The Department of English has the following major objectives:
The English Department has close connections with a number of other teaching programs in the Faculty of Arts, all of which are concerned in one way or another with the study of `texts' and `textuality'. These are comparative literature, critical theory, cultural studies, drama and theatre studies, English literature and fiction writing.
Combined or double honours may also be taken in any two of comparative literature and cultural studies, drama and theatre studies, and English literature.
The aims of fourth year are to develop further areas of competence outlined above. Students are required to attend a compulsory four-week introduction to disciplinary methodology at the beginning of the honours year and to pass its assessment before proceeding.
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.
The Department of English offers a variety of subjects in the literatures of Britain, Australia, America, and Asia and in a range of related areas.
In first year students are introduced to the study of English through a choice of 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 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.
The majority of English students follow the literature sequence through both semesters. However, at Clayton, the `Text and context' sequence, provided by the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, and the `Language and places of performance' sequence, provided by the Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies, may also lead into later-year English subjects. Students at Clayton should note that these CLS and DTS subjects are recommended as usefully supplementing English literature subjects in the first year and that one of these sequences may be taken alongside the ENH subjects.
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, 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.
The department regards attendance at seminars and tutorials as compulsory. Students will be penalised for non-attendance.
At the graduate level the department offers a research MA and a PhD across a wide range of literary, cultural and theoretical studies. Library holdings for research are strong in the following areas: pre-1800 literature and culture including Elizabethan and Jacobean drama and poetry; seventeenth-century literature; eighteenth-century literature, in particular Swift and his milieu; American and Australian literature; nineteenth-century periodical and literary journalism; and bibliography and textual criticism. Staff research interests are diverse and cover all historical periods from Old English to the present, with particular strengths in pre-1800 literature, national literatures (American, Australian), genre studies (particularly drama), biography, women's studies, and bibliographical and textual criticism. For further information students should consult the Arts graduate studies handbook for 1998.
The Department of English offers the following prizes: the David Bradley Prize for the top student in first year; the W A G Scott Prize for the top student in second year; a prize for the top student in third year; the Brenda Niall Prize for Australian Literature to be awarded to a second/third-year student; the Renaissance Literature Prize to be awarded to a second/third-year student; the Henry Handel Richardson Prize for the top student in fourth-year; the Arthur Brown Prize for the best fourth-year thesis and the Cecile Parrish Award (see the Arts graduate handbook for 1998).
In first year students may complete the minimum twelve points required to proceed to a minor or major sequence by taking ENH1010 (Reading literature I) and ENH1220 (Reading literature II: worlds in conflict).
A minor sequence consists of two first-year subjects (as stipulated above) and two of the second-year level listed below.
A major sequence consists of a minor sequence as outlined above followed by three subjects taken at third-year level.
In 1998, the following subjects will be offered in the first semester:
The following subjects will be offered in the second semester: Further subjects will be offered in 1999.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; the three subject sequences outlined above are complementary. 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.
A minor sequence in English consists of at least one first-year combination of subjects as listed above, followed by two second-year subjects.
A major sequence in English consists of a minor sequence as outlined above followed by twenty-four points of work at third-year level.
It is expected that students intending to major in English should choose subjects which will provide them with:
With the exception of Old and Middle English subjects, any subject may be taken at either second or third-year level. Students intending to take subjects in Old or Middle English are reminded that ENH2020/ENH3020 is the prerequisite or corequisite for both ENH2170/ENH3170 and ENH2190/ENH3190, that the prerequisite for ENH3370 is ENH2170/ENH3170, and that the prerequisite for ENH3390 is ENH2190/ENH3190. Except for ENH3370 and ENH3390, no third-year English subject has a specific prerequisite. Students may take only one of ENH2230/ENH3230 and ENH2630/ENH3630.
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.
