Of the five electives on offer for English Extension 1, Intersecting Worlds is the one I've seen teachers talk about the least, which is a shame because it's got some fantastic Prescribed Texts in it. In this elective, students examine the way in which our relationship with nature is represented in texts. This means considering what it is we value about nature and how this comes across in literature, the way in which representations of natural worlds can re-orientate the reader in relation to previously marginalised perspectives, and the sense of anagnorisis felt by the individual as a result of their experience with nature.
There are four novels to pick from - three works of fiction and one non-fiction. This complemented by a poetry option and a film. Of these texts, three are Australian, two are English, and one is American. Looking at the gender breakdown, four are composed by men and two by women. There are no non-Western or Aboriginal perspectives on offer, which is a bit disappointing considering the content of the elective.
Prose Fiction Options
What is it: TC is a young boy who lives an underprivileged life with his struggling mother in the city. He spends his days truanting from school and exploring the corners of the urban landscape that still yield some connection to nature. His adventuring sees him crossing paths with two other isolated individuals, the elderly Sophia who regularly writes letters to her granddaughter Daisy, and Jozef, a hardworking Polish migrant who yearns for his long-gone rural past.
Scope for Study: Harrison's background as a nature photographer can be felt in her incredibly rich and detailed descriptions of the environment. This is a novel that poses challenging questions about the place of the natural world alongside our increasingly alienated and industrialised modern existence, and students will be able to examine these themes through the lens of each of the novel's major characters. Clay works well as a text that offers a unique view of the way life endures within the urban cityscapes that have divorced humanity from the wider, non-developed world.
NESA Annotations: Annotations can be found in the 2015-2020 NESA document, where the text was included as an option for the now defunct Advanced English module 'Representation and Text'. These annotations are mostly focused on the novel's style as evoked through characterisation and setting, and mention is made of students having the opportunity to appreciate "the capacity of nature to bring together individuals who ordinarily have difficulties relating to others".
Verdict: The shortest of the three novels offered within this elective but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. Clay's beautiful language can sometimes feel dense if the reader isn't in a conducive frame of mind, and some contextualisation will be needed in order to assist students in getting on board with what is essentially a very British take on 'the wonder of nature'. Look, it's a nice book but it just doesn't grab me in the same way as The Shipping News did. Also, it's interesting to note that Clay was initially introduced in the aborted 2015-2020 Prescriptions as an Advanced English text. Owing to the unfairness of ditching a brand new text from the list altogether, NESA have instead relegated it to the bookroom backwater of Extension English... let's just say, I feel sorry for any schools who bought whole class set of Clay back in 2016!
Scope for Study: Harrison's background as a nature photographer can be felt in her incredibly rich and detailed descriptions of the environment. This is a novel that poses challenging questions about the place of the natural world alongside our increasingly alienated and industrialised modern existence, and students will be able to examine these themes through the lens of each of the novel's major characters. Clay works well as a text that offers a unique view of the way life endures within the urban cityscapes that have divorced humanity from the wider, non-developed world.
NESA Annotations: Annotations can be found in the 2015-2020 NESA document, where the text was included as an option for the now defunct Advanced English module 'Representation and Text'. These annotations are mostly focused on the novel's style as evoked through characterisation and setting, and mention is made of students having the opportunity to appreciate "the capacity of nature to bring together individuals who ordinarily have difficulties relating to others".
Verdict: The shortest of the three novels offered within this elective but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. Clay's beautiful language can sometimes feel dense if the reader isn't in a conducive frame of mind, and some contextualisation will be needed in order to assist students in getting on board with what is essentially a very British take on 'the wonder of nature'. Look, it's a nice book but it just doesn't grab me in the same way as The Shipping News did. Also, it's interesting to note that Clay was initially introduced in the aborted 2015-2020 Prescriptions as an Advanced English text. Owing to the unfairness of ditching a brand new text from the list altogether, NESA have instead relegated it to the bookroom backwater of Extension English... let's just say, I feel sorry for any schools who bought whole class set of Clay back in 2016!
Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller
What is it: Annabelle Beck, forty-something and married to an academic, retreats to her childhood home in far north Queensland after her husband has an affair with a university student. In the remote, stony wilderness to the west of Townsville, Annabelle takes a journey into her own past as she takes up work surveying the historical significance of sites for mining companies. In the course of this work she makes a connection with Bo Rennie, one of the local Aboriginal people, whose own past is complexly intertwined with her own.
