Cirrus@Austlit

In this unit, students explore and analyse a fascinating variety of autobiographical texts. Examples are predominantly drawn from memoir and personal essay, but will also include but samples from diaries, letters and journalism. The blurry boundaries surrounding 'fiction' and 'memoir' and 'truth' and 'lies' are explored, as are texts that are labelled 'fictional' memoir and those labelled 'false' memoir - when writers publish accounts of their lives. Gender, race and ethnicity are a continuing focus, used to analyse and critique approaches to writing the self. This critique enables students to write their own autobiographical memoir piece or personal essay, thereby using the theory to reflect upon and create their own creative work. This unit also explores other forms of memoir such as film and comic books as a way to reflect on what is possible in the written form, and as inspiration for their own memoir pieces. Students will use writing journals to develop their creative writing and reflect on the process of writing.