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Research Methods in Creative Writing
A guide to the modes and methods of Creative Writing research, designed to be invaluable to university staff and students in formulating research ideas, and in selecting appropriate strategies. Creative writing researchers from around the globe offer a selection of models that readers can explore and on which they can build.
232 pages, Paperback
First published June 5, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 9, 2018
A PhD (and, to some extent, a research-based Masters) is all about adding to the stock of human knowledge.
It's easy to see how this is possible in the hard sciences: physics, chemistry and biology, and in the softer sciences: psychology, sociology and other ologies. But it's not so easy to see how this is possible in the softest of subjects such as the arts, and in particular Creative Writing.
This book tries to redress that balance by shedding some light on the subject of Research Methods in Creative Writing.
This curated compilation of essays and articles gives the opportunity for a wide range of authors, themselves either PhD students or directors of Creative Writing PhD/Masters courses, to present their case and provide supporting evidence.
Basically, these authors try to persuade us that research into Creative Writing can add to the sum total of knowledge held by the human race.
However ...
Much of the language in this book is opaque to me (a mere taught Masters student). This would seem to indicate that I am not really the intended audience. There seems to be trend towards books written by academics for academia, and this book seems to represent one more step down that road. This is a shame because it is an artificial obstacle to entry and engagement with this book that could easily have been removed.
Consequent to the language barrier, many of these articles are unreadable, which significantly undermines their aim as persuasive texts. Not, of course, that I have any influence over funding decisions; but I imagine that there are people out there who have such influence and are as normal in their reading ability as I am.
It's kind of ironic that a book aiming to big-up the influence of Creative Writing on the world should contain such dense prose.
And I think I'll leave it at that.
It's easy to see how this is possible in the hard sciences: physics, chemistry and biology, and in the softer sciences: psychology, sociology and other ologies. But it's not so easy to see how this is possible in the softest of subjects such as the arts, and in particular Creative Writing.
This book tries to redress that balance by shedding some light on the subject of Research Methods in Creative Writing.
This curated compilation of essays and articles gives the opportunity for a wide range of authors, themselves either PhD students or directors of Creative Writing PhD/Masters courses, to present their case and provide supporting evidence.
Basically, these authors try to persuade us that research into Creative Writing can add to the sum total of knowledge held by the human race.
However ...
Much of the language in this book is opaque to me (a mere taught Masters student). This would seem to indicate that I am not really the intended audience. There seems to be trend towards books written by academics for academia, and this book seems to represent one more step down that road. This is a shame because it is an artificial obstacle to entry and engagement with this book that could easily have been removed.
Consequent to the language barrier, many of these articles are unreadable, which significantly undermines their aim as persuasive texts. Not, of course, that I have any influence over funding decisions; but I imagine that there are people out there who have such influence and are as normal in their reading ability as I am.
It's kind of ironic that a book aiming to big-up the influence of Creative Writing on the world should contain such dense prose.
And I think I'll leave it at that.
August 11, 2020
I found this book useful, particularly the essay by Kim Lasky. I'll be using her discussion on poetics as a framework for my MA critical paper. But as other reviews have pointed out, it does seem that the majority of the content is aimed at faculty rather than students. Perhaps this should be made clear in the prologue/blurb or on the cover? That being said, it should prove to be a decent enough reference text for those wishing to continue self-development of their formal methods beyond academic study.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews