Critical Readings: The Great Works

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

85 hours

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 is designed to introduce graduate students to a sequence of essential texts, both primary and secondary. Each of the set readings will be a work that is considered ‘seminal’ in literary studies and texts will range from novels, poems and plays, to critical essays. This course will offer a broad historical range and will combine theoretical approaches with careful close reading. It is designed to offer breadth to students and to help them become familiar with works that are frequently referenced in literary writing. Primary texts to be considered will include The Prince, Candide, Culture and Anarchy, The Origin of the Species, The Inferno. Critical works to be discussed will encompass Raymond Williams, The Country and the City, Freud, ‘On Dreams’, Barthes, ‘The Death of the Author’ and Auerbach’s Mimesis.

Students who completes this subject should have:

• enhanced knowledge of the topic or area of scholarship taught in the module,
• an ability to reflect upon their own research work in relation to the content of the module, and
• enhanced engagement with leading-edge research in Arts today.

one 500-word essay proposal, due during the teaching period (20%)

one 2,000-word literature review, due at the end of the assessment period (80%)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

The subjects will contribute, through teaching and discussion with academic staff and peers, to developing the skills and capacities identified in the University-defined Graduate Attributes for the PhD, in particular:

• the capacity to contextualise research within an international corpus of specialist knowledge,
• an advanced ability to evaluate and synthesise research-based and scholarly literature,
• an advanced understanding of key disciplinary and multi-disciplinary norms and perspectives relevant to the field.