ENH2690

Gender and authority in Australian literature

M Ackland

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives Upon completion of this subject students should have gained an understanding of the development of local letters, the role of gender and race in its formation, and of the changing and contraversial place of literature in contemporary society.

Synopsis This subject is concerned with the struggle to form a national identity, and with recurring patterns of repression and domination. Texts range from the colonial period to the present day. They focus on racial issues, seen from white and black perspectives, on gender codes and sexual conflicts, on the historical record as a site of contention, and on shifting Australian attitudes to the past. They also represent local responses to landscape and conventions of realism; contemporary experimentation; and the critical perspectives offered by women's writing.

Assessment Seminar presentation (1500 words) and participation: 30%
* Essay (2500 words): 40%
* Class test (2000 words): 30%

Prescribed texts

Ackland M (ed.) The Penguin book of nineteenth-century Australian literature Penguin
Carey P The tax inspector UQP
Demidenko H The hand that signed the paper Allen and Unwin
Jolley E The well Penguin
Malouf D Remembering Babylon Picador
Narogin Doctor Wooreddy's prescription for enduring the ending of the world Hyland House
Nowra L The Golden Age Currency
Prichard K Coonardoo Angus and Robertson
Richardson H H The fortunes of Richard Mahony Penguin