Can It Really Be Taught?: Resisting Lore in Creative Writing Pedagogy

The process of creativity is shrouded in mystery and lore, but that doesn't mean that the teaching of creative writing has to remain in the dark.Can It Really Be Taught? shines a bright light on creative writing pedagogy, with a special focus on that hallmark of fiction and poetry classes everywhere - the workshop - in order to discover what works, what doesn't, and what is purely apocryphal.Can It Really Be Taught? offers a critical look at the pedagogical lore of creative writing that has been, up until now, accepted unquestioningly. Fifteen experienced teachers and researchers analyze long-accepted elements and theories of teaching creative writing, such as:

• workshop practices
• the canon of creative-writing craft books
• the criteria for grading (including the myth of the easy A)
• ways to use the mythologized presence of the writer in film.