Cirrus@Austlit

Examines recent writing of fiction in Australia from 1990 to the present. It covers a range of genres, including novel, short story, autobiography and metafiction, and explores the tension between postmodernism and politics in the field through an examination of the discourses of gender, class, race and sexuality in each text.

Course Objectives:

Students will gain:

1. a detailed knowledge of the texts on the course and of the literary field

under examination;

2. the ability to analyse literary texts in their social contexts; and

3. a detailed understanding of the theoretical concepts informing recent shifts in the field.

Course Content:

1. an examination of the diverse generic content of Australian fiction of the last decade;

2. an examination of the relationship between literary text and social context;

3. an examination of the consistent tension between postmodernism and;

4. discussion of politics in the period.