Contemporary Australian Writing

Institution: 
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Coordinator: 
Harvey, Dr Melinda
Code: 
COMM2392
Year: 
2009
Levels: 
Undergraduate

In this course you will examine recent fictional and factual Australian writing that explores the significance of place to our sense of who we are and of belonging to community. The theme of place in the literary imagination evokes many sub-themes such as perceptions of the Australian landscape; the migrant experience in a new land; the tensions of indigenous/settler relations; among others.

Texts: 
Winton, Tim Breath 2008 Novel
Contemporary Indigenous Plays 2007 Drama
Tsiolkas, Christos Dead Europe 2005 Novel
Coetzee, J. M. Diary of a Bad Year 2007 Novel
Christian, Beatrix Jindabyne 2006 Film/TV
Nam Le The Boat 2008 Short story
Grenville, Kate The Secret River 2005 Novel
Bovell, Andrew When the Rain Stops Falling 2008 Drama
Organisational Body: 
School of Media and Communication
Degrees: 
Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing)
Assessment: 

1 x 2,000w essay, due Monday 19 October35% of total mark

2 x 500w reading log entries20% of total mark

Tutorial group presentation10% of total mark

Participation in class discussion and activities10% of total mark

Additional Information
Campus: 
City
Offering: 
Semester 2
Supplementary Texts: 

Week 1: Issues in Contemporary Australian Writing

Ken Gelder. Politics and Monomania. Overland 177 (2004): 48-56.

Malcolm Knox. Stories in the Wrong Tense. Sydney Morning Herald (8 December 2001): 8.

David Marr. The Role of the Writer in John Howards Australia. Colin Simpson Lecture (29 March 2003).

Mark Mordue. Fictions Lost Plot. SMH (25-26 January 2003): 4-5.

Geordie Williamson. Wider world in their sights, Australian (23-24 May 2009): 16-17.

Week 2: Australian Short Stories Now!

Tom Cho. Two Stories. Heat 11 (2006): 7-14.

Delia Falconer. Hadrian in Hell. Heat 6 (2003): 43-51.

Catherine Ford. Jet Lag, The Monthly (October 2005).

Cate Kennedy. Cold Snap (2001). In Dark Roots (2006): 46-57.

Joan London. The New Dark Age (2004). In On the Edge: 30 Modern Australian Short Stories. Ed. Barry Oakley (2005): 70-89.

Alice Pung. Letter to A. The Best Australian Stories 2007. Ed. Robert Drewe (2007): 44-48.

Louise Swinn. The Modern Australian Short Stories Tutor (2008). In New Australian Stories. Ed. Aviva Tuffield (2009): 308-313.

Week 3: Tim Wintons Breath (2008)

Essential reading (Co-op Bookshop):

Tim Winton. Breath (2008).

Week 4: Rewriting the Canon Wesley Enochs Black Medea (2005)

Wesley Enoch. Black Medea (2005). In Contemporary Indigenous Plays. Sydney: Currency, 2007: 55-81.

Euripides. Medea.

Week 5: Literature and History Kate Grenvilles The Secret River (2005)

Kate Grenville. The Secret River (2005).

Inga Clendinnen. Quarterly Essay 23: The History Question: Who Owns the Past? (2006).

Kate Grenville. Searching for the Secret River (2006).

Week 6: Literary Magazines in Australia

1 current edition of an Australian literary magazine of your choice (e.g. Meanjin, Heat, Island, Overland, Voiceworks, ABR, ALR, etc.)

Week 7: Literature and Politics J. M. Coetzees Diary of a Bad Year (2007)

J. M. Coetzee. Diary of a Bad Year (2007).

Week 8: American Story to Australian Film - Jindabyne (2006) d. Ray Lawrence

Raymond Carver. So Much Water So Close to Home (1977). In What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981): 235-240.

Jindabyne. Dir. Ray Lawrence. April Films, 2006.

Week 9: Christos Tsiolkas Dead Europe (2005)

Christos Tsiolkas. Dead Europe (2005).

Week 10: The Personal Essay in Australia

James Bradley. Never Real and Always True. Griffith Review 23 (Autumn 2009): 113-121.

Gabrielle Carey. Mexican Masks Heat 8 (2004): 75-101.

Helen Garner. Regions of Thick-Ribbed Ice. In The Feel of Steel (2001): 13-34.

M. J. Hyland. Asylum Elegy. Meanjin (2005): 75-80.

Diary. London Review of Books (6 May 2004).

Francesca Rendle-Short. Illicit Desire. Overland 188 (2007): 19-25.

Gabrielle Carey. Narcissistic navel gazing? I think not. ALR (March 2008): 14, 16.

Drusilla Modjeska. Memoir Australia. In Timepieces (2002): 159-200.

Week 11: Nam Les The Boat (2008)

Nam Le. The Boat (2008).

WEEK 12: Andrew Bovells When the Rain Stops Falling (2009)

When the Rain Stops Falling. MTC (2009).

Andrew Bovell. Speaking in Tongues (1998)

Lantana. Dir. Ray Lawrence. AFFC, Jan Chapman Films and MBP: 2001.

Categories:
Unit Contexts: Australian Literary Studies