Caution
Copyright © Monash University 1996
ISBN 1320-6222
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
+ to produce students who have a commitment to the value and importance of literary and textual studies both in themselves and in relation to the cultures of which they are a part;
+ to encourage in students a tolerance and appreciation of human difference through engagement with a variety of different perspectives, literary, critical, theoretical and historical;
+ to encourage students to develop a critical and reflective attitude to received theories and opinions in the field of English studies;
+ to enable students to understand the complex and conditional nature of English by providing them with (1) experience of the multiple interpretive possibilities available within the discipline and (2) an understanding of the social, historical and cultural determinants of those possibilities;
+ to develop students' ability to speak and write critically, to construct literary and critical arguments, and to turn these skills to the analysis of social, cultural and literary issues;
+ to encourage in students a sense of personal responsibility and accountability in their critical and creative work;
+ to produce students with a flexiblity and openness to new ideas in the field of English studies together with a sensitivity to the ideas and approaches of others;
+ to produce students with an interest in learning and the skills and understanding to pursue it beyond the years of their university experience.
The department does not require students to take a compulsory core subject or subjects. It does encourage students to include in their degree subjects which will provide:
+ a familiarity with a range of genres, spoken and written, literary and non-literary, across a broad historical and cultural spectrum. Such familiarity includes (i) competence in reading literature, performance, film and literary theory; (ii) competence in writing: the summary, the factual report, the literary critical essay, the research essay, the review, the review article, the seminar paper, metacriticism and ficto-criticism and; (iii) competence in discussion and in various performance genres.
+ an understanding of contemporary and historical modes of literary and critical theory;
+ an understanding of the nature and construction of the discipline in its historical and contemporary forms.
The department attempts at all levels to encourage the practices of close reading and critical textual analysis and of carefully produced professional writing. It is expected that students who have completed a minor in English should have a basic understanding of the way English scholars read and of the ways in which they write about what they read. It is expected that students who have completed a major in English will have a more advanced and conscious understanding of these matters, a wider nowledge of a number of historical periods and issues and a more sophisticated ability to synthesise and coordinate literary, textual and theoretical questions.
The core element in fourth year is a compulsory subject in one of two specified areas of critical theory. Both encourage students to work towards explicit discussion of theory and of the nature of knowledge within the discipline.
The thesis is a training in research methodology and practice and should produce an understanding and a critical awareness of the way in which knowledge is constructed, and spoken and written, within the discipline.
All aspects of the fourth year require the development of spoken and written skills in communication and a critical understanding of the discipline-specific skills involved in the writing of the thesis and the successful completion of core and optional subjects.
Intending fourth-year honours students are encouraged to consult as early as possible with the fourth year honours coordinator in planning their major sequence.
In first year students are introduced to the study of English through a choice of one of three two-semester subject sequences. Each sequence has a different focus - the study of English literature, the study of literary semiotics and comparative literature, and the study of drama and performance. Each however also aims to introduce students to a variety of modes of reading and to a number of ways of speaking and writing about what they read. Each provides an introduction to the historical and contemporary study of literature and to aspects of critical theory.
Second and third-year subjects in English literature build on this foundation. There are subjects which introduce students to the literature and culture of different historical periods from Anglo-Saxon to the present, and further subjects which allow students to specialize in these areas. Related subjects are offered in the following fields: Australian studies, American studies, the theory and practice of children's literature, critical theory, feminist theory and women's writing, postcolonial theory and literature, the languages of literature, literary and visual semiotics and performance studies, cinema studies, creative writing and professional writing. Students may select from these areas to develop their major in English.
Students will find the expectations of the department outlined in subject handbooks as they proceed through the degree.
The department provides consultation and advice on choice of subjects at first, second, third and fourth year levels to ensure that students choose suitable and coherent subject sequences.
