Just to respond (a little belatedly) to the cretaive writing discussion.
I did a couple of creative writing options at Warwick as part of my degree
there, and was always pleasantly surprised about how little we were taught
of a "consensus" that we should adhere to......on the contrary, the emphasis
was (as Pierre pointed out as being important) on reading and writing in
equal measure, and there were no restrictions.
This led to a wide range of influences, from Jack Spicer to Roy Fisher, to
Allen Fisher, as well as the "consensus" poets, by which I assume is meant
those published by Faber and who dominate the Poetry Review...etc. Anyway,
suffice to say that (and this is an old argument which I'm sure we've all
done before, so apologies for repetition) I feel it is possible to learn
things which add to your writing on a course, even if it's only new poets to
read or techniques for overcoming a barren spell.....
As an addendum: huge sympathy to Erminia, especially as my flat was burgled
on Friday and they took practically everything except poems / poetry books
(oh for one of Doug's literary robbers now......). Hope you get as many back
as is humanly possible.
Cheers,
Nick Temple
_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com
|