In Ted Lardner’s “Locating the Boundaries of Composition and Writing,” he writes that the two disciplines have been moving “in parallel at the margins of departments of English” (77). Lardner details the difference between English composition and creative writing so as to argue that they “have important lessons to learn from each other” (72). To start, the author claims that it must be widely acknowledged that writing has rhetorical effect. Even creative writing is “a social process mediated through power relations” (Lardner 73). Lardner posits that this is overlooked because it is absent from the pedagogical discourse of creative writing. He writes, “Creative writing as a practice of literacy-culturally overdetermined, fraught with power relations runs tangentially to the conversation in many creative writing classrooms at a time when it has pushed to the forefront of concern in composition” (Lardner 73). In composition studies, rhetorical elements such as audience and point of view are the pedagogical focus. Pushing the discourse of creative writing to focus more on technical aspects would strengthen the field within, and allow for more transferable skills. It would also give students a greater vocabulary and dexterity for “talking about and questioning” writing at the evaluative and technical levels (Lardner 75).
Lardner also questions the famous, or maybe, infamous notion of the author within creative writing workshops. In these courses, the author whose work is being critiqued is present but silenced. This formality is thought to test whether or not the work can stand on its own. The speaker is established as disparate from the author so as to preserve the work of fiction, if that is indeed its genre. Lardner argues that even if we were to abandon this structure reminiscent of New Criticism, workshop pedagogical discourse would likely not have the tools to address “the linked issues of the historicity of language and the situatedness of the writing/speaking subject” (Lardner 75). And, since there is no precedent, who would decide what that is supposed to look like? What kind of acknowledgement of the author’s situation would be appropriate? How would we decide what bares relevance to the piece up for workshop?
Lastly, grading is discussed. In English composition, curriculum and grading are largely established and enforced by program administrators. Grading in creative writing courses is not normative and usually attempts to gauge effort, or at best, growth. Lardner calls for a clarification of “the assumptions with which creative writing teachers assess growth and development in their students” (Lardner 76). While it is likely impossible, and Larnder is not asking for this, creative writing classes to be graded like composition courses, a more standard, or at least, less subjective grading system might be achievable.
Lardner, Ted. "Locating the Boundaries of Composition and Creative Writing." College Composition and Communication. 51.1 (1999): 72-77. Print.
Lardner also questions the famous, or maybe, infamous notion of the author within creative writing workshops. In these courses, the author whose work is being critiqued is present but silenced. This formality is thought to test whether or not the work can stand on its own. The speaker is established as disparate from the author so as to preserve the work of fiction, if that is indeed its genre. Lardner argues that even if we were to abandon this structure reminiscent of New Criticism, workshop pedagogical discourse would likely not have the tools to address “the linked issues of the historicity of language and the situatedness of the writing/speaking subject” (Lardner 75). And, since there is no precedent, who would decide what that is supposed to look like? What kind of acknowledgement of the author’s situation would be appropriate? How would we decide what bares relevance to the piece up for workshop?
Lastly, grading is discussed. In English composition, curriculum and grading are largely established and enforced by program administrators. Grading in creative writing courses is not normative and usually attempts to gauge effort, or at best, growth. Lardner calls for a clarification of “the assumptions with which creative writing teachers assess growth and development in their students” (Lardner 76). While it is likely impossible, and Larnder is not asking for this, creative writing classes to be graded like composition courses, a more standard, or at least, less subjective grading system might be achievable.
Lardner, Ted. "Locating the Boundaries of Composition and Creative Writing." College Composition and Communication. 51.1 (1999): 72-77. Print.