Representing Contemporary Australia (HEA319)
Semester 2 / 2010

Texts

y separately published work icon The Boat Nam Le , Camberwell : Hamish Hamilton , 2008 Z1495449 2008 selected work short story (taught in 42 units)

'In the magnificent opening story, "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice," a young writer is urged by his friends to mine his father's experiences in Vietnam - and what seems at first a satire on turning one's life into literary commerce becomes a transcendent exploration of homeland, and the ties between father and son. "Cartagena" provides a visceral glimpse of life in Colombia as it enters the mind of a fourteen-year-old hit man facing the ultimate test. In "Meeting Elise" an ageing New York painter mourns his body's decline as he prepares to meet his daughter on the eve of her Carnegie Hall debut. And with graceful symmetry, the final, title story returns to Vietnam, to a fishing trawler crowded with refugees where a young woman's bond with a mother and her small son forces both women to a shattering decision.' (From the author's website.)

y separately published work icon The Secret River Kate Grenville , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2005 Z1194031 2005 single work novel historical fiction (taught in 69 units)

'In 1806 William Thornhill, a man of quick temper and deep feelings, is transported from the slums of London to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and their children he arrives in a harsh land he cannot understand.

'But the colony can turn a convict into a free man. Eight years later Thornhill sails up the Hawkesbury to claim a hundred acres for himself.

'Aboriginal people already live on that river. And other recent arrivals - Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan and Mrs Herring - are finding their own ways to respond to them.

'Thornhill, a man neither better nor worse than most, soon has to make the most difficult choice of his life.

'Inspired by research into her own family history, Kate Grenville vividly creates the reality of settler life, its longings, dangers and dilemmas. The Secret River is a brilliantly written book, a groundbreaking story about identity, belonging and ownership.' (From the publisher's website.)

y separately published work icon Hoods Angela Betzien , 2006 Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2007 Z1372249 2006 single work drama young adult (taught in 4 units)

'Each night two hoods ride a train to a wrecking yard on the outskirts of the city. Here, in this cemetery of stories, they are storytellers with the power to fast forward, pause and rewind. Tonight, they tell the story of three kids left in a car. Rewind. It's Friday, KFC night and the last day of school before Christmas. Kyle, Jessie and baby brother Troy are waiting in the car for their mum. As night approaches the car park takes on a dark and sinister aspect filled with strange and familiar characters. The shopping centre closes, Mum still hasn't returned and the baby won't stop crying. Exploring issues of poverty and family violence, Hoods is a suburban tale of survival and solidarity against the odds.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

y separately published work icon The Narcissist Stephen Carleton , 2007 Fortitude Valley : Playlab , 2007 Z1356453 2007 single work drama satire (taught in 4 units) 'Xavier is a narcissist. He is a jaded, single, urban professional living in New Farm for whom middle age looms, and the prospects of finding a psycho sexually well-adjusted partner are beginning to fade. Enter Bronwyn, an equally committed boozy malcontent and his best friend, who challenges Xavier to a duel - "Six weeks to bag a man! No ifs, no buts, no limits, no boundaries and no rules!" The gloves are off - whoever scores first, wins!' Source: http://www.theprogram.net.au/ (Sighted 15/02/2007).
form y separately published work icon Suburban Mayhem Alice Bell , ( dir. Paul Goldman ) 2006 Australia : Suburban Mayhem Pty Ltd , 2006 Z1301938 2006 single work film/TV crime (taught in 2 units)

'Can a girl really get everything she wants? Welcome to the world of Katrina, a 19-year-old mum who believes she can. Katrina inhabits a world of petty crime, manicures and fast cars - and she'll stop at nothing to get what she wants, even murder.'

Source: Screen Australia.

y separately published work icon Smoke Encrypted Whispers Samuel Wagan Watson , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2004 Z1123977 2004 selected work poetry (taught in 5 units)

'These poems pulse with the language and images of a mangrove-lined river city, the beckoning highway, the just-glimpsed muse, the tug of childhood and restless ancestors. For the first time Samuel Wagan Watson's poetry has been collected into this stunning volume, which includes a final section of all new work.' (Source: UQP website: www.uqp.uq.edu.au)

y separately published work icon Disquiet Julia Leigh , Camberwell : Penguin , 2008 Z1457081 2008 single work novella (taught in 3 units) An elegant young woman stands with her two children at the gate of an austere chateau, locked out. The three have come from Australia, escaping violence, and their arrival is unexpected. The two children have never been here before. The woman, Olivia, has come home. But home is not what it was. Even when Olivia gains entry, what she finds is not what she left. While the children are entranced by the house, the formal gardens and the inviting lake, Olivia learns that members of her estranged family have experienced tragedies they cannot openly discuss - just as she has, herself - leading them to behave in ways that destabilise a world of exquisite artifice and control. - from dust jacket flap
y separately published work icon The White Earth Andrew McGahan , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2004 Z1113518 2004 single work novel (taught in 14 units)

'His father dead by fire and his mother plagued by demons of her own, William is cast upon the charity of his unknown uncle - an embittered old man encamped in the ruins of a once great station homestead, Kuran House. It's a baffling and sinister new world for the boy, a place of decay and secret histories. His uncle is obsessed by a long life of decline and by a dark quest for revival, his mother is desperate for a wealth and security she has never known, and all their hopes it seems come to rest upon William's young shoulders. But as the past and present of Kuran Station unravel and merge together, the price of that inheritance may prove to be the downfall of them all. The White Earth is a haunting, disturbing and cautionary tale.' (publisher's website)

Description

This unit provides an opportunity to analyse how Australia is represented in contemporary writing and film. Through a series of modules that identify common issues across prose, poetry, narrative film and documentary, the unit encourages students to critically analyse texts within their national context. Key issues will include: the construction of race, theories of place, class and gender politics, and ethnicity. The unit uses methodologies from both literary and film studies in order to map a complex picture of Australia's contemporary culture.

Assessment

3,500 words of internal written assessment (60%), 1x 2hr examination (40%)

Supplementary Texts

Carter Dispossession Dreams And Diversity: Issues In Contemporary Australian Studies

Suburban Mayhem (DVD)

De Heer, Rolf (dir) Ten Canoes

Elder Being Australian: Narratives Of National Identity

Gelder & Salzman After The Celebration

Huggan, Graham Australian Literature Postcolonialism Racism & Transnationalism

Pierce (ed) Cambridge History Of Australian Literature

Saville, Matt (dir) Noise

Other Details

Offered in: 2009
Current Campus: Launceston, Distance
Levels: Undergraduate
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