Tsiolkas in the Classroom: Confronting Our Discomfort
Article
Article Title | Tsiolkas in the Classroom: Confronting Our Discomfort |
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Article Category | Article |
Authors | Gildersleeve, Jessica (Author), Cantrell, Kate (Author), Prowse, Nycole (Author), Bickle, Sharon (Author) and Bryce, India (Author) |
Journal Title | Antipodes |
Journal Citation | 35 (1-2), pp. 83-101 |
Article Number | 10 |
Number of Pages | 19 |
Year | 2021 |
Place of Publication | United States |
Web Address (URL) | https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/antipodes/vol35/iss1/10 |
Abstract | The name Christos Tsiolkas may as well be a synonym for 'controversial.' The label peppers most critical and popular commentary about the writer’s work, such that Tsiolkas’s 'provocations' (Zuckerman) almost no longer bear comment. Yet for first-year students of Australian literature, such content may not be as commonplace as this Tsiolkas discourse suggests. Indeed, the provocations of the Tsiolkas oeuvre, despite their affiliation with key genres and concerns of contemporary Australian literature, may prove too confronting or too overwhelming for the novice literary critic. This article maps a range of issues arising from the study of Tsiolkas’s work in a first-year Australian literature course at a regional university in Australia. With a particular focus on what is perhaps the author’s most controversial work, Dead Europe (2005), we consider why Tsiolkas’s narratives can be so difficult for literary studies students and outline how the use of reflective practice offers a safe space for engaging with such 'triggering' work. |
Keywords | Christos Tsiolkas; trauma, trigger warnings; Dead Europe; discomfort; literary studies; literary criticism; Australian literature; reading resilience |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 470502. Australian literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature) |
470514. Literary theory | |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
Byline Affiliations | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q7739/tsiolkas-in-the-classroom-confronting-our-discomfort
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