School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, Monash University

Poetry and the Trace, an international poetry conference A series of readings from the Poetry and the Trace conference at the State Library in Melbourne. The speakers are: * Lionel Fogarty * Rachel Blau DuPlessis * Wystan Curnow * Susan Stewart Poetry and the Trace: An International Conference considers the theme of the trace in relation to poetry of any kind from classical antiquity to the contemporary. The conference broadly investigates the relationship between poetry, trace and memory, and whether collective and private pasts and subjectivities can find articulation through the flexible forms of poetic language.

An Alternative Postcolonial – Language, Location and Culture | Harish Trivedi Harish Trivedi is Professor of English at the University of Delhi. A former Vice-Chair of the International Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, Prof Trivedi presently holds the position of Vice–President of the Comparative Literature Association of India. He is also co-ordinating the international project in writing a History of World Literature.

A Discussion of Fairytales - Beauty and the Beast | Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario & Odette Kelada This is the final podcast series of the inaugural semester of ENH2360/3360 Fairy Tale Traditions. Previous podcasts have been student-access only. Information on the unit is available at at this link. For this podcast, the unit coordinator, Dr Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario, and tutor, Dr Odette Kelada, are joined by a number of students from the first cohort, 2008. The podcast is broken up into four episodes, each dealing with a separate fairy tale. The views recorded are those of the speakers. Episode 2: Beauty and the Beast Joined by: Sara and Shirlaine In this segment, we’re focusing on the romance myth as exemplified by “Beauty and the Beast.” Please note that themes of sexuality and violence are discussed in the podcast. Some of these themes may not be suitable for younger listeners.

A Discussion of Fairytales - Little Red Riding Hood | Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario & Odette Kelada This is the final podcast series of the inaugural semester of ENH2360/3360 Fairy Tale Traditions. Previous podcasts have been student-access only. Information on the unit is available at at this link. For this podcast, the unit coordinator, Dr Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario, and tutor, Dr Odette Kelada, are joined by a number of students from the first cohort, 2008. The podcast is broken up into four episodes, each dealing with a separate fairy tale. The views recorded are those of the speakers. Episode 3: Little Red Riding Hood Joined by: Naja and Aaron. In this segment, we’re examining the darker undertones of the ever-popular tale of a girl in a red hood and a big, bad wolf. Please note that themes of sexuality and violence are discussed in the podcast. Some of these themes may not be suitable for younger listeners.

A Discussion of Fairytales - Goldilocks and the Three Bears | Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario & Odette Kelada This is the final podcast series of the inaugural semester of ENH2360/3360 Fairy Tale Traditions. Previous podcasts have been student-access only. Information on the unit is available at at this link. For this podcast, the unit coordinator, Dr Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario, and tutor, Dr Odette Kelada, are joined by a number of students from the first cohort, 2008. The podcast is broken up into four episodes, each dealing with a separate fairy tale. The views recorded are those of the speakers. Episode 3: Goldilocks and the Three Bears Joined by: Gabriel and Matthew. In this segment, we’re looking at Southey’s tale and today’s retellings, including Jasper Fforde’s The Fourth Bear. Please note that themes of sexuality and violence are discussed in the podcast. Some of these themes may not be suitable for younger listeners.

A Discussion of Fairytales – Stardust | Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario & Odette Kelada This is the final podcast series of the inaugural semester of ENH2360/3360 Fairy Tale Traditions. Previous podcasts have been student-access only. Information on the unit is available at at this link. For this podcast, the unit coordinator, Dr Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario, and tutor, Dr Odette Kelada, are joined by a number of students from the first cohort, 2008. The podcast is broken up into four episodes, each dealing with a separate fairy tale. The views recorded are those of the speakers. Episode 1: Stardust & Introduction Joined by: Isabel, Sophie, Dan and Peter. In this segment, we’re focusing on the question of what constitutes a fairy tale. Is Neil Gaiman’s novel, Stardust, an actual fairy tale? And what is the difference between a fairy tale for adults and a fairy tale for children – or is there a difference? Please note that themes of sexuality and violence are discussed in the podcast. Some of these themes may not be suitable for younger listeners.

Postcolonial Translation | Harish Trivedi Harish Trivedi is Professor of English at the University of Delhi, and has been visiting professor at the University of London and the University of Chicago. He is the acclaimed author of Colonial Transactions: English Literature and India. His co-edited books include Postcolonial Translation: Theory and Practice; Literature and Nation: Britain and India 1800-1990; Interrogating Post-Colonialism: Theory, Text and Context; The Nation across the World: Postcolonial Literary Representations; Tess of the d’Urbervilles; Heritage of English. Professor Trivedi is Chair of the Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (IACLALS), and also Vice–President of the Comparative Literature Association of India. Professor Trivedi is the Distinguished Resident Scholar of Centre for Postcolonial Writing from 10-20 June 2008.

From Revolution to Resistance | Robert Stam Stam’s talk will consist of a taxonomy of aesthetic strategies in Brazilian media aimed at critiquing social/racial exclusion. He will present a series of brief clips (about 15 or so) drawn from fiction films/documentaries/and music videos. The talk will be followed by audience discussion. Robert Stam’s books include: Flagging Patriotism: Crises of Narcissism and Anti-Americanism (Routledge, 2006); Francois Truffaut and Friends: Modernism, Sexuality, and Film Adaptation (Rutgers, 2006); Literature through Film: Realism, Magic and the Art of Adaptation (Blackwell, 2005); Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Adaptation (Blackwell, 2005); Companion to Literature and Film (Blackwell, 2004); Film Theory: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2000); Tropical Multiculturalism: A Comparative History of Race in Brazilian Cinema and Culture (Duke, 1997); Reflexivity in Film and Literature (UMI Press, 1985); Brazilian Cinema (Associated University Presses, 1982), as well as many co-authored and co-edited books. His works are translated into and published in: French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Farsi, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, and Hebrew.