Scope for Study: Students won't have any trouble understanding this novel on a surface level with its sharp, modernist imagery and finely-observed characters. In connecting the text to the elective, the teacher will need to open up the spaces within the narrative through discussion and close analysis. One of the central conceits of Journey to the Stone Country is the issue of communication and the space that needs to be navigated between the European and Aboriginal perspective of the world. Yes, Annabelle and Bo's histories are closely connected, but in a lot of ways they are also incompatible. In considering the 'Intersecting Worlds' Elective, students will need to consider the way in which setting works as a representation of themes and ideas. In this novel in particular, as rife as it is with symbolism, there is also a strong subtext regarding the debates around how land resources in Australia are to be best used. Chief among these is perhaps the way in which Aboriginal communities both suffer and benefit from commercialised development, and the contested histories that threaten to unhinge the present.
NESA Annotations: Annotations for this one can also be found in the 2015-2020 NESA document, where it was included as part of the now-retired Extension 1 Module B Elective 'Texts and Ways of Thinking', where the focus was on context and communication. The annotations make mention of the text's validity as a winner of the prestigious Miles Franklin Award and its origin as a fictionalised account of people that the author knew in his own youth as a cattle station worker in Queensland. It is suggested that students will be engaged by the 'interracial love story' and the contrasting cultural values and attitudes featured throughout the novel. Journey to the Stone Country is also highlighted as a text that deals with the theme of reconciliation, which was (and is) an ongoing contextual concern for both the author and his Australian audience.
Verdict: It's an enjoyable enough book and no one could deny that it's intellectually stimulating or well-written. Alex Miller has taken the right approach in positioning his narrative from the point of view of the character who is, like himself, of a white and European background. That said, I think the time has passed for having our students examine Aboriginal issues from non-Aboriginal viewpoints. I don't dispute that this book has something worthwhile to say, I just believe that we could do better in selecting books that are better representative of marginalised voices rather than continuing to have already dominant voices dictate the nature and dimensions of these conversations.
What is it: Annabelle Beck, forty-something and married to an academic, retreats to her childhood home in far north Queensland after her husband has an affair with a university student. In the remote, stony wilderness to the west of Townsville, Annabelle takes a journey into her own past as she takes up work surveying the historical significance of sites for mining companies. In the course of this work she makes a connection with Bo Rennie, one of the local Aboriginal people, whose own past is complexly intertwined with her own.
Scope for Study: Students won't have any trouble understanding this novel on a surface level with its sharp, modernist imagery and finely-observed characters. In connecting the text to the elective, the teacher will need to open up the spaces within the narrative through discussion and close analysis. One of the central conceits of Journey to the Stone Country is the issue of communication and the space that needs to be navigated between the European and Aboriginal perspective of the world. Yes, Annabelle and Bo's histories are closely connected, but in a lot of ways they are also incompatible. In considering the 'Intersecting Worlds' Elective, students will need to consider the way in which setting works as a representation of themes and ideas. In this novel in particular, as rife as it is with symbolism, there is also a strong subtext regarding the debates around how land resources in Australia are to be best used. Chief among these is perhaps the way in which Aboriginal communities both suffer and benefit from commercialised development, and the contested histories that threaten to unhinge the present.
NESA Annotations: Annotations for this one can also be found in the 2015-2020 NESA document, where it was included as part of the now-retired Extension 1 Module B Elective 'Texts and Ways of Thinking', where the focus was on context and communication. The annotations make mention of the text's validity as a winner of the prestigious Miles Franklin Award and its origin as a fictionalised account of people that the author knew in his own youth as a cattle station worker in Queensland. It is suggested that students will be engaged by the 'interracial love story' and the contrasting cultural values and attitudes featured throughout the novel. Journey to the Stone Country is also highlighted as a text that deals with the theme of reconciliation, which was (and is) an ongoing contextual concern for both the author and his Australian audience.
Verdict: It's an enjoyable enough book and no one could deny that it's intellectually stimulating or well-written. Alex Miller has taken the right approach in positioning his narrative from the point of view of the character who is, like himself, of a white and European background. That said, I think the time has passed for having our students examine Aboriginal issues from non-Aboriginal viewpoints. I don't dispute that this book has something worthwhile to say, I just believe that we could do better in selecting books that are better representative of marginalised voices rather than continuing to have already dominant voices dictate the nature and dimensions of these conversations.
