Popular narrative fiction
Proposed to be offered next in 1996
8 or 12 points * 2 hours per week * Clayton
This subject investigates how theories of narrative, culture and society can aid our understanding of the production and consumption of popular narrative in Australia. It will explore the ways in which gender and politics intersect with the genres and structures of popular narrative. A series of critical positions on these issues will be analysed in conjunction with selected examples of a number of genres of popular texts (among the genres that may be considered are detective fiction, spy thrillers, romances, certain kinds of autobiographical narrative and `blockbusters'). The discussion will extend into the consideration of popular film and its intertextual and ideological relations with other Australian narratives. Because popular fiction is internationally distributed, not all the texts considered will be Australian, but there will be an emphasis on reading in an Australian context and on texts produced in Australia. An urgent concern of the course will be analysis of the circulation and reproduction of national myths in Australian narrative texts. The preliminary reading list includes several interesting critical approaches to popular fiction and some classic articles on the distinction of `high' and `low' culture. More detailed reading lists and an outline of the course will be available in November.
Assessment: 8 points
Two class papers (one of which must be written up formally) * One essay (4000 words)
Assessment: 12 points
Two class papers (one of which must be written up formally) * One essay (6000 words)
Preliminary reading
Adorno T and Horkheimer M `The culture industry: Enlightenment as mass deception' in Dialectic of enlightenment (tr. J Cumming) Verso, 1973
Bennet T (ed.) Popular fiction: Technology, ideology, production, reading Routledge, 1990
Cawelti J G Adventure, mystery and romance: Formula stories as art and popular culture Chicago UP, 1976
Denning M Cover stories: Narrative and ideology in the British spy thriller Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1987
Guldberg H H Books - who reads them? A study of borrowing and buying in Australia Australia Council, 1990
Leavis F R `Mass civilization and minority culture' in Education and the university Chatto and Windus, 1943
MacCabe C (ed.) High theory-low culture: Analysing popular television and film Manchester UP, 1986
Modleski T Loving with a vengeance: Mass-produced fantasies for women Methuen, 1982
Parrinder P Science fiction: Its criticism and teaching Methuen, 1980