The Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880 - Softcover

Myers, D. G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0133240134 ISBN 13: 9780133240139

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 1995

Synopsis

The Elephants Teach is a captivating account of how creative writing has become an integral part of our culture since the last decades of the nineteenth century. A story of the American will-to-art, it also offers a comprehensive reinterpretation of the development of English as a field of study.
D.G. Myers argues that English has been split into three rival and antagonist fields: composition, literary scholarship, and the constructive art of literature, which includes both creative writing and literary criticism. He traces this split from the earliest days of the discipline, when it was called philology, through the rise of English composition and the critical wars of the thirties, down to the present. Along the way, he tells how poets and writers turned to university teaching as a means of economic support, restoring a neglected chapter in the history of American authorship and literary education.

About this title

From the Publisher

Prentice Hall Studies in Writing and Culture captures the excitement of an emerging discipline. The writers in this series are challenging basic assumptions, asking new questions, and trying to broaden inquiry about writing and the teaching of writing. These writers raise challenging questions about how we teach and how we build communities of writers. They also investigate subjects as far-ranging as the nature of knowledge and the role that culture plays in shaping pedagogy. The series is particularly concerned with the interplay between language and culture, and about how gender considerations, race, and audience shape our writing and our teaching. Early volumes will be devoted to the essay, audience, autobiography, and how writers teach writing. Other studies will explore matters that are critical to teaching writing. The Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880 traces the development of "creative" writing as (1) a classroom subject, the teaching of fiction- and verse-writing; and (2) a national system for the employment of fiction writers and poets to teach the subject. It answers the questions, "Why has fiction and verse writing come to be called creative?" and "When and why was this term first used?"

From the Back Cover

This book traces the development of “creative” writing as (1) a classroom subject, the teaching of fiction- and verse-writing; and (2) a national system for the employment of fiction writers and poets to teach the subject. It answers the questions, “Why has fiction and verse writing come to be called TcreativeU?” and “When and why was this term first used?” It surveys the study and teaching of language and literature, from the beginnings of philology early in the 19th century to the split of its province and the ending of its use, when science made its entry into life and education.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0133240134
• ISBN 13: 9780133240139
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240