Abstract
The highest Criticism, then, is more Creative … and the primary aim of the critic is to see the object as in itself it really is not.
(Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist, 1891)
Writing about existing literary texts and writing creatively are often discussed as though they are separate and even ambivalent activities, one being academic or critical writing and the other being creative writing. However, this chapter explores the following research question: are there ways we can engage with texts that are both critical and creative? I refer to such approaches as critical-creative rewriting, the principles of which can be summarized as follows: change the text and weigh the implications! What distinguishes this from more ‘self-centred’ approaches to Creative Writing is that you begin with someone else’s text and turn it into another that is in some sense ‘your own’. What distinguishes this from more self-consciously ‘academic’ approaches is that you produce a ‘primary rewriting’ not just a ‘secondary reading’. Students also include a critical commentary with their rewrite. This makes the grounds of comparison and contrast explicit, and includes a review of the research that went into the process of composition and revision. Still, overall, it comes down to changing the text and weighing the implications.
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© 2012 Rob Pope
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Pope, R. (2012). Re … creation, Critique, Catalysis: Critical-creative Rewriting in Theory and Practice. In: Teaching Creative Writing. Teaching the New English. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137284464_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137284464_19
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