Theory For Writing

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

Total expected time commitment is 170 hours across the semester, including class time.

Admission to the Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing) Honours, Postgraduate Diploma (Creative Writing), or Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing.

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For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

A survey of critical, philosophical and theoretical writing relating to issues of creativity and the creative process. Texts from, for instance, Derrida, Lacan, Freud, Foucault, Kristeva, Cixous, Barthes, Althusser, Tompkins and others will be discussed. The relation between critical schools of thought and students' own creative work will be explored.

Students completing this subject will:

• be able to engage with the possible relations betwen critical theory, philosophy and creative writing;
• be able to show they are informed regarding recent and current debates and schools of thought related to creative writing; and
• be able to write both analytically and creatively in response to theoretical texts.

A 3000 word essay developed in response to the selected readings, addressing a question related to the students' own creative process, or more general issues in the production of creative writing 50% (due in the examination period), a 2000 word creative work produced in response to the selected readings and class discussions 40% (due in the examination period), and participation in class discussions and an oral presentation 10% (during the semester). Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% (or 10 out of 12) classes in order to qualify to have their written work assessed. Any student who fails to meet this hurdle without valid reason will not be eligible to pass the subject. All required written work must be submitted in order to pass the subject. Essays submitted after the due date without an extension will be penalised 2% per day. Essays submitted after two weeks of the assessment due date without a formally approved application for special consideration or an extension will only be marked on a pass/fail basis if accepted.

• Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, P Barry, MUP, 1995.
• The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, D Leitch et al (ed), W W Norton, 2001. (Readings from The Norton Anthology will be available online.)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

• be able to engage in debates and discussion in a group setting;
• be able to produce an interplay of theory and practice in written work; and
• be able to devise questions, analyse schools of thought and develop creative projects.