Friday, March 10, 2006
Heart Set on an MFA?
better read this first:
"While any graduate degree carries prestige, the MFA in creative writing has spawned a cadre of naysayers bemoaning that the programs churn out cookie- cutter writers who may be technically proficient, but lack heart and imagination. It's an inundation of mediocrity, cry editors (perhaps overwhelmed by the mountainous submissions pile looming over their desks). Book critics and fellow writers (those who are "self-made," that is) can be even less generous: It's a self-indulgent waste of money, a degree for sissies and wannabes, they argue. Real writers rent a drafty attic garret, confront their demons alone in the twilight and write."
I imagine (and this is probably how most programs work, MFA or PhD) acceptance or rejection is determined by how easily you will be "normalized" into their way of thinking, their way of writing. Rebels beware; there's no place for you (us) in the upper echelons of the ivory tower.
Mark Twain didn't need an MFA to do what he wanted to do. Neither did Shakespeare, Keats, Poe, Whitman, Melville, Dickinson, Faulkner, Hemingway... The funny thing is: all these very popular writers around today, all of whom are products of the MFA system, will be forgotten in fifty years. Their writing has no durability; it is written only to please contemporary magazine editors, who lack any sort of literary vision whatsoever.
But for those who still have the MFA bug, remember that places like Iowa only accept 3% of the applicants they recieve. Harvard Medical School has a higher acceptance rate, and you'll actually be able to pay off those student loans before you die. ¶ 2:05 PM
"While any graduate degree carries prestige, the MFA in creative writing has spawned a cadre of naysayers bemoaning that the programs churn out cookie- cutter writers who may be technically proficient, but lack heart and imagination. It's an inundation of mediocrity, cry editors (perhaps overwhelmed by the mountainous submissions pile looming over their desks). Book critics and fellow writers (those who are "self-made," that is) can be even less generous: It's a self-indulgent waste of money, a degree for sissies and wannabes, they argue. Real writers rent a drafty attic garret, confront their demons alone in the twilight and write."
I imagine (and this is probably how most programs work, MFA or PhD) acceptance or rejection is determined by how easily you will be "normalized" into their way of thinking, their way of writing. Rebels beware; there's no place for you (us) in the upper echelons of the ivory tower.
Mark Twain didn't need an MFA to do what he wanted to do. Neither did Shakespeare, Keats, Poe, Whitman, Melville, Dickinson, Faulkner, Hemingway... The funny thing is: all these very popular writers around today, all of whom are products of the MFA system, will be forgotten in fifty years. Their writing has no durability; it is written only to please contemporary magazine editors, who lack any sort of literary vision whatsoever.
But for those who still have the MFA bug, remember that places like Iowa only accept 3% of the applicants they recieve. Harvard Medical School has a higher acceptance rate, and you'll actually be able to pay off those student loans before you die. ¶ 2:05 PM
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Do I smell pessimism? Pew. While I agree that many programs love to "normalize," I'm not sure I agree with the idea that they're all turning out cookie-cutter wanna be's that are going to be forgotten in 50 years. You say that "their writing has no durability." Who are "they"? Are you saying someone like, oh let's say, Sandra Cisneros lacks literary vision? That she's writing only to please magazine editors?
I luv ya sweet pea, but I think you forgot to take off your blinders this morning.
xoxox
I luv ya sweet pea, but I think you forgot to take off your blinders this morning.
xoxox
I think you have to look at what MFA programs are designed to do. Make you a better writer? Well, what does that mean? In today's market, it means that you are able to publish. and how does one become able to publish? By learning how to write the kinds of things these publications and their editors want to read. That's what MFA programs propose to do; just read their ads. And, if you would take the time to read correctly, I said that the editors lack literary vision, not writers. But writers hungry to enter the market will have to come around to the editors point of view. If you don't think that's true, then you're in for one hell of a suprise.
Think of how a workshop is (really) run. One person is the director (someone highly published), and they tell you where your writing is lacking (in terms of being publishable.) That's the whole point, which is why the MFA market is flooded with every 50 year old houswife who desperately want to find an audience for their great american memoir.
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Think of how a workshop is (really) run. One person is the director (someone highly published), and they tell you where your writing is lacking (in terms of being publishable.) That's the whole point, which is why the MFA market is flooded with every 50 year old houswife who desperately want to find an audience for their great american memoir.
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