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
What is it: Quoyle is a shambling, aimless doorstop of a man who experiences a series of personal tragedies and finds himself looking after two daughters on his own. Upon meeting his long-lost aunt, Quoyle decides to head to his ancestral home - the icy Canadian island of Newfoundland. In this strange maritime world of pies made from seal meat and men lost to the boundless unforgiving seas, Quoyle finds himself forging a new identity as a writer for the local newspaper, reporting on the comings-and-goings of the various ships that call in to harbour.
Scope for Study: Episodic in nature, The Shipping News reads like a collection of short stories held together in a shared universe by various thematic threads and motifs. Proulx's use of Newfoundlander lore and language creates this whole other epistemology that Extension students should find great enjoyment in learning - a cultural geography of fog and sailor speak and evocative made-up words. The setting itself is a character in The Shipping News; an environment that has a pivotal role in healing Quoyle's misery and gently giving him the gift of self-confidence. Students will do well to pay particular attention to Proulx's use of vocabulary to build both setting and character.
NESA Annotations: Frustratingly, there are no annotations for this text in any of the last three NESA Annotations documents.
Verdict: I absolutely loved this. At the time of writing I'm about 70% through the entire Prescriptions for Standard/Advanced/Extension and I think this might just be my favourite text in the whole list. Proulx weaves this wonderful tapestry of local histories that tap into the very essence of folklore. It's very easy to see why she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with this novel and I think it also stands as an extremely useful example for students in appreciating the role of characterisation, setting, and language in a narrative that eschews a more typical plot structure. Even if you decide not to use this text for this elective, I'd still recommend reading it. You know, for fun.
Nonfiction Options
What is it: Quoyle is a shambling, aimless doorstop of a man who experiences a series of personal tragedies and finds himself looking after two daughters on his own. Upon meeting his long-lost aunt, Quoyle decides to head to his ancestral home - the icy Canadian island of Newfoundland. In this strange maritime world of pies made from seal meat and men lost to the boundless unforgiving seas, Quoyle finds himself forging a new identity as a writer for the local newspaper, reporting on the comings-and-goings of the various ships that call in to harbour.
Scope for Study: Episodic in nature, The Shipping News reads like a collection of short stories held together in a shared universe by various thematic threads and motifs. Proulx's use of Newfoundlander lore and language creates this whole other epistemology that Extension students should find great enjoyment in learning - a cultural geography of fog and sailor speak and evocative made-up words. The setting itself is a character in The Shipping News; an environment that has a pivotal role in healing Quoyle's misery and gently giving him the gift of self-confidence. Students will do well to pay particular attention to Proulx's use of vocabulary to build both setting and character.
NESA Annotations: Frustratingly, there are no annotations for this text in any of the last three NESA Annotations documents.
Verdict: I absolutely loved this. At the time of writing I'm about 70% through the entire Prescriptions for Standard/Advanced/Extension and I think this might just be my favourite text in the whole list. Proulx weaves this wonderful tapestry of local histories that tap into the very essence of folklore. It's very easy to see why she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with this novel and I think it also stands as an extremely useful example for students in appreciating the role of characterisation, setting, and language in a narrative that eschews a more typical plot structure. Even if you decide not to use this text for this elective, I'd still recommend reading it. You know, for fun.
Nonfiction Options
Island Home by Tim Winton
What is it: In a series of interconnected discursive pieces, Winton recounts his formative years through the lens of Australia's geography - growing up on the Western Australian coast, in industrial towns surrounded by unloved scrubby heath, and in an adolescence characterised by isolation and discovery and awakening environmentalism. Winton contrasts the development of his relationship with the land with a growing awareness of 'Green' ideology, thereby giving the reader a window into the forging of an environmentalist identity.
Scope for Study: Winton's memoir is constructed around the role of geography in shaping identity, allowing students to explore creative non-fiction (or discursive) texts and the use of a thesis to drive one's writing. Students will also be able to explore Winton's use of intertextuality to add depth to his explorations of ideology, the concept of "Australia the place" vs. "Australia the national identity", the role of nostalgia in shaping memory, and the changing face of Australian society.
NESA Annotations: Notes can be found for Island Home in the 2019-2023 Annotations document. Elements singled out as being of interest include: Winton's evocative descriptions of landscapes, the use of vignettes and essays to explore how these landscapes have shaped the author's identity, and the comparisons made between non-Indigenous and Indigenous notions of Country. Students are also positioned to examine the form and style of Winton's essays, rhetoric, and the extended metaphor of family that runs throughout Island Home.
