The Place of Biographical Interpretation in Fiction Workshops

Abstract

Recognising students' manifold vulnerabilities in fiction workshops, I argue that instructors have an obligation to read students' work with attention to possible warning signs of unwellness. At the same time, I contend that the fiction workshop is not an appropriate venue for the pursuit of therapeutic goals. In fact, students' vulnerabilities in the workshop constitute a strong justification for the workshop's conventional prohibition on biographical discussion of students' fiction. Nevertheless, there are good reasons for courses to prepare students in other ways for participation in a literary culture that often demands authorial self-disclosure. Observing that a ban on biographical discussion need not apply to fiction courses as a whole, I suggest that instructors should provide students with other opportunities to practise commenting publicly on personal aspects of their work.

Keywords:

• biographical interpretation
• ethics
• fiction
• mental illness
• pedagogy
• workshopping

Notes on contributor

Robert McGill is the author of two novels, The Mysteries and Once We Had a Country, and of The Treacherous Imagination: Intimacy, Ethics, and Autobiographical Fiction, a book about ethical issues facing creative writers. He is an associate professor of English at the University of Toronto.

Notes

1. While Beason's focus is on composition classes, the point applies equally with regard to creative writing. Throughout this paper, I draw on composition studies as well as creative writing scholarship because the former, like the latter, has contributions to make in terms of considering ‘risky’ writing. In looking to both areas of research, I follow scholars such as Yost and Drew (2012), Healey (2013), and Mayers (2005) who have advocated closer relations between the two fields.

2. See Gale (1999) for an overview of the sometimes-contradictory legal case history in this regard.