James Cook University Subject Handbook - 2001

EL1007:03

Getting of Wisdom: Literary Youth and Maturity

Townsville

26 lectures/seminars, 10 tutorials. First semester.

Staff: Professor T Hassall, Dr G Mercer, Dr C Taylor.

A range of fiction, prose and plays from Shakespeare to the present which deal with the lives of young people and their growth to maturity.

Learning Objectives:

  1. a sound knowledge and understanding of the set texts;
  2. an ability to analyse and critique themes in a range of genres;
  3. an ability to place fictional texts in a cultural context;
  4. an ability to apply some basic principles of literary criticism;
  5. an awareness of a range of valid approaches to literary texts;
  6. an ability to structure an argument and to write a formal essay on a literary text;
  7. an ability to recognise how different genres interact with similar subject matter, e.g. technical devices in poetry: metre, rhythm and rhyme; narrative structure and characterisation in fiction; dramaturgy and characterisation in plays.

Assessment by one assignment of 500 words, one essay of 1,000 words and a second essay of 1,500 words (40%); weekly tutorial participation (20%); one three-hour examination (40%).