Reading narrative texts
Proposed to be offered next in 1996
CLS2070
Popular fiction and popular culture
Chris Worth
8 points * 3 hours per week * First semester * Clayton
The subject will investigate popular fiction in contemporary culture, specifically in Australia. What fiction is widely read and seen in our society? How is it consumed? What functions do popular texts serve? In what ways do gender and ideology intersect with the genres and structures of popular narratives in books and films? How are national myths (re) produced in Australian fictional narratives? What are the interactions between written fictional narratives and narratives in other media? How are the stories by which people live affected by the myths and narratives circulated in our society?
Assessment
Written (3000 words): 50% * Examinations (2 hours): 30% * One seminar paper: 20%
Recommended texts
Alomes S and den Hartog D (eds) Post pop: Popular culture, nationalism and postmodernism FIT Cultural Studies Unit, 1991
Bennett T (ed.) Popular fiction: Technology, ideology, production, reading Routledge, 1990
Cawelti J Adventure, mystery and romance: Formula stories as art and popular culture U Chicago P, 1976
Dermody S and others (eds) Nellie Melba, Ginger Meggs and friends: Essays in Australian cultural history Kibble, 1982
Guldberg H Books - who reads them? A study of borrowing and buying in Australia Australia Council, 1990
Knight S Form and ideology in crime fiction Macmillan, 1980
Modleski T Loving with a vengeance: Mass-produced fantasies for women Methuen, 1982
Moretti F Signs taken for wonders: Essays in the sociology of literary forms Verso, 1983
Spearritt P and Walker D Australian popular culture Allen and Unwin, 1979
Sutherland J Bestsellers: Popular fiction of the 1970s RKP, 1981
Turner G National fictions: Literature, film and the construction of Australian narrative Allen and Unwin, 1986
Williams R Culture Fontana, 1981