LANG 3091 Writing and Society

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Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 101670

Coordinator Jacinta Van Den Berg Opens in new window

Description This unit explores the social dimensions of literature, both generally, by considering the role played by tradition, authorship, genre and style in the literary exploration of values, and in specific terms, through a close examination of works which have had an important social impact in their time, including those in translation, from a range of contemporary literatures. The lecturers are members of the Writing and Society Research Group, many of whom are practising authors.

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Discipline Literature

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 1 10cp

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Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Restrictions Successful completion of 60 credit points of study in currently enrolled program.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
  1. understand the social impact of literary works;
  2. understand the formal and theoretical issues involved the literary representation and exploration of social values;
  3. analyse ways in which literary texts from different cultures portray the values of those cultures; and
  4. appreciate the way literature works when viewed from the different points of view of authors and readers.

Subject Content

Tradition and the Australian writer
The literary imagination and the sense of place
Writing, racism and social prejudice
Solitude, self-exile and the provincial author
Migration, settlement and community
Social surfaces, psychological depths
Feminism and fictocriticism
Indigenous storytelling and its influences
Neo-realism and contemporary satire
Politics and poetic form

Teaching Periods

Structures that include subject