Proseminar Contemporary Australian Fiction

Presently, fiction constitutes the most prominent and prolific genre within Australian literature. In the course of this seminar, we will discuss three highly important and influential novels of the last decades. We will start chronologically with Sally Morgan’s autobiographical novel My Place (1987) which depicts her search for her partly indigenous identity that was at first intentionally kept a secret by her family. Next, we will turn to Tim Winton’s regional novel Cloudstreet (1991) that was voted Australia’s most favourite novel in 2003 both by Australian writers and readers. The post-war story about two working-class families who share a house on Cloudstreet in a suburb of Perth has been recently adapted to a television miniseries at which we will also take a look at and compare to the book. Lastly, we will deal with Kate Grenville’s historical novel The Secret River (2005) which centers around the frontier conflict between white settlers and the indigenous population in 18th century Australia. Apart from being familiarised with the study and analysis of fiction, students will also be introduced to basic theoretical concepts of postcolonial and postmodernist literature. Moreover, relevant historical background – with particular focus on the indigenous people - will be incorporated in order to better contextualise the novels. Please purchase the following texts: Sally Morgan, My Place (1987) Tim Winton, Cloudstreet (1991) Kate Grenville, The Secret River (2005) Voraussetzungen Successful completion of the OK in literary studies as well as thorough reading and preparation of all texts. It is imperative that you have read My Placy by Sally Morgan for the first session and are able to pass a quiz on the text. Participation depends on the succecssful completion of this quiz. The course size is limited to 35 students. Leistungsnachweis Credit (-Studienleistung-) for regular and active participation including an oral presentation with handout; full credit (-Prüfungsleistung-) for an additional term paper of 10 - 15 pages. FB 02 Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik Successful completion of the OK in literary studies as well as thorough reading and preparation of all texts. It is imperative that you have read My Placy by Sally Morgan for the first session and are able to pass a quiz on the text. Participation depends on the succecssful completion of this quiz. The course size is limited to 35 students. Credit (-Studienleistung-) for regular and active participation including an oral presentation with handout; full credit (-Prüfungsleistung-) for an additional term paper of 10 - 15 pages. Uni Kassel WiSe 2013/14 Amerikanistik Hofsommer Sarah