Pedagogy Jan 2011

I'm Not Making This Up

Bev Hogue

Abstract

In a 2002 article in College English, Peter Elbow argued that writing pedagogy would benefit by “[m]ore honoring of style, playfulness, fun, pleasure, humor” (543). Although Elbow was referring specifically to the need for cross-fertilization between the disciplines of literature and composition, his call for attention to playfulness in writing pedagogy is equally relevant to the teaching of creative nonfiction. The question he fails to consider is how playfulness can become an essential part of writing pedagogy without undermining the seriousness of the endeavor. My experience teaching an upper-level creative nonfiction class devoted to humor writing suggests that while incorporating playfulness into nonfiction-writing pedagogy poses serious challenges, it also provides significant rewards and develops skills transferable to other writing tasks.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2011-01-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-2010-023
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy creative writing teacher development
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References (9) · 2 in this index

  1. Ehrenreich, Barbara. 1993. “Stop Ironing the Diapers.” In Russell Baker's Book of American Humor, ed. Russell…
  2. Elbow (2002)
    The Cultures of Literature and Composition: What Could Each Learn from the Other?
    College English
  3. Gutkind, Lee. 2004. “Creative Nonfiction in the Crosshairs: Lee Gutkind Responds to the Never-Ending Debate.”…
  4. ———. 2006. “Creative Nonfiction: A Movement, Not a Moment.” Creative Nonfiction29: 6 – 18.
  5. Kirn, Walter. 2007. “The Autumn of the Multitaskers.” Atlantic 300: 66 – 80. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc…
Show all 9 →
  1. Lynch, Thomas. 2001. “The Undertaking.” In Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: The Art of Truth, ed. Bill Roorb…
  2. Pope, Rob. 2006. “Critical-Creative Rewriting.” In Teaching Creative Writing, ed. Graeme Harper, 130 – 46. Lo…
  3. Spinner (2004)
    When “Macaroni and Cheese Is Good” Enough: Revelation in Creative Nonfiction
    Pedagogy
  4. Wallace, David Foster. 2001. “Shipping Out: On the (Nearly Lethal) Comforts of a Luxury Cruise.” In Contempor…
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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