Thanks for explaining the differences in the Canadian approach, Doug, and I like
your 'profess' in quotes along with the scare quotes for 'teach', so off to
'syllabi',
best,
Rebecca
---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 08:14:08 -0700
>From: Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: down with the down with poetry crowd
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Thanks Andrew.
>
>Which note by the way gives me the chance to say, once again, that
>reading all of them was great fun.
>
>On the subject of the MFA & what it might stand for, in Canada we have
>only a few Departments of Creative Writing; otherwise it's taught in
>English Depts, & people can get an MA, but not an MFA. As to the actual
>courses, well, it's hard to know. I think it's good in so far as it
>allows students who will be writing anyway to do so with a certain
>support & some feedback form their peers. I've also seen the workshop
>work to let people know that they dont really want to write but also
>they get a much higher sense of what it means to read carefully.
>
>What seems to be true is that most who do 'teach' (scare quotes
>absolutely necessary) in this area in this country do not feel any need
>to participate in the MFA program & culture as it seems to have grown
>in the US. And we all 'profess' much more, which is to say we're
>usually hired to teach courses in English literature.
>
>Doug
>On 22-Jan-05, at 5:09 PM, Andrew Burke wrote:
>
>> On 20-Jan-05, at 11:09 PM, Rebecca Seiferle wrote:
>> I can't imagine, for
>>> instance, that Doug who's attached to a Canadian university is a
>>> devitalized poet
>>> as a result.
>>
>> to which I can only say: I hope not.
>>
>> Doug
>>
>> And we KNOW not from the weekly snaps - vital, rhythmical, alive on the
>> tongue.
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>>
>
>
>Douglas Barbour
>Department of English
>University of Alberta
>Edmonton Alberta T6G 2E5 Canada
>(780) 436 3320
>http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
>
>The poet is ecstatic, having dreamt of this visit for weeks.
>He takes Erato’s face, dribbling and wild, between his hands
>
>and kisses her gently as if she were a runaway teenager.
>
> Diana Hartog
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