Show or Tell

Published on July 07, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
The New Yorker | June 8, 2009
"Show or Tell"
Should creative writing be taught?
By Louis Menand

1. What are the arguments for and against creative writing programs?
2. How do learning and teaching creative writing differ from learning and teaching other arts? (What if we pose the article’s underlying question to painting, singing, designing, etc.?)
3. How has contemporary fiction (a specific work or in general) affected your life?
4. “Universities have become restaurants that bake their own bread.” Is the cycle of universities studying works by the very authors they train (or “encourage”) more like a refinery or a royal family?
5. How has writing/creating affected your reading?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the July 1 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)