+ ENH1051 Configurations of the female: revising the myths
+ ENH1071 Primitivism and progress
+ ENH1091 The reader in history (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
+ ENH110 Reading film narrative A
+ ENH2090/3090 Literary women of the eighteenth century
+ ENH2311/3311 Romantic literature (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH2691/3691 Authority and identity in Australian literature (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH2810/3810 Novel into film
+ ENH2830/3830 Drama into film (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH2990/3990 Formative influences: children's fantasy narratives
The following subjects will be offered in the second semester:
+ ENH2210/3210 The woman's part (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH2230/3230 Shakespeare: interpretations and transmutations (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH2800/3800 In other worlds: postcolonial literature
+ ENH2930/3930 National fictions (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH2030/3030 Rewriting Victorian narratives: origins and oblivion
+ ENH1060/DTS1060 The language of performance
+ ENH1111/CLS1010 Text and context I
+ ENH1050 Configurations of the female: revising the myths
+ ENH1070 Primitivism and progress
+ ENH1090 The reader in history (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH1122 Text and context II
+ ENH1160 The place of performance
Students may complete their first year in English by taking one of the following sequences of subjects:
+ ENH1010 (Introduction to English literature) in first semester followed in second semester by any one of ENH1040 (The languages of fiction), ENH1050 (Configurations of the female: revising the myths), ENH1070 (Primitivism and progress), or ENH1090 (The reader in history)
+ ENH1111/CLS1010 (Text and context I) in first semester followed in second semester by ENH1122/CLS1020 (Text and context II)
+ ENH1060/DTS1060 (The language of performance) in first semester followed in second semester by ENH1160/DTS1160 (The place of performance)
In addition, with the permission of the head of department, students who have completed ENH1111/CLS1010 (Text and context I) or ENH1060/DTS1060 (The language of performance) may proceed in second semester to one of ENH1040 (The languages of fiction), ENH1050 (Configurations of the female: revising the myths), ENH1070 (Primitivism and progress), or ENH1090 (The reader in history).
Students intending to proceed to a minor or major sequence in comparative literature and cultural studies (CLS) or drama and theatre studies (DTS) in addition to English literature (ENH) must complete first-year sequences in both their chosen disciplines.
Up to twelve additional points may be taken at first-year level. Such additional points may be taken in the later years of the degree, provided that the total number of points gained in first-year level English subjects does not exceed twenty-four and that the total number of points in English at all levels does not exceed ninety-two.
It is expected that students intending to major in English should choose subjects which will provide them with:
+ a familiarity with a range of literary genres across a broad historical and cultural spectrum
+ an understanding of contemporary and historical modes of literary and critical theory
+ an understanding of the nature and construction of the discipline, including its historical and contemporary forms
Majoring students must include among the five subjects which they take in second and third years at least one earlier and one later-period subject (designated a and b in the lists below).
In all cases assignments will be set and assessed at the appropriate year level.
An information session and consultation with staff will be available before second/third year enrolment to help students make their choice of subjects.
a ENH2020/3020 Heroes, lovers and monsters: the literary culture of medieval England
a ENH2040/3040 Property and power: British culture 1745-1799 (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
b ENH2060/3060 Introduction to critical and literary theory
a ENH2090/3090 Literary women of the 18th century
b ENH2100/3100 Postcolonial drama
a ENH2110/3110 Renaissance literature: power and love (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
a ENH2170/3170 Old English
b ENH2270/3270 Modern drama
b ENH2290/3290 Publishing in Australia
b ENH2310/3310 Romantic literature
b ENH2320/3320 Body, space, text: an introduction to the semiotics of performance (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
b ENH2410/3410 American literature from puritanism to postmodernism
b ENH2530/3530 Contemporary English literature
b ENH2570/3570 Writing women
a ENH2630/3630 Shakespeare: text and performance
b ENH2710/3710 Orientations: Reading Asia
b ENH2770/3770 Short fiction: classic and contemporary
b ENH2990/3990 Formative influences: children's fantasy narratives
b ENH2991/3991 Childrens literature: a comparative study (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
bENH2080/3080 The languages of literature
aENH3390 Middle English literature
a ENH2130/3130 Literature and opposition, 1660-1800
b ENH2150/3150 Australian urban fictions
b ENH2160/3160 Freudian fable (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
a ENH2190/3190 Middle English
a ENH2210/3210 The woman's part
a ENH2230/3230 Shakespeare: interpretations and transmutations (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
b ENH2260/3260 Sexing the text: constructions of female sexuality (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
b ENH2330/3330 Victorian literature (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
b ENH2340/3340 Literature and the Christian tradition
b ENH2430/3430 Modern American literature (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
b ENH2450/3450 Contemporary drama
b ENH2470/3470 Modern English literature: modernism and postmodernism (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
b ENH2550/3550 Romanticism and revolution (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
b ENH2650/3650 Poetry: text and performance (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
b ENH2690/3690 Authority and identity in Australian literature
b ENH2750/3750 Contemporary women's fiction and theory
b ENH2775/3775 Psychology and literature
b ENH2800/3800 In other worlds: postcolonial literature
b ENH2930/3930 National fictions
b ENH2995/3995 Writing theory and practice: an introduction
bENH2030/3030 Rewriting Victorian narratives: origins and oblivion
a ENH3370 Old English literature
The following subjects introduce students to the literature and culture of different historical periods from Anglo Saxon to the present: ENH2170/3170 (Old English), ENH2020/3020 (Middle English), ENH2110,3110 (Renaissance), ENH2130/3130 (Eighteenth century), ENH2310/3310 (Romantic), ENH2330/3330 and ENH2030/3030 (Victorian), ENH2470/33470 (Modern and postmodern), ENH2530/3530 (contemporary).
