Popular fiction and popular culture
Proposed to be offered next in 1998
Andrew Milner
8 points
* 3 hours per week
* Clayton
Objectives On completion of this subject students should have the skills to discuss and analyse popular fiction critically, using contemporary methodologies; be able to explain the relations between Australian culture and the fictions which circulate in it; be able to write effectively and articulately on these issues; and have developed their personal and cultural reflexivity as they observe and interpret contemporary cultural forms and productions.
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 second year Seminar paper (15 minutes, 1000 words) and
seminar participation: 20%
* Two essays (1500 words each): 50%
*
Examination (2 hours): 30%
Assessment third year Seminar paper (15 minutes and 1000 words) and
seminar participation: 20%
* Two essays (1500 words each): 50%
*
Examination (2 hours): 30%
* Third-year students will read more complex
critical texts and write a less descriptive, more self-reflexive final essay
than second-year students.
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
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
Turner G National fictions: Literature, film and the construction of Australian narrative Allen and Unwin, 1986
Williams R Culture Fontana, 1981
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