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 Meta-
Pedagogy 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