Post Colonial Literature (ENGL3430)
Semester 1 / 2012

Texts

y separately published work icon Benang : From the Heart Kim Scott , Fremantle : Fremantle Press , 1999 Z135862 1999 single work novel (taught in 31 units) 'Oceanic in its rhythms and understanding, brilliant in its use of language and image, moving in its largeness of spirit, compelling in its narrative scope and style, Benang is a novel of celebration and lament, of beginning and return, of obliteration and recovery, of silencing and of powerful utterance. Both tentative and daring, it speaks to the present and a possible future through stories, dreams, rhythms, songs, images and documents mobilised from the incompletely acknowledged and still dynamic past.' (Publisher's website)
Arundhati Roy's The God Of Small Things!$!Mullaney, J.!$!!$!!$!
One Hundred Years Of Solitude!$!Marquez Gabriel Garcia!$!!$!!$!
Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative!$!King, T.!$!!$!!$!
Green Grass Running Water!$!King, T.!$!!$!!$!
A Thousand Splendid Suns!$!Khaled Hosseini!$!!$!!$!
The Joys of Motherhood!$!Buchi Emecheta!$!!$!!$!

Description

This course focuses on modes of representation used in literature, written in English, by writers in colonised and post-colonised continents. By studying how twentieth century postcolonial writers have adapted literary modes of representation used by the colonisers, this course provides students with the opportunity to study the development of diasporic literatures and its use of humour, magic realism, biography and film to evaluate the relation of literary, cultural and historical contexts. Some key concepts of postcolonial literary theory will also be examined and discussed.

On successfully completing the course, students will be able to demonstrate an awareness of the range and purpose of post colonial literature and to engage in informed discussion of:

- cultural, social and historical contexts in colonised and post-colonised countries

- the concept of literary representation and modes of representation such as magic realism, social realism and mimeticism

- some methodologies appropriate to analyse the relation of colonised people in a postcolonial state.

By focusing on literature from post-colonial and colonial continents, this course explores the process of the transmission and adaptation of literary conventions of representation. It examines issues such as

1. the transmission and adaptation of conventions of written expression

2. the development of diasporic literary genres

3. the concept of representation

4. the political and cultural power of literature written in English

Assessment

Written Assignments 2000 words, 40%

A reflective journal 2000 words, 40%

Oral Presentation equivalent to 1000 words, 20%

Other Details

Offered in: 2011
Current Campus: Callaghan Campus
Levels: Undergraduate
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