Emily's presentation on Coleridge, his ideas on creativity, and creativity's connections to writing was compelling for me. I really latched onto the idea of the hatred some theorists have for Coleridge's philosophy.
Coleridge's perception of writing as a product of inspiration, not cognition, is very, for the lack of a better phrase, "artsy-fartsy." David Bartholomae immediately provides a paradox for Coleridge's ideas on writing in the introduction to"Inventing the University."
"Every time a student sits down to write for us, he has to invent the university for the occasion--invent the university, that is, or a branch of it, like history or anthropology or economics or English" (605).
In short, you can't wait for inspiration to come sweeping through the strings of your aeolion harp-self when you have a paper due at the end of the week on subject you may not really care about.
Maybe, then, Coleridge isn't talking about ALL writing, but just creative writing. Bartholomae continues: "The student has to learn to speak our language, to speak as we do, to try on the peculiar ways of knowing selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing that define the discourse of our community" (605).
Darn it, creative writing has its own community too.
So, Emily's discussion on how much contemporary theorists loathe Coleridge's handcuffing of creativity to writing has a basis for me when considering Bartholomae's points.
Emily's final point on rhetoric engaging imagination is interesting too: we have to use our imaginations to make arguments effective, even in the most dire predicaments, but how do we get students to associate creativity with rigidly structured academic writing?
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Great blog, Andy. I too was fascinated by the concept of inspiration and how that works when you have deadlines that won't wait for the wind to play your harp strings. An interesting concept that counters Coleridge's theory is found in the well-known aphorism "Necessity is the mother of invention." Sometimes the rhetorical situation itself is the catalyst for our inspiration: we are inspired by the need to write. And we certainly can't discount the need for discipline, because nearly all forms of quality art--including writing--are hard work.
ReplyDeleteI think when we promote this idea of Coleridge-style inspiration that we are creating an exclusionary aura around the act of writing--making it seem like you need something extra-special to be a writer. Writing isn't something that happens to you, but it is something that you do. It is an action verb. Structure and limitations can actually fuel creativity, whereas staring at a blank page and writing anything you want can be intimidating. In the classroom, I think we need to be more willing to have students do writing that doesn't really matter, but allows students to simulatenously play with language and creativity. I am suggesting activities that ask students to write an entire paragraph without the letter "e" or to write a paragraph with 10 synonyms of the word "laugh." Sounds crazy, I know, but it works. It is exactly this kind of writing practice that has made me a writer, someone who can write on-demand on just about any topic.
ReplyDeleteI too struggle with the apparent dichotomy that is "creative" writing and academic writing. However, both types of writing utilize invention and involve some sort of research and structure. I begin to suspect that the two are more closely related that we like to admit and that perhaps bridging the gap between the two would make academic writing more palatable in some respects.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily. The Aeolian harp is a metaphor for inspiration, but inspiration for some only comes through dire circumstance. Each person will have his or her own harp.
ReplyDeleteSome creativity is involved in any type of writing as one begins and makes choices of how to follow. Inpiration tha is divine though is possible, as is inspiration like an Aeolian harp, but in any case the inspiration for creativity is not well understood or explainable. It is admirable.
ReplyDeleteI think too, one of the miss-perceptions of creative writing is that it occurs under the control of the "artiste" who somehow retains an autonomy that technical or academic writers don't possess. That may well have been the case for the likes of Coleridge but most poets and fiction writers face contracts, deadlines, and demanding markets and publishers. Even a lot of good creative writing is done under the pressure of time and so the idea of waiting for inspiration to strike has become its own mythology. The nature of creativity is a hard thing to pin down so I can see where the debate stems from. However I think it is possible to teach the skills Bartholomae espouses with the realizes that a lot of writing that looks magically creative is in fact skill-based.
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