The following subjects will be offered in the first semester:
a ENH2020/ENH3020 Heroes, lovers and monsters: the literary culture of medieval England
b ENH2060/ENH3060 Introduction to critical theory
a ENH2090/ENH3090 Rakes and revolutionaries I: eighteenth-century women
b ENH2100/ENH3100 Postcolonial drama (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
a ENH2110/ENH3110 Renaissance literature: power and love
b ENH2290/ENH3290 Publishing in Australia
b ENH2310/ENH3310 Romantic literature
b ENH2420/ENH3420 Contemporary American fiction
b ENH2530/ENH3530 Contemporary English literature (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2570/ENH3570 Writing women
a ENH2630/ENH3630 Shakespeare: text and performance
b ENH2650/ENH3650 Poetry: text and performance
b ENH2690/ENH3690 Gender and authority in Australian literature
b ENH2710/ENH3710 Orientations: reading Asia (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2770/ENH3770 Short fiction: classic and contemporary (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2800/ENH3800 In other worlds: postcolonial literature
b ENH2990/ENH3990 Formative influences: children's fantasy narratives
b ENH2991/ENH3991 Children's literature: a comparative study (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
a ENH3390 Middle English literature
The following subjects will be offered in the second semester:
b ENH2030/ENH3030 Rewriting Victorian narratives: origins and oblivion
a ENH2050/ENH3050 The reader in history
a ENH2130/ENH3130 Rakes and Revolutionaries II: literature and opposition, 1660- 1800
b ENH2150/ENH3150 Australian urban fictions
b ENH2160/ENH3160 Freudian fable (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
a ENH2190/ENH3190 Middle English
a ENH2210/ENH3210 The woman's part (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
a ENH2230/ENH3230 Shakespeare: interpretations and transmutations (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2240/ENH3240 Contemporary feminist theory
b ENH2260/ENH3260 Sexing the text
b ENH2270/ENH3270 Modern drama (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2330/ENH3330 Victorian literature (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
a ENH2340/ENH3340 Literature and the Christian tradition (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2450/ENH3450 Contemporary drama
b ENH2470/ENH3470 Modern English literature: modernism and postmodernism
b ENH2550/ENH3550 Romanticism and revolution (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2660/ENH3660 Here and there: the literature of travel
b ENH2750/ENH3750 Contemporary women's fiction and theory (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2930/ENH3930 National fictions (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
b ENH2995/ENH3995 Writing in theory and practice: an introduction (proposed to be offered next in 1999)
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/ENH3170 (Old English), ENH2020/ENH3020 and ENH2190/ENH3190 (Middle English), ENH2110/ENH3110 (Renaissance), ENH2130/ENH3130 (Eighteenth century), ENH2310/ENH3310 (Romantic), ENH2330/ENH3330 and ENH2030/ENH3030 (Victorian), ENH2470/ENH3470 (Modern and postmodern), ENH2530/ENH3530 (Contemporary).
Entry to fourth-year honours depends upon completion of a major sequence in English with at least credit level results in subjects to the value of twenty-four points at second and third-year level combined, of which sixteen points must be at third-year level. It is also necessary for students to have fulfilled the requirements of a major sequence.
Intending honours students should choose subjects providing them with:
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).
In fourth year (honours), students take ENH4600 (Minor thesis) and (in first semester) either ENH4620 (Literary theory) twelve points or ENH4640 (The life of the text: genesis, production, reception) twelve points. They also take two elective subjects: the selection of subjects must be approved by the fourth-year coordinator.
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.
In special circumstances the department may grant an extension of time for submission of the honours thesis or for final coursework up to the last day of the examination period in which the work is due. Applications for extensions beyond this date must be made to the Committee for Undergraduate Studies.
The following elective subjects will be offered if there are sufficient enrolments in them, and if staff are available to teach them.
From 1998 on, there will be no further enrolments in first-year English studies at Peninsula campus. Four subjects are offered to enable second and third-year students to continue with their courses. These may, of course, be supplemented by subjects offered at Clayton campus.
The structure of the major sequence in English is as follows:
Two second-year subjects and three-third year subjects selected from those listed below:
The minor sequence in English consists of the first year (as above) followed by two of the later-year subjects listed above.