A Creation Myth

In the beginning, there was writing, and in his book On Teaching and Writing Fiction, Wallace Stegner, legendary writing professor (for whom the Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University is named) gives a concise account of how writing got fractured. "Creative writing" was an innocent term adopted between the world wars, he says, to denote that type of writing course which is not freshman composition and is not journalism. The name rose out of a need to categorize college schedule books. Nothing sinister.

He also thoughtfully explores the implications of putting creative writing in an English Department: Literature professors tend to mistrust creative writing professors, seeing them as wordslingers, not scholars, and creative writers are likewise suspicious of English Departments. Many writers see literature and composition professors as failed writers, those who can't do, but who can teach. Both sides are a bit unfair; both sides also have valid points, according to Stegner.