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School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics · ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
How does literature travel? How do texts shape, and get shaped by, place and history? This course will introduce you to a range of critical and contextual approaches to the study of literature. You will examine the ways literary texts have circulated in global culture and how they are connected with notions of empire, nation and exile, international markets and literary celebrity. You will look at literature from diasporic, postcolonial and settler contexts, as well as texts from the heart of empire. Texts studied may include, for example, H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds in light of Neill Blomkamp’s 2009 film District 9, and Nam Le’s The Boat alongside Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad. You will trace literary genres and movements such as modernism, science fiction and the gothic across time and place in novels, short fiction, film and poetry.
130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 36 hours of contact: 24 hours of lectures and 12 hours of tutorials. b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.
Preliminary Reading Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad