Radical Fictions (3111HUM)
Semester 2 / 2013

Texts

y separately published work icon Microstories Rosemary Sorensen (editor), Pymble : Angus and Robertson , 1993 Z188610 1993 anthology short story humour (taught in 4 units)

The Radical Fictions Course Reader 2013 is available in the Bookshop. The weekly readings for the course are contained in the reader and are excerpted from the following publications. YOU MUST BUY THE COURSE READER, BUT YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THE FOLLOWING BOOKS:


Alphabetical Africa, Walter, New York New Directions, 1974

The New Meaning Walter, New York: Burning Deck, 1990

Blood and Guts in High School, Acker, London Picador, 1984

Forty Stories, Barthelme, New York Futura, 1989

Watt [1953], Beckett, New York Grove Press, 1970

Ficciones, Borges, New York Grove Weidenfeld, 1963

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Calvino, London Picador, 1982

The Helene Cixous Reader, Cixous, London Routledge, 1994

The Babysitter [1969]. Pricksongs & Descants, Coover, New York Grove/Atlantic, 2000

Hopscotch, Cortazar, Julio Tr. Gregory Rabassa [1963], New York Pantheon, 1987

Manhattan Transfer [1925] Dos Passos, New York Mariner, 1991

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (trans Geoffrey Brock), Eco, London Secker & Warburg, 2005

Double or Nothing: A Real Fictitious Discourse, Federman, New York FC2/Black Ice Books, 1999

Patchwork Girl, Jackson, Watertown, MA, Eastgate Systems, 1995

Assassination Rhapsody Pell, Brooklyn Autonomedia, 1989

Anthropology and a Hundred Other Stories, Rhodes, London Fourth Estate, 2000

Sudden Fiction International: Sixty Short-Short Stories, Shapard & Thomas (eds), New York Norton, 1989

Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Spiegelman, Harmondsworth Penguin, 1986

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman [1759-67], Sterne, Harmondsworth Penguin, 1998

Bodies of Work: Essays, Acker, London Serpent???s Tail, 1997

In Memoriam to Postmodernism: Essays on the Avant-Pop, Amerika & Olsen, San Diego San Diego University Press, 1995

Smells Like Avant-Pop, Amerika & Olsen 1995

Mythologies, Barthes, London, Jonathan Cape, 1982

Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing, Bolter, New Jersey Erlbaum, 1991

Surfiction: Fiction Now and Tomorrow., Federman, New York Swallow, 1975

The Art of Creative Nonfiction, Gutkind, New York Wiley, 1997

Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology, Landow, Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992

Postmodernist Fiction, McHale, London Routledge, 1987

Rebel Yell: A Short Guide to Fiction Writing, Olsen, Cambrian San Jose, 1998

Surfing Tomorrow: Essays on the Future of American Fiction, Olsen (ed), Prairie Village, KS Potpourri, 1995

For a New Novel: Essays on Fiction, Robbe-Grillet, Chicago Northwestern University Press, 1989

The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of / on Creative Nonfiction, Root & Steinberg New York Longman, 2001

Precursors of Hypertext Fiction, Shumate, 1997

The Writing Experiment: Strategies for innovative creative writing, Smith, Sydney Allen and Unwin, 2005

Hypertext: The Electronic Labyrinth, Snyder, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1996

Parallax: Essays in Art, Culture and Technology, Tofts, Sydney Craftsman House, 2000

Memory Trade: A Prehistory of Cyberculture, Tofts & Murray Sydney Craftsman House, 1998

Description

Based on students' own creative writing (in forms such as creative nonfiction, collage-text, microstory, graphic prose, simultaneous and interactive narratives, soundscape, etc) and on the reading and critiquing of work by established writers, this course examines the processes by which creative practitioners produce and publish texts in radical fiction forms in today's publishing contexts. The course investigates theory, techniques and environments applicable to these forms while it explores strategies for the enhancement and application of individual creative writing skills. Prerequisite: 3111HUM is a 3rd year course intended for students with a strong background in a Writing major Incompatible: 3111ART Radical Fictions.

The course aims to:

  • examine practical and theoretical processes related to contemporary text production in radical fiction forms (such as creative nonfiction, collage-text, microstory, graphic prose, simultaneous, discontinuous and multiple narratives, soundscape, etc) especially in the light of writing now seen as precursory to hypertext;
  • explore and utilise a wide range of practical, critical and editorial strategies applicable to these forms;
  • examine, in critical depth, texts related to practical process and contemporary issues written by recognised practitioners and commentators in the field;
  • explore cross-artform practice and new technologies as environments for creative writing;
  • produce a body of new original work which reflects the student's development during the semester; and
  • examine aspects of the nature of creativity and creative/professional skills, and strategies for their enhancement and application.

