Overview
The aim of Contemporary Australian Literature is to show how Australia as a nation is imagined through various contemporary works of literature (fiction, poetry, short stories, poetry), particularly from the immediate post-war period until now (1945 onwards). Students will explore the ways in which Australian identities are constituted, changed and challenged by these texts, through a variety of critical perspectives and contexts of reception.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite: 18 credit points
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2019
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
- Identify and analyse a range of contemporary Australian literary texts and authors, as well as the historical contexts in which these texts were written and are read;
- Identify, analyse and evaluate significant critical debates surrounding the reception of contemporary Australian literature;
- Demonstrate clear critical thinking skills in sound textual and thematic analyses; and,
- Collect, analyse and organise information and ideas about Australian literature, and to convey those ideas clearly in writing
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
- Lawler, R 1953, Summer of the seventeenth doll, Currency Press, ISBN: 9780868199672
- Johnston, G 1964, My brother Jack, Harpercollins, ISBN: 9780732288471
- Malouf, D 1975, Johnno, Penguin, ISBN: 9780143180142
- Carey, P 2015 (1981), Bliss, Penguin, ISBN: 9780143571247
- Astley, T 1989, It’s raining in Mango, Penguin, ISBN: 9780143204749
- Modjeska, D 1994, The orchard, Pan McMillan, ISBN: 9780330356558
- Harnett, S 2002, Of a boy, Penguin, ISBN: 0140146229
- Tsiolkas, C 2008, The slap (2008) Authors: Allen & Unwin, ISBN: 9781741753592
- Scott, K 2011, That deadman dance, Pan McMillan, ISBN: 9780330404235
- St John, M 2012, The women in black, Text Classics, ISBN: 9781921922299
- Winton, T 2012 Dirt music, Penguin, ISBN: 9780143568797
- Lucashenko, M 2018, Too much lip, UQP, Brisbane. ISBN: 978 0 7022 5996 8
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
l.dodd@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction & George Johnston's My Brother Jack (1964)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ray Lawler: Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1953)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
David Malouf: Johnno (1975)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Peter Carey: Bliss (1981)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Thea Astley: It’s raining in Mango (1989)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Drusilla Modjeska: The Orchard (1994)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Sonya Harnett: Of a boy (2002)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Christos Tsiolkas: The Slap (2008)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Kim Scott: That deadman dance (2011)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Madeleine St John: The women in black (2012)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Tim Winton: Dirt Music
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Melissa Lucashenko: Too much lip (2018)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
My Brother Jack is a bildungsroman which explores a range of contextual themes pertinent to Davey and those around him. Choose one of these themes (e.g. wartime nationalism, propaganda, post-war trauma, the working class, gender stereotyping, the search for identity, sibling rivalry, domestic violence, drunkenness) and using evidence from the novel, show how Davey thinks it is significant.
Word Length: No less than 1000 words
Week 4 Friday (9 Aug 2019) 11:55 pm AEST
Week 6 Friday (30 Aug 2019)
This assignment will be evaluated on your ability to:
- Establish a clear argument which is then supported with relevant direct textual analysis and critical comment (minimum 3 scholarly sources);
- Express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and,
- Acknowledge all your sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
- Identify and analyse a range of contemporary Australian literary texts and authors, as well as the historical contexts in which these texts were written and are read;
- Identify, analyse and evaluate significant critical debates surrounding the reception of contemporary Australian literature;
- Demonstrate clear critical thinking skills in sound textual and thematic analyses; and,
- Collect, analyse and organise information and ideas about Australian literature, and to convey those ideas clearly in writing
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Written Assessment
Choose one of the following topics.
NB. Texts used in this essay should not be used in the research essay.
Topics
- ‘There’s a time for sowin’, and a time for reapin’ (Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, 2001, p. 287). How does this comment help us to understand the major themes of the play?