The Vanya Project Read by Monash staff members and postgraduate students: Peter Snow Sue Tweg Fiona Gregory Felix Nobis Tamara Searle Craig Peade In pursuit of a series of research questions: Can a live performance and a short film grow from the exact same material? And if they can, what does this require of the writer, director and actors?

The Business of Creativity | Adib Khan The Business of Creativity: the Tension between Aesthetics and Commerce in Serious Fiction A presentation for staff and postgraduates. Adib Khan is the author of five novels. His first novel, Seasonal Adjustments won the Christina Stead Prize for fiction and the Book of the Year in the 1994 New South Wales Premier’s Prize, and won the 1995 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for First Book. His second novel, Solitude of Illusions was shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for fiction and the Ethnic Commission Award in the 1997 New South Wales Premier’s Prize, and won the 1997 Tilly Aston Braille Book of the Year Award. His other novels are The Storyteller and Homecoming. His latest work Spiral Road was listed among the twenty books for the 2008 State Library of Victoria’s summer reading program. Currently, Adib is a PhD (Creative Writing) Scholar, Centre for Postcolonial Writing.

Under Construction Seminar Series : Adrian Martin Social Mise-en-scène: A New Idea in Film Analysis Adrian Martin (Monash) The idea of mise en scène has become a classic - meaning historic and traditional – tool in film analysis. Conceived as the ‘creative gesture’ par excellence, the director’s mise en scène (the positioning and moving of actors and camera in relation to an environment) has long been imlicitly or explicitly seen as a way for cinema to give ‘form to the formlessness’ of space, time, body and place. But, more recently, particularly in various parts of Europe, a new idea has emerged: the idea that the ‘pro-filmic’ reality with which cinema frequently works is itself already (as sociology has long investigated) a complex matter of cultural or social mise en scène: a series of customs, rituals and manners that set bodies in circumscribed places and behaviours. Cinema, then, would be the interleaving or collision of two kinds or levels of mise en scène: social mise en scène and artistic mise en scène. My presentation will offer examples, from fiction films by John Ford to Roy Andersson, also taking in comedy and documentary, to demonstrate this fertile new idea in cinema analysis.

Phenomenology and Performance Studies | Stuart Grant Phenomenology and Performance Studies: With Particular Reference to Group Phenomenology An overview of group phenomenological enquiry and its potential for application in the study of performance. How the method worked in the Audience group project. Reporting from the investigations of the third year comedy class who have turned their unit into an instance of research as pedagogy.

Working With Dinosaurs: Narrative Techniques in the Arena Spectacula Felix Nobis (Monash) This paper examines some unique performance challenges presented to the narrator / presenter of a 21st century arena spectacular. The paper draws on the experience of narrating the premiere production of “Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience” in Australia and the United States. The paper explores the liminal territory between ‘acting’ and ‘storytelling’, as well as the relationship between single performer and mass audience.

Fear in the Academy: an Exploration of Academic Stage Fright Amanda Burrell (Canberra) This paper reports on a pilot project exploring the effectiveness of theatre training to reduce stage fright in academics. A self-selected sample of Advertising and Marketing Communication academics were given intensive theatre training by theatre scholar/practitioners. Semi–structured depth interviews which informed the training content, preceded multiple observations. Participants’ lectures were observed (with students present) prior to and after training. Additionally participants were filmed at the start and end of training. One final measure, an electronic survey, was administered six months after training. Participants’ initial felt symptoms matched the description of stage fright from the literature. Final observations showed massive and enduring improvements in entrances, vocal and physical ease and dialogical delivery style. Theatre training can be an effective method to reduce academic stage fright and increase academic confidence and effectiveness in lecture performance.

Your Friends and Neighbours | Claire Perkins Claire Perkins (Monash) In February 1998, UK film journal Sight and Sound reached the letter “U” in an “A-Z of Cinema” series and set out a catalogue of various cinematic utopias and dystopias. Unsurprisingly, it was overwhelmingly science fiction works that were cited here as examples of films that animate utopian dialectics: Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927); Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982); Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1997). Outside of this paradigm, though, another type of cinema that can be approached in this way is the “suburban nightmare” film that has been exemplified variously in The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967), Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986) and The Unbelievable Truth (Hal Hartley, 1992). Throughout the 1990s, the suburban nightmare became a particularly popular myth for both popular and independent American filmmaking and, of course, popular television (Six Feet Under, Desperate Housewives, Weeds). In much of this work, suburbia appears as a typically inverted utopia: a depersonalised world that, extrapolated from consumer capital, is dominated by attitudes of despair, anxiety and violence. This paper will discuss the articulation of this myth in the more nebulous tendency of the American ‘smart’ film. Drawing on examples including Your Friends and Neighbours (Neil LaBute, 1998), The Safety of Objects (Rose Troche, 2001), Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999) and The Chumscrubber (Arie Posin, 2005), the paper will argue for the existence of the ‘suburban smart film’ as a specific anti-utopian type concerned with the exposition of social fact. With particular attention to the example of Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) - a suburban smart science-fiction film - the paper will conclude by considering how some of these films mobilise discourses on becoming to animate a properly utopian dialectic, and advance a new cinematic utopianism.