"Despite Tough Guys, Life Is Not the Only School for Real Novelists" is an article printed in the New York Times on May 24, 1999. It was the seventh in the "Writers on Writing" series which began earlier that year.
Summary[]
In recognition of the publication of A Community of Writers, a collection of essays about the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa, Vonnegut recounts his own time there in 1965 and 1966. Paul Engle, who ran the workshop for decades, saved many struggling writers by giving them teaching jobs and many talented students became respected writers. People often ask if writing can be taught, and before creative writing departments this task was done by professional editors. Even so-called "tough guy" writers of the past were still guided by skilled editors. Creative writing courses are essentially "experienced editors for inspired amateurs."
In the 1950s the only such programs were at Iowa and Stanford, and they could indeed save students years of labor by teaching how to effectively tell a story. Some of these rules go back to at least the time of Aristotle. This system also relies on the writers becoming good teachers. There are now over 100 creative writing programs in the United States, but given how rare it is to make a living from writing, this may seem scandalous, like offering "courses in pharmacy, if there were no such things as drugstores." However, the primary benefit of any art is that "it enables one's soul to grow" and so creative writing classes are not strictly for practical purposes. The goal of any teacher in the field is essentially to gently pull out a small amount of work from the potential writer and see what is already written there.[1]
See Also[]
- "A New Scheme for Real Writers" an earlier New York Times piece about creative writing programs
- ↑ "Despite Tough Guys, Life Is Not the Only School for Real Novelists", New York Times, May 24, 1999, Section E, Page 1.