Travel Writing and Travel Texts

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Usually 12.5 pts of first year English Literary Studies

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

This subject examines a wide range of travel writing texts from the early eighteenth century onwards. Some of the texts are imaginary voyages, some are non-fictional works prompted by scientific curiosity, commerce, colonization, diplomacy, exploration, and tourism. One of our aims will be to examine how travel is mediated by the text and how that mediation constructs both the experience and the identity of the writer. Special areas of focus will include women's travel writing; depictions of the body in travel writing; Romantic travel; orientalism and racism; colonialism and postcolonial theory.

Written work totaling 4000 words, consisting of one 1500 word essay, due mid-semester, and one 2500 word essay, due at the end of the semester, each worth 50% of the final grade. Regular tutorial attendance (80%), a class presentation, and participation in class discussion are required to pass the subject. Note:Assessment submitted late without an approved formal extension will be penalised at 2% per day. Students who fail to submit up to 2-weeks after the final due date without a formal extension and/or special consideration will receive a fail grade for the piece of assessment.

A subject reader will be available.

• Turkish Embassy Letters, 1716 (published 1763) (Lady Mary Wortley Montagu)
• Gulliver's Travels, 1726 (J Swift)
• Travel Writing 1700-1830: An Anthology (Elizabeth A Bohls and Ian Duncan eds), Oxford Worlds Classics, 2006.
• Retrospect of Western Travel, 1838 (Harriet Martineau)
• Travels in West Africa, 1897 (Mary Kingsley)
• Songlines, 1987 (Bruce Chatwin)
• The European Tribe, 1987 (Caryl Phillip)

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

• acquire skills in research: through the competent use of library, and other (including online) information sources and through the successful definition of areas of inquiry and methods of research;

• acquire critical thinking and analysis through the use of recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion; through the questioning of accepted wisdom and the ability to shape and strengthen persuasive judgments and arguments; through attention to detail in reading material; and through openness to new ideas and the development of critical self-awareness;

• acquire theoretical thinking: through the use of recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion; through a productive engagement with relevant methodologies and paradigms in literary studies and the broader humanities;

• acquire creative writing: through essay writing and tutorial discussion; through the innovative conceptualising of problems and an appreciation of the role of creativity in critical analysis;

• acquire social ethical and cultural understanding: through the use of recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion; through the social contextualization of arguments and judgments; through adaptations of knowledge to new situations and openness to new ideas; and through development of critical self-awareness in relation to an understanding of other cultures and practices;

• acquire intelligent and effective communication of knowledge and ideas: through essay preparation, planning and writing as well as tutorial discussion; through effective dissemination of ideas from recommended reading and other relevant information sources; through clear definition of areas of inquiry and methods of research; through confidence to express ideas in public forums;

• acquire time managment and planning: through the successful organization of workloads; through disciplined self-direction and the ability to meet deadlines.