Australian autobiography
B Niall
12 points * 2 hours per week * Second semester * Clayton
Many of the major achievements in Australian literature since the 1950s have been autobiographies but only within the last decade has much critical attention been given to the form. As a literary form, autobiography is rich and varied; it is also culturally revealing. Like its counterpart in the United States, the Australian autobiography is much concerned with ideas about national identity; it frequently presupposes a national type or a typical environment against which the narrator attempts self-definition. This study of Australian autobiography will raise questions about the distinctive concerns and structures of the genre. It will examine recurring myths of `growing up Australian' and consider ways in which such myths may be seen to be endorsed or subverted.
Assessment
Two seminar papers (2500 words): 30% each * Essay (4000 words): 40%
Prescribed texts
Clark M The puzzles of childhood Penguin
Conway J The road from Coorain Minerva
Facey A A fortunate life Fremantle Arts Press
Franklin M Childhood at Brindabella Angus and Robertson
Gilbert K (ed.) Living black Penguin
Greer G Daddy we hardly knew you Penguin
Horne D The education of young Donald Angus and Robertson
Malouf M 12 Edmondstone Street Penguin
Modjeska D Poppy Penguin
Morgan S My place Fremantle Arts Press
Park R A fence around the cuckoo Penguin
Porter H The watcher on the cast-iron balcony Faber
Riemer A Inside, Outside Angus and Robertson
White P Flaws in the glass Penguin
Preliminary reading
Donaldson I and others Shaping lives Humanities Research Centre, ANU
Olney J (ed.) Autobiography: Essays theoretical and critical