Primitivism and progress
G Hiller
6 points * 2.5 hours per week * Second semester * Caulfield * Prerequisites: ENH1011
The subject explores the ways literature depicts relationships between the primitive life - imagined variously as savage, innocent, or naive -and that of civilisation. The texts present different and frequently ambiguous attitudes to the juxtaposed values of primitive and sophisticated humanity. Some of the themes which will be explored are (a) the island or remote place as an area of conflicting values and lifestyles; (b) the impulse to create civilisation in harmony with the natural environment - its successes and failures; (c) an `old world' based on traditional notions of civilisations juxtaposed with a `new world' promising a radically different set of cultural values.
Assessment
Essay (1500 words): 30% * Exercise (1000 words): 10% * Examination (2 hours): 50% * Class paper and participation: 10%
Prescribed texts
Coetzee Foe Penguin
Conrad Heart of darkness Penguin
Defoe Robinson Crusoe Penguin
Golding Lord of the flies Faber
James H The Europeans Penguin
Malouf An imaginary life Pan
Shakespeare The Tempest Penguin
Stevenson R L Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and other stories Penguin