The Strays
Melbourne
:
Affirm Press
,
2014
6974116
2014
single work
novel
historical fiction
(taught in 2 units)
'On her first day of school, Lily Struthers meets Eva, one of the daughters of the infamous avant-garde artist Evan Trentham. He and his wife are attempting to escape the stifling conservatism of 1930s Australia by inviting other like-minded artists to live and work with them at their family home. As Lily’s friendship with Eva grows, she becomes infatuated with this artist colony, longing to truly belong to this makeshift family.
'Looking back on those years later in life, Lily realises that this utopian circle involved the same themes as Evan Trentham’s art: Faustian bargains and terrible recompense; spectacular fortunes and falls from grace. Yet it was not Evan, nor the other artists he gathered around him, but his own daughters, who paid the debt that was owing.
'The Strays is an engrossing story of ambition, sacrifice and compromised loyalties from an exciting new talent.'
Source: Publisher's blurb. (Sighted: 30/1/2014)
Dodge Rose
Champaign
:
Dalkey Archive Press
,
2015
9113355
2015
single work
novel
(taught in 1 units)
'Eliza travels to Sydney to deal with the estate of her Aunt Dodge, and finds Maxine, a hitherto unknown cousin, occupying Dodge's apartment. When legal complications derail plans to live it up on their inheritance, the women's lives become consumed by absurd attempts to deal with Australian tax law, as well their own mounting boredom and squalor. The most astonishing debut novel of the decade, Dodge Rose calls to mind Henry Green in its skewed use of colloquial speech, Joyce in its love of inventories, and William Gaddis in its virtuoso lampooning of law, high finance, and national myth.' (Publication summary)
This course is the culmination of the courses in the English and Writing major. It will consolidate and enhance the skills and knowledge that students have acquired so far, and prepare them to advance to Honours and further studies if they so desire. They may specialise in either English or Creative Writing. Students choosing English will engage with contemporary issues and debates in literary studies while students opting for Creative Writing will explore contemporary writing practice and theory. Students from both streams will be exposed to advanced research methods and will learn to contextualise their own work in the field. They will be asked to undertake an advanced research or writing project that demonstrates in-depth understanding of the critical/creative issues involved.
