Search the library catalogue by changing the search option to Genre and type Texts and Human Experiences in the search bar. This will generate a list of all items in the library catalogue that have been classified as being a related text for the Common Module - Texts and Human Experiences.
Bloom's Literature is a great resource for students when studying authors and texts in-depth.
JStor is a digital library of academic journals, books and primary sources. To gain access students must create an account. This database is particularly useful for senior students wanting to access academic journals for authoritative content.
These links are to resources produced by HSC teachers and students, not from this College. Please read all material with a critical eye.
By The River by
A memorable YA novel about the tough and tender sides of growing up in a small country town. Fourteen-year-old Harry has a knack for wriggling out of trouble, but escaping the constraints and memories that keep him trapped is not so easy, until it's a matter of life or death.
The Simple Gift by
When the paths of a runaway teenage boy, an old hobo, and a rich girl intersect in an abandoned train yard, each carries their own personal baggage. Over early mornings, long walks, and cheap coffee they discover, no matter how big or small, that it is the simple gifts in life that really make a difference. This special reissue of a bestselling and award-winning Australian classic is a life-affirming look at humanity, generosity, and love.
The Odyssey by
If the Iliadis the world's greatest war epic, then the Odysseyis literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey through life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces, during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is at once the timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. In the myths and legends that are retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odysseyto read aloud, to savour, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox's superb Introduction and textual commentary provide new insights and background information for the general reader and scholar alike, intensifying the strength of Fagles' introduction. This is an Odysseyto delight both the classicist and the public at large, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students.
Mirror by 
Voices in the Park by
Four different voices tell their own versions of the same walk in the park. The radically different perspectives give a fascinating depth to this simple story which explores many of the author's key themes, such as alienation, friendship and the bizarre amid the mundane.
Anthony Browne's world-renowned artwork is full of expressive gorillas, vibrant colours and numerous nods to Magritte and other artists, while being uniquely Browne's own style.
Elephant Man by
Joseph doesn't look like other people. His skin is thick and lumpy, his limbs are oddly shaped, and his head has a big bony bump. People call him Elephant Man and scream in terror when they see him. But inside, Joseph longs for a friend to understand him. As Joseph is bullied and rejected at every turn, his situation grows more and more desperate. But a meeting with a kind doctor holds the hope to change his life. Based on the famous true story of Joseph Merrick, Elephant Man is an unforgettable tale about being different, finding happiness in even the hardest circumstances, and discovering beauty inside everyone. (Back cover)
The Little Refugee by
Anh Do's inspirational story about his family's incredible escape from war-torn Vietnam and his childhood in Australia, told especially for children. Giant waves crashed down on our little boat. I was terrified but my mum hugged me tight and told me, "Everything will be okay. Don't worry, it will be okay." Anh Do nearly didn't make it to Australia. His entire family came close to losing their lives as they escaped from war-torn Vietnam in an overcrowded boat. It was a dangerous journey, with murderous pirates and terrifying storms, but they managed to survive. Life in suburban Australia was also hard for a small boy with no English and funny lunches. But there was a loving extended family, lots of friends, and always something to laugh about for Anh, his brother Khoa, and their sister Tram. And eventually for a young Anh, who tried hard to see the bright side of life no matter what the difficulty, there was triumph. The Little Refugee tells the uplifting and inspiring childhood story of one of Australia's favorite personalities.
The Mediterranean by
A lifeless body. One of many in the waters of the Mediterranean. Precarious boats navigate the waters of the sea, from south to north. And more often than not, it is not only hope that drowns. From the creator of The Island.
The Red Piano by
A beautiful and extraordinary account of international concert pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei's hardships and triumphs while growing up during China's Cultural Revolution Stirring and inspiring, this picture book relates the story of a gifted young girl's passion for the piano in a time of historic turmoil. During China's Cultural Revolution a young girl is taken from her family and sent to a far-off labor camp. Forbidden to play the piano, she nevertheless finds a way of smuggling handwritten music into the camp and sneaking away at night to practice a piano in a secret location--until, one night, she is caught. Inspired by the amazing true story of international concert pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei, this acclaimed picture book poetically relates an astonishing story of perseverance set against a cataclysmic period of history.
The Rabbits by
Illustrated by Shaun Tan. Bestselling author, Marsden, has created a dramatically moving allegory of colonisation told from the perspective of native animals, in this stunningly illustrated volume. Examining the consequences of the arrival of a group of rabbits with unfamiliar ways, the story shows how colonisation can result in the domination of the environment and its other inhabitants. A thought-provoking book, it earned its author and illustrator the CBCA Picture Book of the Year.
