The Value of a Masters in Fine Arts: What think ye? -- The Lonely Canadian Writer

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Date Posted: 15:49:13 08/31/05 Wed GMT-5
Author: DianeG
Author Host/IP: tor58-24b-98-147.dialup.sprint-canada.net / 149.99.98.147
Subject: The Value of a Masters in Fine Arts: What think ye?

Some quotes for Elizabeth Clemontson's article - link below.

"In the workshop, the students critique each other's writing and as the comments are bandied about, a "consensus" develops about what does and doesn't "work" in a story. The writer then meshes the "popular" opinions of the group into his or her work, slowly removing the unpopular parts, until the work is readable and accessible to all. More often than not, this process destroys the writer's initial vision, leaving behind a work that is void of passion and anything that is different, new, or creative.

Many of world's greatest novels would have never made it through the workshop process. Picture James Joyce being told that Ulysses is "too ambitious." Or Harper Lee being told that that Boo Radley character needs further development. Or Gertrude Stein being told, "Gertrude, The Making of Americans, is inaccessible. You need to cut the fat out and rework these sentences."

However, workshop fiction is encouraged by the big publishing world and the academic institutions that support it.

Since the University of Iowa started the first MFA program in 1936, more than 250 programs certified by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs have sprung up. With tuition costing as much as $70,000 for a two�year program, the schools have every reason to foster the attitude that students can pay off their big�time debt with their forthcoming book deal. In turn, the big publishing world relies on MFA programs to produce "accredited" writers. Desperate for literary plot lines that will sell, editors are on an eternal quest to find the next big young thing. This is big business and like any corporate job, editors are pushed for time and pressured to find books that sell. Just like authors, they too are judged on their book's sales figures.

As a result of this relationship, students in MFA programs are hen�pecked and criticized until they deliver the "sellable" plot line that publishers want. And, instead of rejecting the forces that corrupt them, many young writers turn on each other, reinforcing the rules learned in workshop, rejecting anything�or anyone�that challenges the status quo and threatens their carefully crafted world. Thus, anything created outside of the workshop environment is treated with contempt, and outsider voices are ignored.

Despite what they try and tell you in MFA programs, there isn't an established career path for writers. It isn't something you can learn in a classroom.

So here's my advice�if have any aspirations for a place in literary history, don't attend an MFA program. It won't inspire you to great literature and you won't be able to pay back that enormous tuition bill unless you write the carefully crafted plot line that everyone wants, but nobody wants to read.

Perhaps that is enough these days for many writers. But, in the end, literature created by committee usually does not find the audience that it is calculated to find, and is quickly forgotten."

Frankly, my dear folk - reading this confirmed an opinion I've held for some time. Good thing, too - because I would never be able to consider an MFA or a Humber College course either.

Heres the link:
<a rel=nofollow target=_blank href="http://www.mobylives.com/anti_MFA.html">http://www.mobylives.com/anti_MFA.html</a>

Diane

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Replies:

Re: The Value of a Masters in Fine Arts: What think ye? -- Roger, 16:29:03 08/31/05 Wed GMT-5
- Re: The Value of a Masters in Fine Arts: What think ye? -- Lori, 18:25:13 09/05/05 Mon GMT-5