MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

CLS2070

Popular fiction and popular culture

Chris Worth

Synopsis The subject will investigate popular fiction in contemporary culture, specifically in Australia. What fiction is widely read and seen in our society? How is it consumed? What functions do popular texts serve? In what ways do gender and ideology intersect with the genres and structures of popular narratives in books and films? How are national myths (re) produced in Australian fictional narratives? What are the interactions between written fictional narratives and narratives in other media? How are the stories by which people live affected by the myths and narratives circulated in our society?

Assessment Written (3000 words): 50% + Examinations (2 hours): 30% + One seminar paper: 20%

Recommended texts

• Alomes S and den Hartog D (eds) Post pop: Popular culture, nationalism and postmodernism FIT Cultural Studies Unit, 1991
• Bennett T (ed.) Popular fiction: Technology, ideology, production, reading Routledge, 1990
• Dermody S and others (eds) Nellie Melba, Ginger Meggs and friends: Essays in Australian cultural history Kibble, 1982
• Guldberg H Books - who reads them? A study of borrowing and buying in Australia Australia Council, 1990
• Knight S Form and ideology in crime fiction Macmillan, 1980
• MacCabe C (ed.)High theory/low culture Manchester U P, 1986
• Moretti F Signs taken for wonders: Essays in the sociology of literary forms Verso, 1983
• Palmer J Potboilers Routledge, 1991
• Radway J Reading the romance verso 1984
• Spearritt P and Walker D Australian popular culture Allen and Unwin, 1979
• Turner G National fictions: Literature, film and the construction of Australian narrative Allen and Unwin, 1986
• Williams R Culture Fontana, 1981