Global Contemporary Literature: Australians and the World
UndergraduateMAQ-ENGX30202025
Course information for 2025 intake View information for 2024 course intake
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- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Global Contemporary Literature: Australians and the World
About this subject
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Analyse and compare literary texts across a range of genres, including the novel, the essay, poetry, and hybrid genres, using a sound critical vocabulary and scholarly research.
- Explain key features of the contemporary literary field and analyse how these features impact on literary texts.
- Reflect on the role of critical writing and essays in the contemporary literary field.
- Explain and analyse how literature participates in debates in the public sphere, including discussions over race, immigration, ethics, history, and the representation of disasters.
- Develop well-reasoned arguments about literary texts, and support these arguments orally and in writing.
- A week-by-week guide to the topics you will explore in this subject will be provided in your study materials.
The limitations of Western conceptions of "the human" are highlighted in this unit as we consider how twenty-first century Australian, Indigenous, American, postcolonial and other forms of literature which challenge and expand Western conceptions of humanity, subjectivity and belonging. This unit looks at how literature is alive in the world today, and how it responds to the new opportunities afforded to it by the twenty-first century such as streaming, open-access and web publishing, social media and AI-written texts. All texts studied (essays, translated poetry and novels, speculative short fiction, Indigenous sci-fi and vampire TV series, multilingual historical film) have been produced since 2010. Current controversies are simultaneously examined in real time to show present-day faultlines in local and global publishing and writers’ festivals. The premise of this unit is that writers living today are developing exciting and innovative ways of responding to contemporary debates on authorship, race, gender, climate change, refugee rights and social justice, neo-colonialism, multiculturalism, literary celebrity and activism. We will reflect on how we engage with global contemporary literature now, and how we can best critique evolving forms of literature which offer us radical visions of both the future and the past in Australia and beyond.
- Participation (20%)
- Early Feedback Quiz (10%)
- Secondary Literature Review (30%)
- Research Essay (40%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
This research-intensive university in north-western Sydney offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. With over 44,000 current students, Macquarie has a strong reputation for welcoming international students and embracing flexible and convenient study options, including its partnership with Open Universities Australia.
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- QS Ranking 2024:
- 10
- Times Higher Education Ranking 2024:
- 10
Entry requirements
Prior study
You must have successfully completed the following subject(s) before starting this subject:
one of
Others
Pre-requisite: 130 cp at 1000 level or above
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA units offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in units through OUA will be withdrawn.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
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