Codifying the Creative Self: Conflicts of Theory and Content in Creative Writing

Abstract—This paper explores the embattled territory of academic creative writing—and most focally, the use of critical theory in the teaching and structuring of creative practice. It places creative writing in contempo-rary social, cultural, and otherwise anthropological contexts, and evaluates conventional creative writing ped-agogies based on how well they serve the updated needs of increasingly diverse student congregations. With continued emphasis on student-centered learning, this paper compares theoretical to practical applications of discipline-specific knowledge, examining and critiquing theory in terms of its relevance, accessibility, and whether or not it is both actionable and beneficial in the creative writing classroom.