The God of Fiction (CT3038W)

Content

This unit will enhance students’ ability to engage theologically with literature, deepening their capacity for mature and close reading of texts, and thereby for a more informed and critical reading of culture.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

This unit builds on and applies hermeneutical and theological skills gained in foundation units in CT and BA or DM units to the reading of fiction.

Prerequisites 36 points in CT and 18 points in BA or DM

Pedagogy

The subject could combine a lecture with tutorials, or be run as a seminar-style subject, depending on enrolments. It could involve a combination of pre-reading, lecturer/tutor presentation, assessed in-class student presentations, in-class discussions.

Indicative Bibliography

• Ashcroft, Bill, Frances Devlin-Glass, and Lyn McCredden. Intimate Horizons: The Post-Colonial Sacred in Australian Literature. Adelaide: ATF Press, 2009.
• Bennett, Andrew, and Nicholas Royle. An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory. 5th Abingdon: Routledge, 2016.
• Carroll, John. The Western Dreaming: The Western World is Dying for Want of a Story. Sydney: HarperCollins, 2001.
• Coleman, Claire G. Terra Nullius: A Novel. Easthampton: Small Beer Press, 2017.
• Flanagan, Richard. The Narrow Road to the Deep North. London: Chatto & Windus, 2014.
• Hart, Kevin. Wild Track: New and Selected Poems. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 2015.
• Malouf, David. Ransom. New York: Vintage, 2011.
• Tacey, David. Re-Enchantment: The New Australian Spirituality. Melbourne: HarperCollins, 2000.
• White, Patrick. The Tree of Man. London: Penguin, 1961.
• Winton, Tim. The Turning. Melbourne: Penguin, 2014.
• Wright, Alexis. Carpentaria. Sydney: Giramondo Publishing, 2006.

Assessment