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Honours Seminar 4 (English) (ENGL7484)
School of Social and Cultural Studies (School of Humanities) - University of Western Australia
Semester 1, Semester 2 / 2009

Texts

y separately published work icon The Travel Writer Simone Lazaroo , Sydney : Picador , 2006 Z1305845 2006 single work novel (taught in 7 units) London, late 1980s. Ghislaine de Sequeira lies in a hospital bed. Once an obituary writer in Malacca, she had practised eloquence in the face of death for years. But now she is dying, and it is her bereft daughter Isabelle's turn to articulate the meaning of a life at its end. Isabelle tries to find an anchor in this storm by telling her mother's story and by seeking solace in her writing tutor, as many years ago her mother sought solace with the travel writer after the death of her own mother, Mathilde. Seeking to understand her mother's past choices in war-torn Malacca in light of her own persistent desire for love, Isabelle spins a version of Ghislaine's passion for the travel writer, a man who would alter Ghislaine's life - and that of Isabelle - completely. (Publisher's blurb)
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y separately published work icon Miss Tanaka John Romeril , Strawberry Hills Melbourne : Currency Press Playbox Theatre Centre, Monash University , 2001 Z819617 2001 single work drama (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: ミス・タナカ : 心中 : ラブ・スーサイズ 2012;
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The Working Temple Shanghai i "Bulkhead doors give entry to", Caroline Caddy , 1997 single work poetry (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Working Temple : Poems 1997; (p. 29-30) Esperance : New and Selected Poems 2007; (p. 104-105)
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y separately published work icon My Life as a Fake Peter Carey , Milsons Point : Random House Australia , 2003 Z1045776 2003 single work novel (taught in 8 units) Sarah Wode-Douglas is an aristocratic woman who has made her living as the editor of the poetry magazine "First Proof", until she impulsively follows a friend to Kuala Lumpur. She meets Christopher Chubb, an enigmatic wreck of a man whose terrible secrets Sarah is compelled to discover and pursue. (Source: Trove)
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y separately published work icon The Memory Room Christopher Koch , Milsons Point : Vintage Australia , 2007 Z1438763 2007 single work novel (taught in 1 units) Vincent Austin thinks his devotion to secrecy for its own sake makes him a born spy. His childhood friend Erika Lange shares his fascination with the covert. Having graduated University Vincent is recruited by ASIS - Australia's overseas secret intelligence service. Erika eventually joins Foreign Affairs as a press officer. As the Cold War reaches its final peak, the fantasies of youth have become reality for Vincent and Erika, but they lead to a tragic climax. It is left to Vincent's university friend Bradley, who inherits Vincent's diaries, to contemplate their story. - from Back cover.
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y separately published work icon Original Face Nicholas Jose , Artarmon : Giramondo Publishing , 2005 Z1219298 2005 single work novel thriller (taught in 1 units)

'The drama begins with a body dumped in south-western Sydney – skinned, with no face. Lewis Lin, taxi driver, photographer, recent arrival from Beijing, happens to be at the scene. With detectives Ginger Rogers and Shelley Swert in pursuit, Lin finds himself drawn into a deadly immigration racket, with a cast which includes a film-maker just in from LA, a Buddhist monk, a millionaire bachelor artist, a masseuse, a maniacal violinist, and a refugee assassin.

Part thriller, part ethnic noir, dark and comic by turns, Original Face offers a sensuous and highly coloured portrait of the jostling energies that make up life in the contemporary Australian city.

Drawing its title from an ancient Zen koan, the novel traces the complicated manoeuvres by which people mask their identities, and the accidental pathways by which these hidden selves come to light.'

Source: Author's website.
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y separately published work icon Mavis Goes to Timor Angela Chaplin , Paola Kavisha Mazzella , Katherine Thomson , 2002 Sydney : Currency Press Playbox Theatre , 2003 Z1011419 2002 single work drama (taught in 1 units)

'The true story of Mavis, an 86 year old retired haberdasher from regional Victoria. Stung into action by the suffering of the East Timorese, Mavis took her sewing machines to Timor and set about making a practical contribution. Amid the destruction and buoyed by the people's overwhelming faith Mavis tackles the bureaucracy. This work is based on stories told by Mavis Taylor, Elwyn Taylor and the women of East Timor.' Libraries Australia record.
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y separately published work icon Neem Dreams Inez Baranay , New Delhi : Rupa , 2003 Z1065345 2002 single work novel (taught in 1 units) 'Andy, an English lawyer looking for a miracle cure. Pandora, an Australian eco-scientist, looking for the perfect women's project. Meenakshi, author and co-ordinator of the project, returned to India to work for rural development. And Jade, an Australian working in New York, comes to buy neem skin care products to sell exclusively at a New York store. The past passions of each of the four brings to their meeting in India are revealed in a web-like plot, with the neem tree acting as a kind of crucible for each as the novel draws to a startling climax.' (Publication summary)
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y separately published work icon Summer Was a Fast Train without Terminals Merlinda Bobis , North Melbourne : Spinifex Press , 1998 Z242127 1998 selected work poetry drama (taught in 1 units)
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Description

Honours study in English and Cultural Studies offers an advanced understanding of literature, writing and culture through sustained and close attention to particular texts, topics and critical and theoretical issues, and the development of research skills (including preparation of research proposals and critical bibliographies, acquisition of research materials and aspects of methodology).

Assessment

A variety of assessments are used, from in-class participation to exercises and research essays, as appropriate to the particular unit. Specific details of assessment are available from unit co-ordinators when the unit begins.

Other Details

Current Campus: Crawley
Levels: Undergraduate - Honours
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