GEND2016 Writing a Woman's Life: Studies in Autobiography and Biography
Later Year Course
| Offered By | School of Humanities |
|---|---|
| Academic Career | Undergraduate |
| Course Subject | Gender Studies |
| Offered in | Second Semester, 2010 |
| Unit Value | 6 units |
| Course Description |
This course is intended to introduce students to a series of twentieth century women's life narratives in the context of contemporary Auto/biography theory and practice. Students will explore concepts of interiority and self-presentation in life writing, together with issues of gender, colonialism, race, cross-cultural encounter and displacement as represented in autobiographical texts. The course will provide the opportunity to investigate and reflect on obstacles that women confront in narrating their lives, the strategies they adopt and the gaps and silences that characterize women's autobiographical writing. During the course students will also consider how a daughter may represent a mother's life, and how male writers approach the writing of women's lives. Writers studied will include Virginia Woolf, Isak Dinesen, Carol Steedman, Eva Hoffman, Ruby Langford Ginibi and Robert Dessaix.
|
| Learning Outcomes | Students will develop an understanding of the literary processes and strategies by which women's life narratives are produced, by female and also by male writers. They will develop skills in literary analysis and response to a series of autobiographical texts with reference to contemporary conceptions and theories of autobiography. |
| Indicative Assessment |
One short and one longer essay. |
| Workload | 1.5 hours of lectures and 1 hr tutorial per week for 13 weeks |
| Areas of Interest | Gender Studies |
| Eligibility | Completion of any two first year Arts units or permission of the convenor. |
| Prescribed Texts |
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own Isak Dinesen, Out of Africa Carol Steedman, Landscape for a Good Woman Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation Ruby Langford (Ginibi), Don't Take Your Love to Town Rober Dessaix, A Mother's Disgrace |
| Preliminary Reading | Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own |
| Majors/Specialisations | English and Gender, Sexuality and Culture |
| Programs | Bachelor of Arts (Digital Arts) |
The information published on the Study at ANU 2009 website applies to the 2009 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2008 website.
