For those interested in the debate about whether creative writing can be taught or not, and the effectiveness of such courses, there is
a fascinating (but very lengthy) overview of the impact of such courses on the American writing landscape at
The New Yorker. Lois Menand, himself the product of a creative writing course (an experience he says he would not trade for anything) draws on Mark McGurl's
The Program Era : Postwar Writing and the Rise of Creative Fiction . This book is also
reviewed at Conversational Reading where Andrew Seal finds it :
... a book that is very likely to matter, and a book that is very likely to lead to some very exciting and productive conversations about how American literature should be mapped and how it should be read—and written.
For those interested in the debate about whether creative writing can be taught or not, and the effectiveness of such courses, there is a fascinating (but very lengthy) overview of the impact of such courses on the American writing landscape at The New Yorker. Lois Menand, himself the product of a creative writing course (an experience he says he would not trade for anything) draws on Mark McGurl's The Program Era : Postwar Writing and the Rise of Creative Fiction . This book is also reviewed at Conversational Reading where Andrew Seal finds it :