The Arrival by
'What drives so many to leave everything behind and journey alone to a mysterious country, a place without family or friends, where everything is nameless and the future is unknown? This silent graphic novel is the story of every migrant, every refugee, every displaced person, and a tribute to all those who have made the journey".
The Lost Thing by
A kid finds a lost 'thing' on the beach where he's scavenging for his bottle-top collection. The thing is a large, freakish creature but no-one else really notices it--it's simply not a part of their familiar day-to-day reality. So the kid takes it upon himself to try to find where the lost thing belongs... The Lost Thing is a gently humorous story that will be read and enjoyed by a wide range of ages. While the narrative is full of typical thoughts of an observant and caring young person, the illustrations provide a surreal and thought-provoking backdrop for this 'lost dog story' with a definite twist. The Lost Thing is the first book that Shaun Tan both wrote and illustrated.
My Place by
Starting in 1988 and going back 200 years, we are told the history of Australia by being told the history of one particular place, told by the generations of children who have lived in that one spot. Winner of Australia's Book of the Year 1988. Full-colour illustrations.
The Dream of the Thylacine by
Arresting and beautiful, this picture book is a shimmering encounter with the Tasmanian tiger, a lament for a lost species, and a compelling evocation of the place of animals in nature Celebrating the Australian landscape, this book interposes arresting text, images of the last known thylacine in a concrete cage, and sweeping color paintings of the animal in its natural environment. Two picture book masters use sparse text and powerful images to confront environmental issues, in a unique, heartbreaking way. Intense, poetic, and beautiful, it will haunt readers.
Sir Donald McCullin is a British photojournalist specialising in examining the underside of society and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and impoverished.
Don McCullin by
The definitive retrospective of the work of the great British photographer. A foremost photographer of conflict, McCullin shows a ravaged northern Britain, wars in Cyprus, Biafra, Vietnam, Cambodia and Beirut, as well as riots in Derry and famine in Bangladesh, all with unswerving compassion. Collectively, McCullin’s photographs constitute one of the great documents of human conflict.
12 Edmondstone Street by
"This remarkable book combines autobiography with a subtle, almost painterly sense of the ways in which the objects which we surround ourselves, and the places in which we live, build up our private maps of reality and shape our personal mythologies. David Malouf begins by describing in love, evocative detail, the house in Brisbane where he was born and grew up, moving from room to room, always relating the smallest items in it to the life he remembers and his widening perception of the world at large. He moves on to describe life in the Tuscan village where he lived, and the arrival of an Australian Television crew; reflecting on his first visit to India, he touches on the problems of interpreting and evaluating unfamiliar places; back in Australia, he recalls a traumatic wartime journey with his father from Brisbane to Sydney. Funny, humane and beautifully written, this is a unique and extraordinary essay in autobiography."
Black Swan: a koorie woman's life by
A frank and powerful memoir of the life of an Aboriginal woman, from her early years in a mission to discovery of her talent as a painter "It's bad luck to catch a black swan." Eileen Harrison grew up at in an Aboriginal mission station in the 1950s as one of 11 children in a tight-knit, loving family. When the new assimilation policy comes in, they are wrenched from the mission and sent off to the city of Ararat in Victoria, Australia, in the hope that they will become part of that community. Unable to build a stable life in the face of isolation and discrimination, the family is torn apart, and Eileen must become the protector and the peacemaker. As a child, Eileen set free a black swan caught in a hessian bag--now the story of the magical black swan from her childhood provides an uncanny map for her life as she struggles to find her path. After many years she discovers her talent as a painter and builds a new life for herself. Powerfully told in Eileen's words, her experiences speak eloquently of what has happened to Aboriginal people over the last half-century.
Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by
The film Rabbit-Proof Fenceis based on this true account of Doris Pilkington's mother Molly, who as a young girl led her two sisters on an extraordinary 1,600 kilometre walk home. Under Western Australia's invidious removal policy of the 1930s, the girls were taken from their Aboriginal families at Jigalong on the edge of the Little Sandy Desert, and transported halfway across the state to the Native Settlement at Moore River, north of Perth. Here Aboriginal children were instructed in the ways of white society and forbidden to speak their native tongue. The three girls - aged 8, 11 and 14 - managed to escape from the settlement's repressive conditions and brutal treatment. Barefoot, without provisions or maps, they set out to find the rabbit-proof fence, knowing it passed near their home in the north. Tracked by Native Police and search planes, they hid in terror, surviving on bush tucker, desperate to return to the world they knew.
