The Lost Dog
Crows Nest
:
Allen and Unwin
,
2007
Z1431148
2007
single work
novel
mystery
(taught in 4 units)
'Tom Loxley is holed up in a remote bush shack trying to finish his book on Henry James when his beloved dog goes missing. What follows is a triumph of storytelling, as The Lost Dog loops back and forth in time to take the reader on a spellbinding journey into worlds far removed from the present tragedy.
'Set in present-day [2007] Australia and mid-twentieth century India, here is a haunting, layered work that brilliantly counterpoints new cityscapes and their inhabitants with the untamed, ancient continent beyond. With its atmosphere of menace and an acute sense of the unexplained in any story, it illuminates the collision of the wild and the civilised, modernity and the past, home and exile.' (Publisher's blurb)
Bran Nue Dae : A Musical Journey
Jimmy Chi
(composer),
Kuckles
(composer),
1990
Sydney
Broome
:
Currency Press
Magabala Books
,
1991
Z222822
1990
single work
musical theatre
(taught in 8 units)
The story of Bran Nue Dae concerns Willie, who having been expelled from the missionary school in Perth returns to Broome on the far north coast of Western Australia. Before leaving Perth, however, he finds his Uncle Tadpole and together they make the journey home with a hippie and a German tourist. Willy discovers sex and true love and their adventures end in the revelation that all the principle characters are related to each other. The whole is a celebration of the multi-cultural life of Broome and of the failures by government and church to make the black population assimilate and conform.
The Empire Writes Back : Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures
Terence Hawkes
(editor),
London
:
Routledge
,
1989
Z132291
1989
single work
criticism
(taught in 7 units)
'The experience of colonization and the challenges of the post-colonial world have produced an explosion of new writing in English. This diverse and powerful body of literature has established a specific practice of colonial writing in cultures as diverse as India, Australia, the West Indies, Africa and Canada. This comprehensive study opens debates about the interrelationships of these literatures, investigates the powerful forces acting on language in the post-colonial text and shows how these texts constitute a radical critique of the assumptions underlying Eurocentric notions of literature and language.' (Publication summary)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. demonstrate an awareness of the ambiguities and complexities of post-colonial discourse and the need to clarify their own speaking positions;
2. apply selected theoretical models and assumptions to texts drawn from diverse cultures, but written in or translated into English; and
3. identify and discuss issues related to post-colonial theory, including language, gender, appropriation, globalisation, nationalism, hybridity and diaspora.
UNIT CONTENT
1. Introduction to historical and social background relevant to the development of selected postcolonial literatures.
2. Study of selected works from different regions representative of particular cultural features, as well as reflective of thematic and technical development and variation.
3. Study of works from a single region, as well as between regions.
4. Application of appropriate theoretical models to selected texts and discussions of relevant issues in post-colonial literary theory.
40%
Group project and presentation
30%
Discussion papers
30%
Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (1998) Key concepts in post-colonial studies. London: Routledge.
Bhabha, H. (1990). Nation and narration. New York - London: Routledge.
Boehmer, E. (1995). Colonial and postcolonial literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brewster, A. (1995). Literary formations: Post-colonialism, nationalism, globalism. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
Gandhi, L. (1998). Postcolonial theory: A critical introduction. Sydney: Allen & Unwin
Goldberg, D. & Quayson, A. (Eds.) (2002). Relocating postcolonialism Malden: Blackwell.
Hallward, P. (2001). Absolutely postcolonial: Writing between the singular and the specific. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Huggan, G. (2001). The postcolonial exotic: Marketing the margins. London: Routledge.
Loomba, A. (1998). Colonialism/postcolonialism. London: Routledge.
McLeod, J. (2000). Beginning postcolonialism. Manchester: MUP.
Moreton-Robinson, A. (2000). Talkin' up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism. St Lucia: UQP.
Punter, D. (2000). Postcolonial imaginings: Fictions of a new world order. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University.
Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
Talib, I. (2002). The language of postcolonial literatures: An introduction. London: Routledge.
Thieme, J. (2001). Postcolonial con-texts: Writing back to the canon. London: Continuum
Whisker, G. (2000). Post-colonial and African American women's writing: A critical introduction Houndmills: Macmillan.
JOURNALS
Meanjin
SPAN
Kunapipi
World literature written in English
Journal of Commonwealth literature
World literature today
African literature today
