Ah, but if what Will wrote was true, the students who would look back on
Carver as a great teacher would only be those who already shared his
vonvept of what writing was. I know how difficult it is to do so, but it
seems to me that if one 'teaches' (do we? or is it just that we are there
as they teach themselves?) writing, one must ruthlessly keep one's own
biases under some control: not to deny them, but to try, as much as one
can, to allow the 'students' (well, at least in university
courses/workshops, we can call them that) to follow their own ideals, and
to try to hepp them do so, by asking the questions that would lead them to
improve in the directions they are following (which may not be those one
does).
I always show my students what I like and admire, but I really do try not
to force them into some mould based on that.
I don't know that Carver was as Will suggested, but if he was, no wonder he
didn't like teaching writing...
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Canada T6G 2E5
(h) [780] 436 3320 (b) [780] 492 0521
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
I have taken the library
Volumes might be written
ambiguous signs by name
Susan Howe
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