Mawson and the Ice Men of the Heroic Age by
The story of Australia's most famous polar explorer and the giants from the heroic age of polar exploration- Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton.Sir Douglas Mawson, born in 1882 and knighted in 1914, remains Australia's greatest Antarctic explorer. On 2 December 1911, his Australasian Antarctic Expedition left Hobart to explore the virgin frozen coastline below Australia, 2000 miles of which had never felt the tread of a human foot. He was on his way to fulfil a national dream he had first conceived three years earlier, while on his first trip to the frozen continent on the Nimrod expedition under the leadership of the charismatic Anglo-Irishman Sir Ernest Shackleton.Even as Mawson and his men were approaching Antarctica, two other famous Antarctic explorers were already engaged in nothing less than a race to become the first men to reach the South Pole. While Roald Amundsen of Norway, with his small team, was racing with dogs along one route, England's legendary Scott of the Antarctic, with his far larger team, was relying primarily on ponies and 'man-hauling' to get there along another. As Mawson and his men make their home on the windiest place on earth and prepare for their own record-breaking treks, with devastating drama to be their constant companion, the stories of Amundsen and Scott similarly play out. With his trademark in-depth research, FitzSimons provides a compelling portrait of these great Antarctic explorers. For the first time, he weaves together their legendary feats into one thrilling account, bringing the jaw-dropping events of this bygone era dazzlingly back to life.
Romulus, My Father by
The award-winning and best-selling account of Raimond Gaita's father's life has been turned into a feature film, starring Eric Bana.
Romulus Gaita fled his home in his native Yugoslavia at the age of thirteen, and came to Australia with his young wife Christina and their infant son Raimond soon after the end of World War II. Tragic events were to overtake the boy's life, but Raimond Gaita has an extraordinary story to tell about growing up with his father amid the stony paddocks and flowing grasses of country Australia.
Written simply and movingly, Romulus, My Father is about how a compassionate and honest man taught his son the meaning of living a decent life. It is about passion, betrayal and madness, about friendship and the joy and dignity of work, about character and fate, affliction and spirituality. No one will read this wonderful book without an enhanced sense of the possibilities of being alive.
Tracks by
Now a major motion picture starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver
'I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back.' So begins Robyn Davidson's perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company.
Enduring sweltering heat, fending off poisonous snakes and lecherous men, chasing her camels when they get skittish and nursing them when they are injured, Davidson emerges as an extraordinarily courageous heroine driven by a love of Australia's landscape, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to cast away the trappings of her former identity. Tracks is the compelling, candid story of her odyssey of discovery and transformation.
The Scream by Edvard Munch
Nighthawks by Edward Hooper
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch
The Necklace by
A Parisian civil servant turned protégé of Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant is considered not only one of the greatest short story writers in all of French literature but also a pioneer of psychological realism and modernism who helped define the form. Credited with influencing the likes of Chekhov, Maugham, Babel, and O. Henry, Maupassant had, at the time of his death at the age of forty-two, written six novels and some three hundred short stories. Yet in English, Maupassant has, curiously, remained unappreciated by modern readers due to outdated translations that render his prose in an archaic, literal style. In this bold new translation, Sandra Smith--the celebrated translator of Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise--brings us twenty-eight of Maupassant's essential stories and two novellas in lyrical yet accessible language that brings Maupassant into vibrant English. In addition to her sparkling translation, Smith also imposes a structure that captures the full range of Maupassant's work. Dividing the collection into three sections that reflect his predominant themes--nineteenth-century French society, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, and the supernatural--Smith creates "an arrangement suggesting a culture of relation, of structure, of completion" (Richard Howard). In "Tales of French Life," we see Maupassant explore the broad swath of French society, not just examining the lives of the affluent as was customary for writers in his day. In the title story of the collection, "The Necklace," Maupassant crafts a devastating portrait of misplaced ambition and ruin in the emerging middle class. The stories in "Tales of War" emerge from Maupassant's own experiences in the devastating Franco-Prussian War and create a portrait of that disastrous conflict that few modern readers have ever encountered. This section features Maupassant's most famous novella, "Boule de Suif." The last section, "Tales of the Supernatural," delves into the occult and the bizarre. While certain critics may attribute some of these stories and morbid fascination as the product of the author's fevered mind and possible hallucinations induced by late-stage syphilis, they echo the gothic horror of Poe as well as anticipate the eerie fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. The result takes readers from marriage, family, and the quotidian details of life to the disasters of war and nationalism, then to the gothic and beyond, allowing us to appreciate Maupassant in an idiom that matches our own times. The Necklace and Other Stories enables us to appreciate Maupassant as the progenitor of the modern short story and as a writer vastly ahead of his time.
