Benang : From the Heart
Fremantle
:
Fremantle Press
,
1999
Z135862
1999
single work
novel
(taught in 31 units)
In the vast expanse of Western Australia, a young Indigenous man embarks on a profound journey within himself. Labelled as the successful outcome of his white grandfather's attempts to breed the 'first white man born', Harley wants to be a failure. Finding himself at a difficult point in the history of his country, family and self, Harley's story takes the reader on an eye-opening and heartbreaking narrative of the impact of colonisation on First Nations people in Australia. From one of Australia's most revered storytellers, Benang sheds light on the ongoing struggle for cultural preservation, and is an epic and beautiful story of celebration and lament, beginning and return.
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
A reflective journal 2000 words, 40%
Oral Presentation equivalent to 1000 words, 20%
