Postmodern Literature in English (ENGL7208)
2009

Texts

The Crying of Lot 49!$!Pynchon, Thomas!$!!$!!$!1966
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y separately published work icon The Last Magician Janette Turner Hospital , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1992 Z461943 1992 single work novel (taught in 1 units) Set largely in Sydney, the 'last magician' is Charlie the photographer, who records everything as he seeks the Cat. Charlie, Cat, Robbie and Catherine shared a childhood summer in a Queensland rainforest till death intruded in their circle. Decades later, memories seep into the present.
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Light!$!Harrison, M. John.!$!!$!!$!2003
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White Noise!$!DeLillo, Don.!$!!$!!$!1984
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Description

The term Postmodernism, to quote Ihab Hassan, describes an endlessly contested category. This segment will attempt to demystify this recent historical and cultural moment by examining fertile literary texts that demonstrate, propose or partake of Postmodern elements. We will consider numerous elements of Postmodern theory as they relate to literary and wider cultural concerns, and we will examine the ways in which the set novels and their writers demonstrate a playfulness and experimentation that entails genre subversion, intertextuality, socio-political critique and satire.

Our central theoretical writings will be drawn from writers including Linda Hutcheon, Umberto Eco, Richard Rorty, and Ihab Hassan. These readings will be positioned in order to render comprehensible the unwieldy theoretical debate that Postmodernism has become. Crucial concepts will include: the function and effects of intertextuality, the dissolving of conceptual boundaries between high art and low art, and the function of parody in social critique.

Assessment

One seminar presentation paper (1000 words, 30%)

Comparative essay (2000 words, 70%)

Other Details

Levels: Undergraduate - Honours
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