Creative Writing: Travel and Place

Subject 670-341 (2008)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2008.Search for this in the current handbookSearch for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.500
Level: Undergraduate
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

Semester 1, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable


Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 2.5-hour workshop per week
Total Time Commitment: Not available
Prerequisites: Usually 12.5 points of first year creative writing of either It is recommended that students intending to complete a major in Creative Writing also undertake a first year English Literary Studies subject.
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Coordinator

Tony Birch
Subject Overview:

This subject will introduce students to a range of genres that deal with creative writing and its historical and contemporary relationship to travel and place writing. The subject defines both 'travel' and 'place' within a wide framework and will visit diverse journeys and their destinations, such as sopping centres, railway stations, the coast and variations of 'the outback', and 'the frontier'. The subject will engage with travel and place writing from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, while also speculating on the 'place' of travel and place writing within the global economies and cultures of the new millennium. Themes covered in the subject will include both colonial and postcolonial writing; the success of travel and 'tourist' writing within contemporary popular culture; in addition to critiques of travel writing in particular which attempt to produce a subversive 'anti' travel genre of place writing. The subject aims to encourage students to develop both a critical and creative 'eye' and assist them to produce writing that is intellectually original and stimulating.

Assessment: A 4000 word folio comprising two pieces of writing: one 1500 words 35% (due mid-semester) and one 2500 words 55% (due at the end of the semester) and class participation 10%.
Prescribed Texts: Prescribed Texts:A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.
Breadth Options: This subject is a level 2 or level 3 subject and is not available to new generation degree students as a breadth option in 2008.
This subject or an equivalent will be available as breadth in the future.
Breadth subjects are currently being developed and these existing subject details can be used as guide to the type of options that might be available.
2009 subjects to be offered as breadth will be finalised before re-enrolment for 2009 starts in early October.
Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:

  • have acquired research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources, and the definition of areas of inquiry and methods of research;

  • have acquired skills in critical thinking and analytical skills through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument;

  • have acquired skills in thinking in theoretical terms through workshops, essay writing and engagement in the methodologies of the humanities and social sciences.

Notes:

It is recommended that students wishing to continue with a major in Creative Writing also complete a first year subject in English Literary Studies as well as meeting the first year Creative Writing prerequisite (see below).

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