ENH2710

Orientations: reading Asia

R Gerster

8 points - 2 hours per week - Second semester - Clayton, Caulfield

Objectives Through their reading of a range of contemporary Asian texts, students should gain an understanding of the aesthetics and politics of cultural representation of the Asian region, including an awareness of the impact of (post)colonialism, war and tourismon the making and depiction of diverse regional identities. They should also acquire a knowledge of the range of ideological positions underpinning the literary strategies used to construct and deconstruct 'the East'.

Synopsis This subject's central focus on assessing the matter of cultural identity in the Asian region and the East/West nexus spans a three-part structure. The first part of the course examines intertextual and intracultural exchanges in Anglo/Indian fiction. Part two looks at inside and outside views of Japan. The third and final part explores ambivalent Australian attitudes toward Asia, both historically and in contemporary literary encounters, paying particular attention to the development of Australian discourses of orientalism in both literature and the media.

Assessment Research essay (3000 words): 50% - Test (1500 words approx.): 25% - Seminar participation/seminar paper (1500 words approx.): 25%

Prescribed texts

Desai A Baumgartner's Bombay Penguin
Forster E M A passage to India Penguin
Gerster R (ed.) Hotel Asia Penguin
Ishiguro K An artist of the floating world Faber
Mishima Y Death in midsummer and other stories Penguin
Roy A The god of small things Flamingo
Rushdie S Midnight's children Faber

Recommended texts

Loomba A Colonialism/postcolonialism Routledge
Said E Orientalism Penguin

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