Carpentaria
Artarmon
:
Giramondo Publishing
,
2006
Z1184902
2006
single work
novel
(taught in 47 units)
Carpentaria's portrait of life in the precariously settled coastal town of Desperance centres on the powerful Phantom family, whose members are the leaders of the Pricklebush people, and their battles with old Joseph Midnight's tearaway Eastend mob on the one hand, and the white officials of Uptown and the neighbouring Gurfurrit mine on the other. Wright's storytelling is operatic and surreal: a blend of myth and scripture, politics and farce. The novel is populated by extraordinary characters - Elias Smith the outcast saviour, the religious zealot Mozzie Fishman, leader of the holy Aboriginal pilgrimage, the murderous mayor Stan Bruiser, the ever-vigilant Captain Nicoli Finn, the activist and prodigal son Will Phantom, and above all, Angel Day the queen of the rubbish-dump, and her sea-faring husband Normal Phantom, the fish-embalming king of time - figures that stand like giants in this storm-swept world. (Backcover)
The course aims to introduce students to the possibilities of cross-cultural and inter-communal dialogue through responsive reading and creative writing. We will discuss contemporary work, in English or English translation, by authors from the Asia Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand, and Indigenous writing. How do we, as readers, interpret this work? How does it travel? How can we, as writers, contribute to this conversation? Students will be encouraged to explore their own cross-cultural interactions with the Asia Pacific. In this setting international students will have an opportunity to articulate their experience of living in Australia.
