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Undergraduate GRF-LTR110-2018

Great Books

Meet one of literature’s most famous characters in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Resurrect the story of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Journey into Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Explore what makes these novels and more considered ‘literary’.

Duration

13 weeks

Study method

100% online

Available loans

HECS-HELP
FEE-HELP

Assessments

100% online

Prior study

Not required

Study terms

31 Aug 2020

With a network of campuses across Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Griffith University is committed to progressive multidisciplinary teaching and research and a valuable online provider with Open Universities Australia. Already attracting students from more than 122 countries, Griffith's dedication to academic excellence is available across Australia through OUA.

QS RANKING 2020

Times Higher Education Ranking 2020

Subject details

What you'll learn

At the completion of this subject you will have:

a solid foundation for later subjects in Literary Studies
an improved ability to read closely, carefully, and attentively and with ethical, imaginative and emotional engagement
an improved ability to see continuities and discontinuities between past cultures (as embodied in the works studied) and contemporary culture
an improved ability to think clearly and logically about literature-and to express those ideas with civility and courtesy in online discussions
an improved ability to express critical appreciation of literature in clear, cogent, and well-constructed essays.

Topics covered

- Medea - love and marriage, revenge, gender roles, alienation, otherness
- Heart of Darkness - the nature of evil, alienation, race and colonisation
- Metamorphosis - humanity, hierarchy, postmodernism, vulnerability
- Jane Eyre - gender roles, alienation, love and marriage, class, vulnerability
- Frankenstein - medicalisation and science, the monstrous, parenthood, creation

Entry requirements

No eligibility requirements

Special requirements

No special requirements

Description

Great Books examines the allure of the literary. For centuries humans have recited poetry, enacted drama and, more recently, written novels that all speak to the human condition in ways that exceed the everyday even as they somehow capture it. In thematic terms this subjects asks: what does it mean to be human? What are the immortal themes that recur in any genre of great literature? In terms of readers' experiences of literature, what is it that makes a work 'literary'? How have people managed to express themselves in way that outlast the span of a single lifetime? What formal approaches have been taken to understanding and promoting 'the literary'. Perhaps most importantly of all, though, what does literature offer in a world full of images, a world apparently driven by economic issues. Join us to ponder upon such issues as you discover, or revisit, a fine range of literary texts.

Assessments

Assignment — Short Answers (20%)
Essay 1 (25%)
Essay 2 (25%)
Online Discussion (30%)

Textbooks

Current study term (30 Aug 20 to 29 Nov 20)

Check the learning management system (LMS) of your university for textbook details.

Related degrees

Undergraduate GRF-ART-DEG-2020

Bachelor of Arts

11 available majors

Major in Art History
Major in Chinese Language
Major in Creative Writing
Major in Criminal Justice
Major in History
Major in Journalism
Major in Literature
Major in Media Studies
Major in Public Relations
Major in Screen Culture
Major in Sociology