Book Review Of Creative Writing Studies: Practice, Research And Pedagogy

Graeme Harper and Jeri Kroll ( 2008) Creative Writing Studies: Practice, Research and Pedagogy. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. ISBN-13: 978-1-84769-020-3 (hbk) ISBN-13: 978-1-84769-019-7 (pbk) Margaret Anne Clarke Creative writing, both as a practice and discipline, occupies a somewhat ambiguous position within the context of higher education. It is a boom subject in terms of student recruitment, but one that has yet to be completely defined as an academic discipline, and establish its full tenure in the academy. There have traditionally even been doubts as to whether the discipline can be ‘taught’ at all. The edited collection of essays, Creative Writing Studies: Research and Pedagogy addresses as comprehensively as possible the questions, dilemmas and ideas regarding the ongoing establishment of creative writing as an academic field, and focussing specifically on the university sector. The editors present in the introduction an overview of the field of creative writing, and the two fundamental dilemmas which inform present considerations on its current position within higher education. Firstly, creative writing is a practice-led and process-based discipline, the fundamental characteristic that differentiates it from the study of literature oriented towards the study of finished artefacts with (usually) a named author, and belonging to a specific genre. As such, the discipline generates multiple meanings and interpretations concerning its definition, and in particular, the relation between practice, pedagogy and theory. Secondly, as the editors point out, up till now, the establishment of creative writing at higher education level, as both taught course and degree programme, has principally focussed on provision at undergraduate level. The strength of creative writing within the academy derives from its popularity with students and its capacity to recruit. Thus the agenda for creative writing has been principally driven by considerations which are primarily pedagogical in nature: innovations in teaching and workshop-based practice have been the principal focus of the discipline. The agenda for research is less clear, or has yet to be fully established in certain aspects. This is especially the case at doctoral level, where the balance of theory and practice has yet to be fully defined, and also the related questions of appropriate benchmarks and methodologies for assessing both creative artefacts and researched study produced by post-graduate students.

The main body of the volume consists of contributions from individuals based in universities in the UK, the United States and Australia, all of whom are both practitioners of creative writing, and tutors in the university sector. Using concrete examples drawn from their own first-hand experiences as tutors, students of creative writing, authors, and translators and administrators, the contributors reflect on their practice, testing the epistemological validity of their evolving theories and ideas against their actual experiences in the classroom and workshop. The contributors also consider both the process of creative writing and the final written artefact, and in what ways this process sheds further light on the nature of composition, the specific formal genres of the novel and poetry, and engagement with an already established literary tradition and canon. All these considerations are components of the material pedagogical practice which enable the students to undertake the long and frequently arduous process of creating a finished artefact which must then be assessed and benchmarked within the formal assessment requirements of the university degree programme. This is not a straightforward process; it may engender frequent tensions between creative and critical practices, and within departments and institutions, given that any creative writing programme must demand a high degree of personal autonomy and originality on the part of students. Of particular interest in the volume, therefore, are those chapters which integrate accounts of the student experience of undertaking a formally assessed creative writing programme and the perspective they themselves may bring to the process. Some innovative approaches are suggested by Nat Hardy in the chapter ‘Gonzo-Formalism: A Creative Writing MetaPedagogy for Non-Traditional Students, which also explores the nature of the student cohort, and the role of the student in the formation of ‘theoretical praxis’. Of interest also is Nessa O’Mahony’s chapter, ‘That was the Answer: Now What Was the Question? The PhD in Creative and Critical Writing: A Case Study’. The chapter gives an account of her experience both of undertaking a Master’s programme and the ongoing process of creating an imaginative written piece within the formal educational contexts of a PhD programme, ‘elucidating the process of writing’ while she does so. While the volume does not pretend to provide a definitive answer to the numerous challenges facing those seeking to embed the discipline further within higher education it defines what those challenges are in a lucid and readable way, and is recommended for any tutor and administrator in the sector seeking to define their theoretical practice further within the field.

Margaret Anne Clarke The University of Portsmouth