ENH2150

Australian Urban Fictions

(ART)

Robin Gerster

6 points + 2 hours per week + Second semester + Clayton + Prerequisites: A first-year sequence in English or permission + Prohibition: ENH3150

Synopsis: This subject examines the representation of urban life in Australian literature. The selected texts represent a range of modes used to construct the city - popular fiction (especially crime fiction), social realism and social satire, the urban dystopia and the 'urban pastoral', plus autobiographical and postmodernist fictions. Specific areas of study include the literary mapping of cities in the creation of spatial and social environments, the interplay of urban landscape, architecture and narrative form, regionalism and expatriation, sociological perspectives and political imperatives in the fictionalisation of the Australian city, and varying responses to both urban and suburban locales.

Assessment: Examination (2 hours): 40% + Essay (1500 words): 30% + Seminar paper (1000 words) and participation: 30%