Verdict: I don't hate it. Winton, as always, writes effortlessly and intellectually about our ongoing relationship with the Australian environment, and it's interesting to see the secret, hidden, forgotten, and marginalised histories of conservation and love for country. That said, I don't know if I'd like to teach it though... I think Winton's writing can go over the heads of students more often than not. There are some parts of Island Home that are sharp and incisive, but there are also other parts that are quite dry and obscure.
Poetry Options
What is it: In a series of interconnected discursive pieces, Winton recounts his formative years through the lens of Australia's geography - growing up on the Western Australian coast, in industrial towns surrounded by unloved scrubby heath, and in an adolescence characterised by isolation and discovery and awakening environmentalism. Winton contrasts the development of his relationship with the land with a growing awareness of 'Green' ideology, thereby giving the reader a window into the forging of an environmentalist identity.
Scope for Study: Winton's memoir is constructed around the role of geography in shaping identity, allowing students to explore creative non-fiction (or discursive) texts and the use of a thesis to drive one's writing. Students will also be able to explore Winton's use of intertextuality to add depth to his explorations of ideology, the concept of "Australia the place" vs. "Australia the national identity", the role of nostalgia in shaping memory, and the changing face of Australian society.
NESA Annotations: Notes can be found for Island Home in the 2019-2023 Annotations document. Elements singled out as being of interest include: Winton's evocative descriptions of landscapes, the use of vignettes and essays to explore how these landscapes have shaped the author's identity, and the comparisons made between non-Indigenous and Indigenous notions of Country. Students are also positioned to examine the form and style of Winton's essays, rhetoric, and the extended metaphor of family that runs throughout Island Home.
Verdict: I don't hate it. Winton, as always, writes effortlessly and intellectually about our ongoing relationship with the Australian environment, and it's interesting to see the secret, hidden, forgotten, and marginalised histories of conservation and love for country. That said, I don't know if I'd like to teach it though... I think Winton's writing can go over the heads of students more often than not. There are some parts of Island Home that are sharp and incisive, but there are also other parts that are quite dry and obscure.
Poetry Options
The Major Works by William Wordsworth
- Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey
- Three years she grew in sun and shower
- My heart leaps up when I behold
- Resolution and independence
- The world is too much with us
- Ode ('There was a time')
- The Solitary Reaper
- The Prelude (1805) - Book Ones, lines 1-67, 271-441
What is it: Wordsworth's poetry explores the human condition via the wonders of nature, echoing sentiments of pathetic fallacy in a range of poetic forms and genres. 'Tintern Abbey' is a long piece in the loco-descriptive mode of the era, 'Three years...' depicts a nature both wondrous and indifferent when it comes to the rise and fall of an individual's life, and the autobiographical 'Prelude' is included in two fragments relevant to the elective. The length of poetry also drastically varies, from the short and simplistic 'My Heart Leaps Up' to the twenty stanza 'Resolution and Independence'.
Scope for Study: There is a lot to cover in this suite of selected poetry and taking a structuralist perspective grounded in context will be helpful in getting students to understand Wordsworth's use of generic conventions. Among the poetic forms sampled here are rhyme royal, the pindaric ode, the aforementioned loco-descriptive genre, and 18th century lyrical poetry, all of which will no doubt need some explaining for your students. Context will be important too, for example, 'Ode' is a poem written in two parts at two different times, so there should be consideration of how it reflects the author's life. 'Tintern Abbey' is also another interesting one as it oddly leaves out any mention of the titular abbey, focusing instead on the natural geography of the area - a geography internalised by the poet and alluding to a world that was slowly slipping (or about to slip) under the encroachment of industrialisation.
NESA Annotations: Some annotations for Wordsworth can be found in the 2015-2020 NESA document in relation to the now defunct Extension 1 Module B Elective on 'Romanticism'. The suite featured there is not exactly the same as the currently Prescribed one but there is some crossover in that five of the current eight poems are the same. The annotations primarily focus on Wordsworth's position as one of the Romantic poets and how his work fits into a larger framework in relation to this genre.
Verdict: This is big, weighty, and ambitious to study. I'm not sure I'd tackle it because it doesn't quite sing to my senses in the way that a lot of the other Prescribed Texts do. But, then again, there's a lot written about Wordsworth's poetry so teaching it would be ably assisted by paratextual reading (or dare I say even some simple Google searching!) As a solid Western canon text it's also got a long history of school study attached to it, so that will help too.
