AustLit
Texts
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Nineteen Eighty-four
by: George Orwell
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The God of Small Things
by: Arundhati Roy
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y
Three Dollars
Sydney
:
Picador
,
1998
Z131955
1998
single work
novel
(taught in 2 units)
'At once humorous and dramatic, Three Dollars is about Eddie, an honest, compassionate man who finds himself, at the age of 38, with a wife, a child and three dollars. How did he get that way? And who is Amanda? He cared about people; he was, Amanda notwithstanding, a good husband, father and son. At any other time the world would have smiled on him. But this was the nineties and the world valued other things. Three Dollars chronicles the present breach of the social contract and its effect on a home near you. It is a brilliantly deft portrait of a man attempting to retain his humanity, his family and his sense of humour in grim and pitiless times: times of downsizing, outsourcing and privatising. It is about the legacy of Thatcherism and its effects on people and their relationships.' (Synopsis)
Description
Why do we write? What authors have inspired us? Many of the books and stories we admire have been conceived during extreme times. To what extent, and in what ways, is the literary imagination conditioned by its social contexts? What is political today? These and other questions form the basis of this course by challenging students to draw on their reading and life experiences to write creatively. Students will examine the work of Australian and international writers who are 'political' in different ways. In so doing, they are encouraged to 'politically' frame their work. Assessment will consist of two pieces of creative writing (which can include creative non-fiction), and an exegetical essay, that investigates the research components of their work. Texts will include speeches, poetry, short fiction, and novels, to demonstrate the range of 'political' writing that they can research.
Assessment
1500 word creative writing piece in poetry or prose (20%), 2000 word creative writing piece in poetry or prose (40%), 1500 word exegetical essay (30%), participation (10%)
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