Turning the Century : Writing of the 1890s
Christopher Lee
(editor),
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
1999
Z397740
1999
anthology
short story
poetry
extract
prose
(taught in 12 units)
The works in this selection, all composed or published between 1885 and 1905, 'represent the way in which literary forms were used to respond to some of the important social, cultural and political preoccupations' of Australia during this period (Note on the Text, ix). The work is divided into the following six sections, each with a prefatory Editor's Note; Histories and Futures; Home and Away; Love and Other Catastrophes; Work and Play; Civilisation and its Discontents: Art and Society. There is also a List of Sources, pp. 374-381, and a bibliography, pp. 382-390.
My Brilliant Career
Edinburgh
London
:
William Blackwood
,
1901
Z161522
1901
single work
novel
(taught in 56 units)
'My Brilliant Career was written by Stella Franklin (1879-1954) when she was just nineteen years old. The novel struggled to find an Australian publisher, but was published in London and Edinburgh in 1901 after receiving an endorsement from Henry Lawson. Although Franklin wrote under the pseudonym 'Miles Franklin', Lawson’s preface makes it clear that Franklin is, as Lawson puts it 'a girl.'
'The novel relates the story of Sybylla Melvyn, a strong-willed young woman of the 1890s growing up in the Goulburn area of New South Wales and longing to be a writer.' (Publication summary)
In this unit you read a selection of poetry and short stories and a short novel as a basis for reflecting upon themes of nationality and gender in Australian literature and history. Texts include an anthology of poems and stories from the 1890s, Franklin’s My Brilliant Career, and a unit dossier of relevant literary, historical and critical writings.
The unit examines inter-relations between literary writing and reading, cultural institutions and political movements and ideologies during the two decades that principally shaped the national identity.
Critical Analysis (34%)
Essay (66%)