Film Options
The Hunter, directed by Daniel Nettheim
What is it: A foreign biotech company has learned that the extinct Tasmanian Tiger may in fact still exist in the depths of the Tasmanian wilderness. In order to exploit this opportunity to its fullest, the company sends in specialist Martin David (played by Willem Dafoe) to collect genetic material from the creature and to also kill off any remaining Tasmanian Tigers to ensure that the harvested DNA remains unique. While adopting the guise of a university researcher during his journey to the heart of the Apple Isle, David inadvertently finds himself in the middle of an ideological battle between environmentalists and loggers, and is confronted by a landscape both mysterious and haunting in its natural beauty.
Scope for Study: Students will be able to examine the film in terms of its visual design, specifically the way it contrasts a fairly grim premise with the fearsome beauty of a wilderness under threat. Of note is the panoramic helicopter-mounted camera work and the use of wide or extreme shots to capture this environment. Tasmania's nature is depicted as an almost god-like amphitheatre into which Willem Dafoe's gaunt and haunted frame must tread if he is to fulfill the near-Satanic deal he has struck with his employer. Students should also build up a strong contextual knowledge to assist with better understanding the The Hunter's environmental and conservationist themes.
NESA Annotations: Notes can be found in the 2019-2023 Annotations document, which outlines the need to examine the contemporary political context of the film as well as the Tasmanian Tiger as a symbol for the impact of European colonisation. The 'Opportunities for Challenging Teaching and Learning' are highly useful here too as they provide a clear schema that can be used to deconstruct and examine the text in relation to the elective.
Verdict: It's always nice to see Australian films in these lists but The Hunter doesn't really live up to its promise. The Tasmanian Tiger becomes a clumsy sort of metaphor for David in that they're both survivors in a ruthless world, however, aside from Willem Dafoe's great range as an actor, the character just isn't given enough depth by director/writer Daniel Nettheim. Owing to the density of the other texts though I think it would be difficult to undertake the Intersecting Worlds Elective without including The Hunter, and it's a serviceable enough film to use when exploring the representation of nature and the human condition in relation to it, especially with the use of the NESA annotations as a guideline.
What is it: A foreign biotech company has learned that the extinct Tasmanian Tiger may in fact still exist in the depths of the Tasmanian wilderness. In order to exploit this opportunity to its fullest, the company sends in specialist Martin David (played by Willem Dafoe) to collect genetic material from the creature and to also kill off any remaining Tasmanian Tigers to ensure that the harvested DNA remains unique. While adopting the guise of a university researcher during his journey to the heart of the Apple Isle, David inadvertently finds himself in the middle of an ideological battle between environmentalists and loggers, and is confronted by a landscape both mysterious and haunting in its natural beauty.
Scope for Study: Students will be able to examine the film in terms of its visual design, specifically the way it contrasts a fairly grim premise with the fearsome beauty of a wilderness under threat. Of note is the panoramic helicopter-mounted camera work and the use of wide or extreme shots to capture this environment. Tasmania's nature is depicted as an almost god-like amphitheatre into which Willem Dafoe's gaunt and haunted frame must tread if he is to fulfill the near-Satanic deal he has struck with his employer. Students should also build up a strong contextual knowledge to assist with better understanding the The Hunter's environmental and conservationist themes.
NESA Annotations: Notes can be found in the 2019-2023 Annotations document, which outlines the need to examine the contemporary political context of the film as well as the Tasmanian Tiger as a symbol for the impact of European colonisation. The 'Opportunities for Challenging Teaching and Learning' are highly useful here too as they provide a clear schema that can be used to deconstruct and examine the text in relation to the elective.
Verdict: It's always nice to see Australian films in these lists but The Hunter doesn't really live up to its promise. The Tasmanian Tiger becomes a clumsy sort of metaphor for David in that they're both survivors in a ruthless world, however, aside from Willem Dafoe's great range as an actor, the character just isn't given enough depth by director/writer Daniel Nettheim. Owing to the density of the other texts though I think it would be difficult to undertake the Intersecting Worlds Elective without including The Hunter, and it's a serviceable enough film to use when exploring the representation of nature and the human condition in relation to it, especially with the use of the NESA annotations as a guideline.
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