Benang : From the Heart
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)
Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic - Bechdel
After Dark - Murakami Haruki
Burial Rites
2013
Sydney
:
Pan Macmillan Australia
,
2013
Z1828606
2013
single work
novel
historical fiction
(taught in 1 units)
'In northern Iceland, 1829, Agnes Magnusdottir is condemned to death for her part in the brutal murder of two men.
'Agnes is sent to wait out the time leading to her execution on the farm of District Officer Jon Jonsson, his wife and their two daughters. Horrified to have a convicted murderess in their midst, the family avoids speaking with Agnes. Only Toti, the young assistant reverend appointed as Agnes's spiritual guardian, is compelled to try to understand her, as he attempts to salvage her soul. As the summer months fall away to winter and the hardships of rural life force the household to work side by side, Agnes's ill-fated tale of longing and betrayal begins to emerge. And as the days to her execution draw closer, the question burns: did she or didn't she?
'Based on a true story, Burial Rites is a deeply moving novel about personal freedom: who we are seen to be versus who we believe ourselves to be, and the ways in which we will risk everything for love. In beautiful, cut-glass prose, Hannah Kent portrays Iceland's formidable landscape, where every day is a battle for survival, and asks, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?' (Publisher's blurb)
Elizabeth Costello : Eight Lessons
Milsons Point
:
Knopf
,
2003
Z1064567
2003
single work
novel
(taught in 3 units)
In Elizabeth Costello: Eight Lessons, the eponymous protagonist is a retired author of international literary acclaim, who now spends her time giving guest lectures and interviews at scholarly events around the world. Old age has loosened, rather than reified, her ethical and literary convictions, and swelled her emotional reserves; rather than provide the staid academic wisdom expected of her, Costello offers provocative, unsettling opinions on issues such as animal rights, literary censorship, and the nature of belief - opinions she may or may not believe in herself. Profoundly aware of itself, Coetzee's novel is about human morality and mortality, but above all, about literature itself and the ethical responsibilities of writers and readers.
This unit offers an innovative approach to the writing and reading of literature today. In the wake of the globalised economy and mass migrations of the last 50 years, literature has become a transnational phenomenon. At the same time, postcolonialism has refocused critical attention upon the writings of Indigenous peoples. The unit studies contemporary creative writing in various genres and media drawn from around the world, with particular emphasis on Asian writing, and on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing. Emphasis is placed on close reading, and assessment includes reflective readers' reports and an optional creative writing folio. The objectives and content of the unit link in with the Language strand of the new Australian Curriculum in English, and with the cross-curriculum priorities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, and Australia's relationship with Asia.
This comprises a 4000-word reflective journal (80 per cent) and a seminar presentation of approximately 1000 words (20 per cent).