Assessment

Workshop participation - guided discussion with peers 20%

Non-assessed project outline deadline - written assignment 0%

Project deadline 1 - written assignment 30%

Seminar/workshop presentation - presentation - technical or professional 20%

Project deadline 2 - written assignment 30%

Supplementary Texts

The Radical Fictions Course Reader 2013 is available in the Bookshop. The weekly readings for the course are contained in the reader and are excerpted from the following publications. YOU MUST BUY THE COURSE READER, BUT YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THE FOLLOWING BOOKS:


Abish, Walter (1974) Alphabetical Africa. New York: New Directions.

Abish, Walter (1990) 99: The New Meaning. New York: Burning Deck.

Acker, Kathy (1984) Blood and Guts in High School. London: Picador.

Barthelme, Donald (1989) Forty Stories. New York: Futura.

Beckett, Samuel (1970) Watt [1953]. New York: Grove Press.

Borges, Jorge Luis (1963) Ficciones. New York: Grove Weidenfeld.

Calvino, Italo (1982) If on a Winter's Night a Traveller. London: Picador.

Cixous, Helene (1994) The Helene Cixous Reader, Ed. Susan Sellers. London: Routledge.

Coover, Robert (2000) 'The Babysitter' [1969]. Pricksongs & Descants. New York: Grove/Atlantic.

Cortazar, Julio (1987) Hopscotch. Tr. Gregory Rabassa [1963]. New York: Pantheon.

Dos Passos, John (1991) Manhattan Transfer [1925]. New York: Mariner.

Eco, Umberto (2005) The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (trans Geoffrey Brock).

London: Secker & Warburg.

Federman, Raymond (1999) Double or Nothing: A Real Fictitious Discourse. New York: FC2/Black Ice Books.

Jackson, Shelley (1995) Patchwork Girl. Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems.

Pell, Derek (1989) Assassination Rhapsody. Brooklyn: Autonomedia.

Rhodes, Dan (2000) Anthropology and a Hundred Other Stories. London: Fourth Estate.

Shapard, Robert & James Thomas (eds) (1989) Sudden Fiction International: Sixty Short-Short Stories. New York: Norton.

Sorensen, Rosemary (1993) Microstories. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.

Spiegelman, Art (1986) Maus: A Survivor's Tale. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Sterne, Laurence (1998) The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman [1759-67]. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Acker, Kathy (1997) Bodies of Work: Essays. London: Serpent???s Tail.

Amerika, Mark & Lance Olsen (1995) In Memoriam to Postmodernism: Essays on the Avant-Pop. San Diego: San Diego University Press.

Amerika, Mark & Lance Olsen (1995) Smells Like Avant-Pop.

Barthes, Roland (1982) Mythologies. London: Jonathan Cape.

Bolter, Jay (1991) Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

Federman, Raymond (1975) Surfiction: Fiction Now and Tomorrow. New York: Swallow.

Gutkind, Lee (1997) The Art of Creative Nonfiction. New York: Wiley.

Landow, George (1992) Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

McHale, Brian (1987) Postmodernist Fiction. London: Routledge.

Olsen, Lance (1998) Rebel Yell: A Short Guide to Fiction Writing. Cambrian: San Jose.

Olsen, Lance (ed) (1995) Surfing Tomorrow: Essays on the Future of American Fiction. Prairie Village, KS: Potpourri.

Robbe-Grillet, Alain (1989) For a New Novel: Essays on Fiction. Chicago: Northwestern University Press.

Root, Robert L. & Michael Steinberg (2001) The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of / on Creative Nonfiction. New York: Longman.

Shumate, Michael (1997) Precursors of Hypertext Fiction.

Smith, Hazel (2005) The Writing Experiment: Strategies for innovative creative writing. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

Snyder, Ilana (1996) Hypertext: The Electronic Labyrinth. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Tofts, Darren (2000) Parallax: Essays in Art, Culture and Technology. Sydney: Craftsman House.

Tofts, Darren & Murray McKeich (1998) Memory Trade: A Prehistory of Cyberculture. Sydney: Craftsman House.

Other Details

Offered in: 2009, 2010
Current Campus: Gold Coast
Levels: Undergraduate
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