Couplings, Matings, Hybridizations: What Writers Can Gain from Critical Theory

Abstract

Creative Writing and Critical Theory are in their closest relation ever in Universities, as more institutions offer Creative Writing degrees, MA or MFA programmes, and opportunities for postgraduate research. More writers are choosing to produce work in an environment that brings them into close dialogue with literary criticism, and Creative Writing programmes increasingly emphasize the combination of critical and creative writing, requiring writers to occupy a dual position as both writer and critic. This is an exciting development, but one that is not without its challenges as the traditionally demarcated positions of the writer and critic, and of primary and secon dary texts, shift and often clash. Such positions have become destabilized as poetry, fiction and scripts are produced within a pedagogic environment historically concerned with the ‘secondary’ reading of such work through Critical Theory, and the creative process is subjected to conscious critical judgement as it happens, rather than after the event. This raises issues for writers and assessors at all levels in Higher Education.