An advanced study of a topic in New Zealand literature.
Janet Frame is a writer with "acute intellect and omnivorous - indeed promiscuous
- reading capacities" (Jenny Lawn). As such, Frame occupies a singular position in
New Zealand literature: no other New Zealand writer stands in as rich and thoughtful
a conversation with the wider world of ideas (drawn primarily from philosophy, psychology
and literature) as does Frame. At times, this conversation is self-conscious and deliberate
on Frame's part; at other times, it is the reader, and the particular intellectual
resources they bring to their engagement with her work, that opens up latent conversations
in and with Frame's texts. This paper seeks to read Frame's intricately constructed
works of fiction in their various and multifaceted conversations with philosophy,
psychology, literature and, more broadly, critical theory.
Alongside Frame's
work, we will therefore read a wide range of non-literary texts. These non-literary
texts form an integral part of the paper and will be made available in a course reader.
Students must be prepared to engage with literary criticism as well as with the sometimes
complex philosophical and theoretical texts by a diverse group of writers (including
Plato, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, Julia
Kristeva and Gilles Deleuze).
| Paper title | A Topic in New Zealand Literature |
|---|---|
| Paper code | ENGL465 |
| Subject | English |
| EFTS | 0.1667 |
| Points | 20 points |
| Teaching period | Not offered in 2023 (On campus) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees (NZD) | $1,206.91 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Prerequisite
- 72 points from ENGL 311-368, EURO 302
- Contact
- simone.drichel@otago.ac.nz
- More information link
View more information on the English and Linguistics Programme website
- Teaching staff
- Dr Simone Drichel
- Paper Structure
- The course spends three sessions on each literary text, with each session focusing
on a specific aspect of literary scholarship.
- Session 1: Textual Analysis
- Session 2: Literary Criticism
- Session 3: Theory
- Teaching Arrangements
- Seminar-style teaching including student presentations (theory session) and discussion of students' written work (literary criticism session).
- Textbooks
- Owls Do Cry
- The Edge of the Alphabet
- A State of Siege
- Intensive Care
- Living in the Maniototo
- The Carpathians
- Course Reader (available on eReserve)
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
- Interdisciplinary perspective, Scholarship, Critical thinking, Research.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes. - Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this paper will gain a thorough understanding of Janet Frame as a writer and thinker, inclusive of a broad cross-section of Frame criticism and relevant theoretical/philosophical material with which Frame stands in conversation.
