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 Bliss Peter Carey , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1981 8407782 1981 single work novel (taught in 11 units)

'For thirty-nine years Harry Joy has been the quintessential good guy. But one morning Harry has a heart attack on his suburban front lawn, and, for the space of nine minutes, he becomes a dead guy. And although he is resuscitated, he will never be the same. For, as Peter Carey makes abundantly clear in this darkly funny novel, death is sometimes a necessary prelude to real life.' (From the author's website.)

y separately published work icon Armour John Kinsella , Sydney : Picador , 2011 Z1820009 2011 selected work poetry (taught in 2 units)

'With Armour, the great Australian poet John Kinsella has written his most spiritual work to date - and his most politically engaged. The world in which these poems unfold is strangely poised between the material and the immaterial, and everything which enters it - kestrel and fox, moth and almond - does so illuminated by its own vivid presence: the impression is less a poet honouring his subjects than uncannily inhabiting them. Elsewhere we find a poetry of lyric protest, as Kinsella scrutinizes the equivocal place of the human within this natural landscape, both as tenant and self-appointed steward.

'Armour is a beautifully various work, one of sharp ecological and social critique - but also one of meticulous invocation and quiet astonishment, whose atmosphere will haunt the reader long after they close the book.' (From the 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 womens 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

Offered in: 2011, 2010
Levels: Undergraduate
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