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The Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880

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Despite (or perhaps because of) its controversial conclusions, The Elephants Teach is a must-read for anyone involved in teaching writing. This fascinating and detailed analysis of the rise and development of "Creative Writing" in America raises important questions about the purpose of teaching writing, and if the answers are sometimes uncomfortable they are nevertheless thought-provoking. Though he asserts that after the Second World War "Creative Writing programs became a machine for creating more creative writing programs" (146), Myers is not ready to pull the plug; instead, he gently urges breaching the wall separating creative writing and scholarship in order to improve both disciplines. In an illuminating passage, he quotes poet Robert Pinsky on how the distinction between creative writing and scholarship works to the detriment of both: "On one side there is 'an immense elaboration of the techniques of composition' accompanied by 'a fatal ignorance of the past'; on the other side an 'elaborate sophistication regarding poetic theory' that goes with 'a fatal ignorance of composition.' The consequence, he said, is 'rhetorical pedantry in the poets; and arid nihilism in the critics.' Technique had been divorced from theory--composition from the past--as each section of the English deparment sought to perfect its own specialty" (168). It is clear that Myers would like to see creativity and criticism, poetry and scholarship join hands, enabling the Academy to produce not just writing programs but writers.

I have a masters degree in writng and this book was assigned during the intro-to-the-writing-program course. It changed my perspective, entirely, about what I'd planned to do after graduating. It changed my opinion of writing programs and of masters degrees in writing. The book makes a valid point.

That said, the real world hasn't caught up to this little gem. We still need our degrees, unless we get lucky and publish something best selling, lavishly reviewed, become famous some other way, or some such thing.

But this notion that MFAs in Writing beget teachers in MFA programs in Writing is a powerful one. Academia is insular; we knew this already (this isn't my first advanced degree), but somehow that the most important element of my degree is that it's the qualification to teach in my own program is a powerful lesson. We teach writers to become teachers who teach writers to become teachers who teach writers to become teachers...

As a teacher of writing, I found this book extremely interesting and clear. Myers provides a lucid, organized history of the evolution of the teaching of creative writing in this country. While the book will likely not appeal to a layperson, anyone who plans to teach creative writing or enroll in an expensive creative writing program has a stake in what Myers is saying. I am surprised by other reviewers' comments about Myers' view of creative writing (MFA) programs. Unlike other reviewers, I did not find Myers' remarks venomous or even especially harsh; rather, I found them even-handed and common-sensical.

Myers traces the birth of creative writing in American universities at the turn of the century as a humanistic response to pedantic philology, to its present status as an "Elephant Machine." Myers concludes his history of creative writing with the observation that we now have "a national staff of writers who teach writers who go on to teach, and to hope for tenure and promotion" (168). While Myers set out to present an objective history, I found his conclusion, although painfully true, still a bit venemous. Myers raises some good questions, however: Why do so many writers turn to teaching? And, can writing be taught?

Perfect condition, the past users underlines helped too! The book is an arduous read but I have to know it so I'm glad I can share the experience with those who have gone before me.

Product was mailed immediately and arrived in great conditionThe Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880.

This book contains a thorough history of the teaching of creative writing, from its beginnings as a rebellion against the classical study of philology (examining the structure of language in texts) to the workshop-oriented MFA programs where it flourishes today. It begins its study in the 1880's, when scholars lamented what they saw as the suffocating restraints of philology, which at the time was the only type of English study offered at the college level. These students and professors wanted to develop a curriculum focused on the actual content of literature instead of its discrete parts. Eventually, a focus on teaching students how to actually create literature was seen as a way of better understanding it, by studying it "from the inside." The question of whether writing can or should be taught or not is brought up repeatedly but never quite answered, though in the end Myers begrudgingly defends the idea of creative writing for the sake of understanding literature.

Also of note are the accounts of how working writers discovered that teaching writing was a useful way to make a living that was accommodating to their art. In fact, the title refers to this phenomenon. When Vladimir Nabokov was proposed for a teaching position at Harvard, a fellow professor said, "Are we next to appoint an elephant to be Professor of Zoology?"

Myers tracks the development of writing instruction as it split into various branches: basic composition, journalism, literary criticism, and creative writing--the actual production of stories, poems, and essays--as we know it.

Best audience(s) for this book: teachers of any creative writing courses interested in the historical context of the subject, especially those at high school level and above. It certainly is comprehensive, which means something since it's packed into just 168 pages. Thoroughly researched, the book does well to place today's creative writing programs in the larger context of literary study. The writing is very dense and scholarly though, and at times can bog down in critical jargon and excessively long listing of names and places to provide evidence.

This book stands out as the only one tracing the history of the teaching of creative writing. Myers's research is very thorough, and his examination of the teaching of writing at Harvard was especially interesting to me. At times, though, the book plods along, fueled more by the devotion to facts of a historian than the keen eye of someone truly invested in creative writing. Ultimately, facts alone aren't enough--how can knowing this history shape the way creative writing is being taught now? I suppose this is a question Myers leaves to his readers, but I feel like it's one that needs to be answered.

The ending of the book felt very rushed to me. I'm most interested in how creative writing has evolved in the last 25 years, and I didn't feel like that chapter was as thorough as the others. It seems surprising to me, for instance, that Myers didn't once mention John Gardner. The book provides excellent insight into how English (both literature and writing) came to be taught in colleges and universities, and it shows in a way no other book has how creative writing split from composition, but by the end I was still left wanting more.