Slap is told from the points of view of eight people who were present at the barbecue. The slap and its consequences force them all to question their own families and the way they live, their expectations, beliefs and desires.

'What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity - all the passions and conflicting beliefs - that family can arouse. In its clear-eyed and forensic dissection of the ever-growing middle class and its aspirations and fears, The Slap is also a poignant, provocative novel about the nature of loyalty and happiness, compromise and truth.' (Publisher's blurb)

y separately published work icon Beautiful Waste : Poems by David McComb David McComb , Chris Coughran (editor), Niall Lucy (editor), North Fremantle : Fremantle Press , 2009 Z1644163 2009 selected work poetry (taught in 2 units)

'When David McComb died in 1999 at the age of 36, he left behind an extraordinary body of work, notably the songs and albums he recorded with Australian post-punk group The Triffids. The fact that McComb also wrote poetry from an early age - much of it collected here for the first time - will come as no surprise to admirers of the songwriter's powerfully evocative lyrics.

Introduced by fellow Western Australian writer John Kinsella, the poems in this book will delight fans of popular music and contemporary poetry alike. Beautiful Waste illuminates a hitherto neglected aspect of McComb's brilliance.' (Publisher's blurb)

y separately published work icon Cloudstreet Tim Winton , 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)

Description

This unit explores contemporary Australian literature with particular focus on fiction, innovative non-fiction, drama and poetry. It examines current experiments with form, genre and content and shows how these are linked both to the continuing tradition of Australian literature and to current social concerns including regionality, gender, generationalism, and ethnicity.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. demonstrate knowledge of recent Australian literature;

2. recognise the principal themes in the selected texts and relate them to contemporary Australian culture and society; and

3. identify and engage with contemporary debates in Australian art and culture.

UNIT CONTENT

1. Prose fiction as a literary genre: experiments with style and form; representation of class, gender, region, generation or race.

2. Non-fiction: essays; ficto-criticism; life stories.

3. Poetry: regionalism; experiments in form and direction; satire.

4. Drama: trends in Australian theatre.

Assessment

Two short exercises

20%

Case study and presentation

40%

Research essay

40%

Supplementary Texts

Bartlett, A., Dixon, R. & Lee, C. (Eds.). (1998). Australian literature and the public sphere. Association for the study of Australian Literature.

Bartlett, A. (Ed.). (1998). Jamming the machinery: Contemporary Australian women’s writing. Association for the study of Australian Literature

Ben-Messahel, S. (2006). Mind the country: Tim Winton's fiction. Perth: UWA Press.

Dalziell, R. (1999). Shameful autobiographies: Shame in contemporary Australian autobiographies and culture. Carlton South: Melbourne University Press.

Davis, M. (1999). Gangland: Cultural elites and the new generationalism. 2nd ed. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin.

Grossman, M. (Ed.). (2003). Blacklines: Contemporary critical writing by indigenous Australians. Carlton: Melbourne University Press.

McCann, A. (Ed.). (1998). Writing the everyday: Australian literature and the limits of suburbia. St. Lucia: Australian Literary Studies/University of Queensland Press.

McDonell, J. & Deves, M. (Eds.). (1997). Land and identity. Association for the study of Australian Literature.

MacPhee, H. (Ed.) (1999). Tim Winton: A celebration. Canberra: National Library of Australia.

Pritchard Hughes, K. (Ed.). (1997). Contemporary Australian feminism 2. South Melbourne: Longman.

Rossiter, R. & Jacobs, L. (Eds.) (1993). Reading Tim Winton. Pymble: Angus and Robertson.

The following journals are recommended as sources of articles and creative works relevant to this unit.

APAIS.

Australasian Drama Studies

Australian Book Review.

Australian Literary Studies.

Heat.

Meanjin Quarterly.

Overland.

Quadrant.

Southerly.

The monthly.

Weekend Australian Review.

Westerly.

Other Details

Levels: Undergraduate
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