This course rethinks ‘Australian literature’ as it is often conceived by foregrounding First Nations creative and critical production. It will not tell a story about the spirit of the pioneers or being at home in landscape. Instead, it takes students on a less-travelled path through Australian cultural history. From 19th-century gothic writing to contemporary novels, poems and television, this course will question nationalist frameworks for thinking about this body of work and offer new approaches to examining the relationship between literature and the nation state, and the role of our writers, theatre- and film-makers in shaping our social worlds. Students will be invited to examine works in a range of genres and forms which may include essays, creative nonfiction, novels, poetry, plays, film and television, developing skills in analysing these narrative forms and understanding of the breadth of cultural production in Australia today.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. demonstrate familiarity with a range of Australian literary texts from the early nineteenth century to the present;
2. write and speak critically about literary texts in a range of genres;
3. identify and discuss key critical and creative works by Aboriginal writers, playwrights and/or filmmakers; and
4. read carefully with attention to detail and to the ways in which literary, dramatic and cinematic narratives are constructed.