Here I Stand: Stories That Speak For Freedom
Inspired by the 800-year anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, a selection of writers explore the rights and freedoms still lacking in today's society. Contributors include: Tony Birch, John Boyne, Sita Brahmachari, Russell Brand, Kate Charlesworth, Sarah Crossan, Neil Gaiman, Jack Gantos, Matt Haig, Frances Hardinge, Jackie Kay, AL Kennedy, Liz Kessler, Elizabeth Laird, Sabrina Mahfouz, Paul Muldoon, Chibundu Onuzo, Bali Rai, Chris Riddell, Mary and Brian Talbot, Christie Watson and Tim Wynne-Jones.
In Our Time - 'Big Two-Hearted River' by
THIS COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES AND VIGNETTES MARKED ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S AMERICAN DEBUT AND MADE HIM FAMOUS When In Our Time was published in 1925, it was praised by Ford Madox Ford, John Dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald for its simple and precise use of language to convey a wide range of complex emotions, and it earned Hemingway a place beside Sherwood Anderson and Gertrude Stein among the most promising American writers of that period. In Our Time contains several early Hemingway classics, including the famous Nick Adams stories "Indian Camp," "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife," "The Three Day Blow," and "The Battler," and introduces readers to the hallmarks of the Hemingway style: a lean, tough prose -- enlivened by an car for the colloquial and an eye for the realistic that suggests, through the simplest of statements, a sense of moral value and a clarity of heart. Now recognized as one of the most original short story collections in twentieth-century literature, In Our Time provides a key to Hemingway's later works.
'The Deep' - Memory Wall by
The Deep is a hidden story in the back of Memory Wall.
Set in Detroit during the Depression, Doerr tells the affecting story of Tom, meant to die of a weak heart before he is 18, who is cossetted by his mother, but shown a world of possibilities by the flame-haired Ruby.
The Book Thief by
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist--books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.
The Handmaid's Tale by
The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.
Heart of Darkness by
Dark allegory describes the narrator's journey up the Congo River and his meeting with, and fascination by, Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious personage who dominates the unruly inhabitants of the region. Masterly blend of adventure, character development, psychological penetration. Considered by many Conrad's finest, most enigmatic story.
Jasper Jones by
Summary: Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleepout. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan.
The Longest Memory by
From William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turnerto Toni Morrison's Beloved, modern American fiction engaged with slavery has provoked fiery controversy. So will The Longest Memory, the powerful, beautifully crafted, internationally acclaimed fictional debut of prizewinning Guyanese poet Fred D'Aguiar. In language extraordinary for its tautness and resonance, The Longest Memorytells the story of a rebellious, fiercely intelligent young slave, who in 1810 attempts to flee a Virginia plantation - and of his father who inadvertently betrays him. The young slave's love for a white girl who slakes his forbidden thirst for learning and his painful relationship with his father are hauntingly evoked in this novel of astonishing lyrical simplicity. It is a measure of D'Aguiar's achievement and bravery that The Longest Memoryis informed not only by the complicities between black slave and white master but also by the tensions among slaves themselves - between stoic survivalists and passionate rebels.
Lord of the Flies by
A novel that has captivated schoolchildren. It encourages original and independent thought from students, as well as guiding them through the text. It is also a catalyst for discussion and analysis, not only concerning the capabilities of humans for good and evil and the fragility of moral inhibition, but beyond.
Never Let Me Go by
The top ten bestseller from the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
In one of the most acclaimed novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by
Tells the story of seven generations of the Buendia family and of Macondo, the town they have built.
The Secret River by
William Thornhill along with his wife Sal and their children arrive in the harsh land of New South Wales. It is the year 1806 and William has been transported for the term of his natural life. Eight years later William and his family lay claim to a hundred acres up the Hawkesbury. Aboriginal people already live there and other newly arrived settlers are finding their own ways to respond to them. William finds he soon has to make a very difficult choice that will affect his life.
