Curtis, Abi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6747-4356 (2009) Rethinking the unconscious in creative writing pedagogy. New Writing, 6 (2). pp. 105-116.

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Abstract

The notion of the unconscious pervades creative writing (CW) pedagogy and I examine its prevalence in CW guidebooks written by practitioners in the field, from Dorothea Brande's Becoming a Writer, which was first published in 1934 and remains a popular ‘inspirational’ book, to those published in the last few years. These books encourage the notion of ‘accessing’ or ‘tapping into’ the unconscious as a method of producing CW. My discussion will critique the conception of the unconscious as an unproblematic ‘container’ or personified entity, and re-examine it in the light of Freud's complex and variously-imagined model. I propose that re-conceiving the unconscious as a site of connectivity opens new possibilities for teaching CW within an intellectually rigorous university setting.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
DOI:	10.1080/14790720903215216
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education P Language and Literature > PR English literature
School/Department:	School of Humanities
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/514

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