The Coming of Age: Australian Literature 1988-2002 Course/Class March 2, 2011

What is Australian Literature? Is it possible to have a National Literature in a global age that still speaks to us as Australians? Australia and Australian literature went through an astonishing transformation in the 70s and 80s, which continued with intensity over the following decades. While celebrating the bi-centennial, Australian literature found itself coming of age. No longer culturally cringing, writers could be proud of a rich tradition behind them. With energy and imagination, they took on global and national issues while crossing genre boundaries with great success. This course will introduce some major Australian texts and writers of the period from 1988 to 2002 with its main focus on texts which cross over or transgress the lines between traditional poetry, novels and non-fiction. Other issues to be discussed will include the re-writing of Australian history from postcolonial and Indigenous perspectives and the representation of gender and sexuality in recent Australian writing. We will look at Tim Wintons _Cloudstreet_, voted the favourite Australian novel by many, Miles Franklin winner _Drylands_, as well as the controversial _Monkeys Mask_ by the late Dorothy Porter with its sensational lesbianism and dark moral ground. Open, friendly discussions will be accompanied by PowerPoint presentations of visual material covering the cultural, social and political highlights of the period.

Official Website: http://www.cce.usyd.edu.au/course/caal