+ Australian literature: ENH2150/3150, ENH2690/3690
+ Children's literature: ENH2990/3990, ENH2991/3991
+ Critical theory and discourse analysis: ENH1040, ENH2060/3060, ENH2160/3160, ENH2650/3650, ENH2750/3750, ENH2995/3995
+ Drama: ENH1060, ENH1160, ENH2110/3110, ENH2210/3210, ENH230/3230, ENH2270/3270, ENH2320/3320, ENH2450/3450, ENH2630/3630, ENH2100/3100
+ Middle English: ENH2020/3020, ENH2190/3190, ENH3390
+ Old English: ENH2020/3020, ENH2170/3170, ENH3370
+ Poetry: ENH1050, ENH2110/3110, ENH2170/3170, ENH2190/3190, ENH2310/3310, ENH2650/3650
+ Postcolonial literature and theory: ENH1070, ENH2100/3100, ENH2710/3710, ENH2800/3800
+ Renaissance literature: ENH2110/3110, ENH2210/3210, ENH2230/3230, ENH2630/3630
+ Restoration and eighteenth-century literature: ENH2040/3040, ENH2090/3090, ENH2130/3130
+ Women's writing and representation of women: ENH1050, ENH2090/3090, ENH2210/3210, ENH2260/3260, ENH2570/3570, ENH2750/3750, WMN2260/3260
Any of the subjects in these lists may be taken singly or in other combinations. Some of the above subjects may not be offered in 1996.
Intending honours students should choose subjects providing them with:
+ an understanding of the nature and construction of the discipline, including its historical and contemporary forms;
+ a familiarity with a range of literary genres across a broad historical and cultural spectrum;
+ an understanding of contemporary and historical modes of literary and critical theory;
To complete a major in English students must include among the five subjects which they take in second and third years at least one earlier and one later-period subject (designated a and b in the lists of second and third-year subjects).
Students intending to include Old and/or Middle English courses in their honours year, should note that ENH3370 (Old English literature) is a prerequisite for ENH4780 (Beowulf and Old English poetry), and that ENH3390 (Middle English literature) is a prerequisite for ENH4800 (Middle English literature).
Students will be required to attend a short methodology course and a weekly staff-student seminar over part of the year, at which progress reports on minor theses are presented and discussed.
+ ENH4100/DTS4190 Postcolonial drama (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH4210 Writing the child (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH4250 Gothic revivals (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH4270 Feminist poetics (twelve points)
+ ENH4310 Theories of discourse: poststructuralism, feminism, and sociolinguistics (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH/DTS4320 Social semiotics of rehearsal and performance
+ ENH4660 Literature and culture in renaissance England (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH4740 The age of Johnson (proposed to be offered next in 19976)
+ ENH4760 Visions and revisions: reworkings
+ ENH4800 Middle English literature
+ ENH4920 Literature and negativity
+ ENH4940 Literature into film (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ ENH4080/RLT4090 The authority of the text
+ ENH4190 Legal fictions: intersections between law and literature
+ ENH4370 Contemporary Australian poetry and fiction
+ CLS4380/ENH4540 Literature and Society
+ ENH4580 Ireland, Swift, England: special author course
+ ENH4700 Drama of the Age of Shakespeare
+ ENH4780 Beowulf and Old English poetry
+ ENH4820 Twentieth-century Australian drama (proposed to be next offered in 1997)
+ ENH1020 Nineteenth century literature
+ ENH2272/3272 Modern drama
+ ENH2452/3452 Contemporary drama
+ ENH2532/3532 Contemporary English literature
+ ENH2950/3951 Literature and society
+ ENH2960/3960 Twentieth-century literature
+ ENH2970/3970 Australian literature
+ ENH2971/3971 American literature
+ ENH2980/3980 Introduction to fiction writing
+ ENH2981/3981 Advanced fiction writing
+ ENH2992/3992 Children's literature: a comparative study
+ ENH2993/3993 Formative influences: myths, legends and fairytales in modern children's fantasy
+ LIT210 and ENH2960/3960 Twentieth-century literature
+ LIT220 and ENH2970/3970 Australian literature
+ LIT221 and ENH2971/3971 American literature
+ LIT260 and ENH2980/3980 Introduction to fiction writing
+ LIT261 and ENH2981/3981 Advanced fiction writing
+ LIT270 and ENH2990/3990 Formative influences: myths, legends and fairytales in modern children's fantasy
+ LIT271 and ENH2991/3991 Children's literature: a comparative study
+ LIT350 and ENH2950/3950 Literature and society