English Literature and Film (EPHUMA306)
Semester 2 / 2012

Texts

y separately published work icon Collected Poems Les Murray , Manchester : Carcanet , 1998 Z308435 1998 selected work poetry (taught in 1 units) Contents as for Collected Poems, Heinemann 1994, with the addition of 59 poems from Subhuman Redneck.
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 That Eye, the Sky Tim Winton , Melbourne : McPhee Gribble , 1986 Z426161 1986 single work novel young adult (taught in 8 units) Ort knows the sky is watching. He knows what it means to watch; he spends long hours listening at doors and peering through cracks. Things are terribly wrong. His father is withering away, his sister is consumed by hatred, his grandmother is all inside herself, and his mother, a flower-child of the 1960s, is brave but helpless. Then a strange man appears at their door. That Eye, the Sky is about love, about a boy's vision of the world beyond, about the blurry distinctions between the natural and the supernatural. All this, and more, begins at the moment the ute driven by Ort Flack's father ploughs into a roadside tree, throwing the whole world out of kilter. (Source: Bookseller's website)
y separately published work icon Fingerprints on Light Jan Owen , North Ryde : Angus and Robertson , 1990 Z108804 1990 selected work poetry (taught in 1 units)
y separately published work icon Visions from the Valley : Poetry of the Hunter Valley : 1960-2000 Donald Moore , Newcastle : Catchfire Press , 2001 Z892614 2001 anthology poetry (taught in 1 units)
Importance Of Being Ernest!$!Wilde!$!!$!!$!
Winter's Tale!$!Shakespeare!$!!$!!$!

Description

English Literature and Film explores a variety of representations of identity and culture through a range of literary texts. The course also examines the role, point of view and responsibility of storytellers in a range of literary genres. There will be particular emphasis on the art and language of narratives as they draw upon individual and collective memory, myth and the imagination in the periods and cultures from which they come. The course is designed to enable students to develop the skills of critical thinking, literary analysis and academic essay writing necessary for university study. Approaches to topics will be varied to suit a diversity of learning styles.

Assessment

Examination: Class: In-class test

Essays / Written Assignments: Short tutorial essay

Essays / Written Assignments: Two major essays: presentation of coherent argument in appropriate academic form on different literary genre.

Essays / Written Assignments: Two written exercises: Critical analysis of different forms of literary genre.

Examination: Formal: Final examination in the University examination period.

Presentations - Group: One oral group presentation: discussion of representations of Australian identities.

Other Details

Offered in: 2011, 2010
Current Campus: Callaghan, Ourimbah
Levels: Undergraduate
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