This course introduces students to a range of genres of life writing, including autobiography, memoir, autobiographical fiction, graphic memoir, testimony and biography. Students will become familiar with critical concepts, terms and approaches used to analyse life narratives, and with debates relating to authenticity, identity, truth, memory and self-representation. Special attention will be paid gender and sexuality, place and memory, and the representation of traumatic personal and historical events in life narrative. The class will explore individualist and relational modes of life writing. Confessional and testimonial paradigms, and the socio-cultural contexts in which authors deploy particular rhetorical modes of address will also be considered.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:- identify features and characteristics of different genres of life-writing;
- explain and apply critical concepts used in analyzing autobiography, memoir, testimonial and autobiographical fiction;
- identify confessional and testimonial paradigms and explain their relevance to life writing
- present detailed textual analysis of life writing narratives, including verbal and visual features of graphic memoir;
- explain current debates relating to authenticity, truth, and self-representation in life writing
Indicative Assessment
Short response answers, 2400 words (8 assessments x 300 words each) (40%) [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, and 3]Final essay, 1750 words (40%) [Learning Outcomes1, 2, 3, 4 and 5]
In-class presentation, 5 min duration (10%) [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, and 5]
Tutorial preparation and participation (10%) [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, and 5]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
130 hours of total student learning time made up from:a) 30 hours of contact: 18 hours of lectures and 12 hours of tutorials.
b) 100 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Preliminary Reading
Alison Bechdel, Fun Home (2006)Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis (2000)
Majors
Minors
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 1
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2017 | $2856 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2017 | $4080 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