The Slap by
To smack or not to smack is the question that reverberates through the interconnected lives dissected in Christos Tsiolkas' award-winning novel. Told from the points of view of eight people who are present at the same barbeque. The slap and its consequences will force them all the question the way they live, their expectations, beliefs and desires.
Sons and Lovers by
Introduction and Notes by Dr Howard J. Booth, University of Kent at Canterbury. 'When you have experienced Sons and Lovers you have lived through the agonies of the young Lawrence striving to win free from his old life'. Richard Aldington This novel is Lawrence's semi-autobiographical masterpiece in which he explores emotional conflicts through the protagonist, Paul Morel, and his suffocating relationships with a demanding mother and two very different lovers. Lawrence's novels are perhaps the most powerful exploration in the genre in English of family, class, sexuality and relationships in youth and early adulthood.
The Story of Tom Brennan by
A powerful story of love and loss, secrets and revelations - and making sense of a past that once seemed perfect. For Tom Brennan, life is about rugby, mates and family - until a night of celebration changes his life forever. Tom's world explodes as his brother Daniel is sent to jail and the Brennans are forced to leave the small town Tom's lived in his whole life. Tom is a survivor, but he needs a ticket out of the past just as much as Daniel. He will find it in many forms . . .
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by
In one of the most fascinating works of fiction of all time, Stevenson examines the inner conflict between good and evil. Lawyer Gabriel Utterson hears of an ambiguous, solitary, violent man called Edward Hyde, who is said to have trampled over a young girl in the street, leaving her bruised and terrified. Utterson becomes concerned when a friend of his, Dr Henry Jekyll, makes a will declaring that in the event of his death or disappearance, Hyde should inherit all his property. When Hyde is seen killing a respected political figure, Jekyll becomes increasingly reclusive, which leads Utterson to suspect that there is more than a casual connection between his friend and this brutal 'apelike' monster of a man...
Treasure Island by
One of the best-loved adventure stories ever written, Treasure Island's timeless tale of pirates, lost treasure maps, mutiny and derring-do has appealed to generations of readers ever since Robert Louis Stevenson penned it in 1881 with the claim: If this don't fetch the kids, why, they have gone rotten since my day. But more than just a children's classic, the novel is considered to be one of the greatest feats of storytelling in the English language, with characters such as the unforgettable Long John Silver becoming part of the cultural consciousness. Treasure Island is a coming-of-age story that will captivate both adults and children for as long as stories are told.
Wind, Sand and Stars by
Both a gripping tale of adventure and a poetic meditation, Antoine de Saint Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars is the lyrical autobiography of an aviation pioneer, from the author of The Little Prince. This Penguin Modern Classics edition is translated from the French with an introduction by William Rees.
In 1926 de Saint-Exupery began flying for the pioneering airline Lateco re - later known as Aeropostale - opening up the first mail routes across the Sahara and the Andes. Wind, Sand and Stars is drawn from this experience. Interweaving encounters with nomadic Arabs and other adventures into a richly textured autobiographical narrative, it has its climax in the extraordinary story of Saint-Exupery's crash in the Libyan Desert in 1936, and his miraculous survival. 'Self-discovery comes when a man measures himself against an obstacle,' writes Saint-Exupery. This book explores the transcendent perceptions that arise when life is tested to its limits.
Writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-44), was born in Lyon, France. His first two books, Southern Mail and Night Flight, are distinguished by a poetic evocation of the romance and discipline of flying. Later works, including Wind, Sand and Stars and Flight to Arras, stress his humanistic philosophy. Saint-Exupery's popular children's book The Little Prince is also read by adults for its allegorical meaning. Saint-Exupery's plane disappeared during a mission in World War II.
If you enjoyed Wind, Sand and Stars, you might like Woody Guthrie's Bound for Glory, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
'A Conrad of the air ... Like Conrad, Saint-Exupery is a poet of action'
Andre Maurois
The 7 Stages of Grieving by
Co-written by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, The 7 Stages of Grieving is a contemporary Indigenous performance text from the highly acclaimed Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts. Appropriating Western form whilst using traditional storytelling, The 7 Stages of Grieving gives an emotional insight into Murri life.
This one-woman show follows the journey of an Aboriginal 'everywoman' as she tells poignant and humorous stories of grief and reconciliation. In an environment where Indigenous Australians battle racism, deaths in custody, a history of violence and the anguish of land, The 7 Stages of Grieving is a strong reminder of Indigenous peoples' will to survive, sense of humour and irony, and reinforces the traditional role of Indigenous Australians as storytellers.