- Cynthia Ozick tells us that insight comes from the redemptive frisson between memory and experience. Explore the significance of the insights Dante’s gains from his reminiscences in David Malouf’s Johnno.
- Bliss is a story about the stories the characters tell in order to make sense of the world they live in. Discuss.
- Thea Astley’ It’s raining in Mango is a collection of stories built around unusual characters and held together by the dominant consciousness of Connie. Explore some of the connections in and between these stories and explain how and why Connie finds them significant.
- In The orchard, what is the significance of the persistent imagery of the hands?
- In Sonya Harnett's Of a boy, the 'fictional' disappearance of the Metford children echoes the real-life story of the Beaumont children who disappeared in Adelaide in 1966. The novel portrays the suburbs of Australia, the place where most Australians live, not as the idyllic site of the Australian dream - the quarter-acre block with a brick-veneer 'castle' and a Hills Hoist - but as a dull, conformist, violent and perverse place. Drawing on some of the images in the novel, explore these two different views of the Australian suburbs.
- The slap, by Christos Tsiolkas, has been described as literary soap opera: lots of bubbles and froth but not much substance. Discuss.
- In Kim Scott's That deadman dance, Bobby Wabalanginy says: 'We thought making friends was the best thing... We learned your words and songs and stories, but you didn't want to hear ours'. Bearing this comment in mind, explain the significance of some of the ways Bobby and members of his Noongar tribe engage with the 'horizon people'.
- Madeleine St John’s The women in black is a coming-of-age story of women in the 1950s. Drawing evidence from the novel, explore the message that these pioneers are sending today's generation of young women.
- 'Tim Winton's characters in Dirt Music inhabit a place that is both physically and emotionally at the very frontier of existence. This changes them in destructive ways'. Discuss.
- In Too Much Lip, Melissa Lucashenko gives life to Durrongo, a small country town that one might come across in any part of regional NSW. Who are these people and why do their lives matter?
Length: No less than 1000 words
Week 8 Friday (13 Sept 2019) 11:55 pm AEST
Week 10 Friday (27 Sept 2019)
This assignment will be marked based on your ability to:
- Establish a clear argument which is then supported with relevant direct textual analysis and critical comment (minimum 3 scholarly sources);
- Express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and,
- Acknowledge all your sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
- Identify and analyse a range of contemporary Australian literary texts and authors, as well as the historical contexts in which these texts were written and are read;
- Identify, analyse and evaluate significant critical debates surrounding the reception of contemporary Australian literature;
- Demonstrate clear critical thinking skills in sound textual and thematic analyses; and,
- Collect, analyse and organise information and ideas about Australian literature, and to convey those ideas clearly in writing
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Written Assessment
Topics:
Choose one of the following (NB. Texts used in other assignments may not be used in this research essay):
- ‘Australian land and urban-scapes, frequently barren in themselves, are often metaphors for psychic and emotional quests characterised by disintegration and loss’. Discuss with reference to at least two of the set texts.
- Sneja Gunew and Kateryna Longley argue that ‘Those who don't fit into the dominant historical narrative, who are not assimilated, either exist as boundary markers, token figures, or are consigned to the margin and thus either to invisibility or to permanent opposition.’ Discuss with reference to two of the set texts.
Length: No less than 2500 words
Week 12 Friday (11 Oct 2019) 11:55 pm AEST
Essays will be returned as soon as practicable after the end of term.
This assignment will be assessed based on your ability to:
- Establish a clear argument which is then supported with relevant direct textual analysis and critical comment (minimum 5 secondary sources);
- Express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and,
- Acknowledge all your sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
- Identify and analyse a range of contemporary Australian literary texts and authors, as well as the historical contexts in which these texts were written and are read;
- Identify, analyse and evaluate significant critical debates surrounding the reception of contemporary Australian literature;
- Demonstrate clear critical thinking skills in sound textual and thematic analyses; and,
- Collect, analyse and organise information and ideas about Australian literature, and to convey those ideas clearly in writing
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
