Course overview
This upper-level course explores a broad range of Australian literary texts including short fiction, novels, poetry, drama, comics, graphic novels. With a focus on close readings and case studies, students will develop a sophisticated understanding of the main lines in Australian literary history, and how these have been shaped by local and global influences. As the course progresses through writing on Country, cities, and the connective tissue between Australia and the regions, students will explore how movements such as social realism, Modernism, postmodernism and posthumanism have shaped Australian writing. Students, in refining their existing skills in textual analysis, evaluation, argumentation, research and writing, will consolidate their understanding of Australia's rich and varied literary traditions.
Course learning outcomes
- Develop a detailed knowledge of Australian literature through reading, interpreting, and contextualising a range of texts, both in terms of their content and form
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the influence of a range of global and national social, historical and cultural contexts on Australian literary forms including novels, short stories, and graphic novels
- Analyse the construction of literary narratives and their inflection by genre in relation to global and national literary movements
- Identify how the Australian literary tradition is shaped by regional and global contexts and traditions
- Generate sophisticated critical analysis in written and oral modes to communicate evaluations of Australian literature