Malouf's context (1 Viewer)

[clever angel]

hi ppl,
just going thru last year's markers comments , they said students focused more on Ovid's setting than Malouf's historical, social, cultural context.

which do we focud more on? as i tend to write more on Ovids' context.

ne suggestions plzzzz

 

[Tammie]

It really depends on which way you interpreted the text. It can be interpreted as a psycoanalytical one or a more contempary peice having its influences from Aborigina culture and society at the time. eg the environmental movement in the 70s- early 80's. If your teacher taught you the analytical one look at the acedemic ways of thought at the time eg. Freuid, Lacan, Hillman etc.. There are many images and metaphors in maloufs work that relate to phycoanalytical images. It all depends on the way you interpret the text. Post back and tell me what your interpretation was and what you think the child represents, and i'll help you more if i can. Hope this helped

 

[clever angel]

i actually looked at that way Malouf recreates the australian lanscape - barren, hostile. how Ovid's past experiences in city affected his communion with the wild. no god's presence in Malouf;s wild- more the immersion and physical bond rather than co exist in WW.

i haven't studied ne anything what u said

 

[Tammie]

Okay its good that your teacher hasn't taken the psycolanalytical way.. coz believe me it don't make much sense.

For context I would rely around the social conditions such as the Aboriginal movement, referendum and the environmental conditions. He certinly recreats the Aboriginal landscape and also the rituals and life of the Gatea is similar so you can relate this all abck to his context.
The child from what ive been taught either represents his inner self, the natural human from or is a metaphor for absolute communion with nature. What did your teacher tell you... do you have n e notes on WW and Malouf essays maybe becoz we can swap some if u want

 

[silvermoon]

its also a colonial australia analogy - eg. first settlers, reactions of aborigines to the english, relationship between colonial australia and england, language/religious similarities between tomis and aborigines.

 

[Tammie]

You seem to be pretty sure what its about and probaly know more than me...just remember that the context is Malouf and not Ovid... if mentioning why ovid reacts the way he does say someting like.... Malouf utilises the persona of a historical poet effectivley to convey the narrative reactions one would have in a similar situation......Does that help at all?
Have n e essays you wanna swap i've got one i got pretty good marks for

 

[silvermoon]

Yes it is Malouf's context - but remember that the context is not necessarily confined to the dates that you lived in - its also what went on before, ie. your historical context. so, Malouf's historical context is the history of Australia - how does his knowledge of colonisation affect his protrayal of Tomis, a village on the border of the mapped world? How does his knowledge of the Australian Aborigines affect his portrayal of the Getic tribes? How does his personal family history affect his knowledge of what it feels like to be an outsider? On top of these things, the markers are also looking to see that you understand the historical context of the work - ie. Ovid's context - who he was, what social conditions there were, what factors and beliefs would have shaped his attitude. You need to show that you understand these to be able to make the connection between Ovid's and Malouf's context. Yes, it is very important to remember to talk abhout Ovid as a ocnstruct of Malouf, not as a person, but it is equally important in an historical fiction to remember that there is a real historical context that can't be ignored.

 

[za]

seeing as though in exam conditons u write about 8 or so pages(hsc style paper), how much of this do u spend talking about the context, coz i usually write about 2 pages.

 

[silvermoon]

well, personally, ill probably write more than 8 bos pages --> maybe 10-ish. in answer to your 'how much time spent on context' question...in one way, i couldn't say. i integrate all my stuff together, so im not talking about WW and Malouf's context separately. that said, context is the major focus of the module, so i spend a lot of time on it - everything i say i relate it back to the context in some way.

 

[Tammie]

Our teacher went through the easiest way to talk about context is to include a short paragraph after your intro with a brief description of context. If you do this when you are dicussing aspects that are similar between WW and Malouf eg both explore aspect of a child, you can say the diferent of exploration is again related to the context of each composer.
Kind of like when humans interact with the wild similar issues arise, however the are explored differently due to context....hope this helps....Silvermoon you got n e esssays u wanna swap it would help i have a couple if u want?

 

[za]

yeah i get u
thnx

 

[clever angel]

do u have ne of ur essays because i seriously need help on this module

 

[Tammie]

i have a couple one i got heaps good marks with but it was only a start one on the issues in both texts, the other included techniques and is still pretty shitty so im fixing it.. here's the 1st one and i'll post one later for you's hope it helps but its only a basic outline i did when we started the module...