Professing literature
Denise Cuthbert
8 or 12 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
*
Clayton
Objectives On successfully completing this unit, students should have developed a self-reflexive and critical awareness of the various contexts in which the study of literature takes place; an understanding of contemporary debates regarding the discipline of English; detailed knowledge of certain literary practices (eg reviewing, publishing) and institutions (eg funding bodies) in Australian society and of the cultural value attached to literature and literary production; an extension of research skills and skills of argument developed in the fourth year.
Synopsis This is the compulsory core unit for the coursework masters degree in English. Normally it is taken at the part II level (ie the second year of the MA program) but it may, with the head of department's permission, be done at the part I level. This may be of advantage to those students contemplating a more empirical type of thesis in part II. The aim of the subject is to analyse critically the profession of literature, to explore some of the professional uses to which literature is put, and the values and assumptions embodied in our ideas about literature and literary education. It will offer graduate students the opportunity to evaluate critically their own literary education in the context of the current `crisis of identity' in the discipline while also offering a more empirical study of various aspects of the profession of literature within the Australian cultural context. In 1996, it will focus on the following questions: current theoretical and pedagogical developments in the profession, the theory and practice of literary reviewing; and the role of politics and patronage in the literary profession.
Assessment (8 points) Assignment/s (2500 words): 40%
* Essay (3500
words): 50%
* Class performance: 10%
Assessment (12 points) Seminar paper, oral presentation (15-20 mins):
20%
* Short essay (2500 words): 30%
* Long essay (5000 words): 40%
* Seminar participation: 10%
Prescribed texts
Bergonzi T Exploding English: Criticism, theory, culture Clarendon Press, 1990
Carter D (ed.) Outside the book Local Consumption, 1991
Eagleton T Literary theory: An introduction Blackwell, 1983
Recommended texts
Baldick C The social mission of English criticism 1846-1932
Boyle B English and Englishness
Docker B In a critical condition
Docker J Australian cultural elites
Kamerman S (ed.) Book reviewing
McMurty J English language, English literature
Palmer D The rise of English studies
Price G Helping literature in Australia
Potter S The muse in chains: A study in education
Protherough R Students of English
Selden R Practising theory and reading literature
Shapcott T The Literature Board: A brief history
Vanderbilt K American literature and the academy
Watkins E Work time: English departments and the circulation of cultural value
Widdowson P (ed.) Re-reading English
| Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria
3168 Copyright © Monash University 1996 - All Rights Reserved - Caution Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996 |