ENH2690

Gender and authority in Australian literature

(ART)

M Ackland

8 points + 2 hours per week + First semester + Clayton + Prohibitions: WMN2690/3690

Synopsis: The subject is concerned with the conribution of literature to forming and interrogating national identity, and with post-war attempts to assimilate the heritage of modernism to Australian experience. They focus on racial issues, seen from white and black perspectives, on gender codes an sexual conflicts, on the distant and recent historical record as a site of contention, and on ferment in the 'fifties and sixties. The also represent local responses to landscape and changing conventions of realism; literary experimentation and recent challenges to the myth of a caring harmonious Australian society.

Assessment: Seminar presentation (1500 words) and participation: 30% + Essay (2500 words): 40% + Class test (2000 words): 30%