Transition Week: Literature

DAY ONE: Intro to Literature Course and Prose

Q: What is literature?

"written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit." (Dictionary.com)

"Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose, fiction, drama, poetry, and including both print and digital writing." (Wikipedia)

The Literature ATAR course explores how literary texts construct representations, shape perceptions of the world and enable us to enter other worlds of the imagination. 

(Lit Syllabus Rationale)

Types of 'readings' of texts:

• intended/invited reading: the interpretation that a writer positions readers to adopt.

• dominant reading: the way the majority of a particular 'readership'/culture is likely to interpret any given text. A dominant reading can change across time and cultures.

• alternative reading: due to any number of contextual factors, readers may interpret texts in ways that differ from the intended reading of the author.

• resistant reading: the interpretation arrived at when, likely due to a reader's strongly held personal ideologies, the reader resists the intended reading encouraged by the author

TASK ONE: Annotate the story for meaning and literary devices while you read.

TASK TWO: Upon finishing, jot down 

a) what you believe the invited reading is and 

b) at least one device used to convey that meaning.

Some possible readings:

• We are invited to read the expository extract from 'The Performance' as a representation of the immense power of the arts to immerse audiences and allow them to forget their reality or societal troubles for a brief period. This is primarily constructed through the evolving characterisation of Margot and shifts in tone.

• If read through a feminist lens, the text could be interpreted as a criticism of the oppression and suppression of women by the patriarchy, in what is supposedly a progressive contemporary Australian society where gender equality is purportedly valued.

Some more possible readings:

• A Marxist perspective of this extract might argue that the theatre setting and protagonist Margot are both symbolic of wealth and class privilege, while the man who takes the "tram" represents the downtrodden underclass. Thus, the text explores the power imbalance and divide that exists in modern Australian society, despite our claims of egalitarianism.

• The text constructs a setting that suggests some spaces for the privileged that are designed for joy and escape, are in fact sources of anxiety and conflict for those who inhabit them.

• The passage could be read eco-critically as a warning of the effects of global warming, the climate crisis Australia finds itself in, and the dismissive attitude of the population who are able to ignore climate change by retreating to safer or more comfortable places like the "false cold" of the theatre.

• A psychoanalytic reading of Margot's character might analyse her nervous chatter as the manifestation of deeper psychological and self-esteem issues - likely stemming from her misogynistic father and the patriarchal ideology that underpinned his parenting.

DAY TWO: Intro to Poetry

TASK 1: What's this poem about?

TASK 2: Five Senses 

TASK 3: Sensory Cinquains

Can you hypothesise the rules of a cinquian?

Can you write one using all five senses?

DAY THREE: Intro to Drama

Versions of this scene: