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The Literature Of The North: Australia And SE Asia (LIT201)
Semester 1 / 2015

Texts

y separately published work icon Every Secret Thing Marie Munkara , 2008 St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2009 Z1523127 2008 selected work short story (taught in 4 units)

'In the Aboriginal missions of far northern Australia, it was a battle between saving souls and saving traditional culture.

'Every Secret Thing is a rough, tough, hilarious portrayal of the Bush Mob and the Mission Mob, and the hapless clergy trying to convert them. In these tales, everyone is fair game.

'At once playful and sharp, Marie Munkara's wonderfully original stories cast a taunting new light on the mission era in Australia.' (From the publisher's website.)

y separately published work icon Journeys to the Interior Nicolas Rothwell , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2010 Z1658853 2010 selected work essay travel (taught in 2 units)

'Australia's centre and north are a world apart from its big coastal cities. Here one finds unique natural wonders, visionary art, original thinkers and, sometimes, distilled despair and death.

In Journeys to the Interior, Nicolas Rothwell travels deep into the northern realm, combining the storytelling flair and persistence of a journalist with the imagination of an artist

Following on from the acclaimed Another Country, this book contains haunting and perceptive portraits, of, among others, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Ian Fairweather, Noel Pearson and Galarrwuy Yunupingu. There are explorations of the natural world - of pythons, desert oaks and magpie geese. And there are wonderful introductions to the art and artists that bring the northern landscape to life and transform it, whether through painting, dance or photography.' (From the publisher's website.)

Hirata, The Rainbow Troops

Ovidia Yu, Eight Plays

Description

The contemporary literature of Northern Australia is represented by a particular group of imaginative poets, Indigenous writers and non-fiction award winning writers. eg Xavier Herbert's Capricornia (1938) and Mary Durack's Kings in Grass Castles (1959). This unit introduces students to the distinctive literature of Northern Australia alongside the literature of Singaporean, Indonesian and Chinese authors. Students will critique the genres of prose, poetry, theatre and short stories across the borders of this region.

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