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Rethinking the unconscious in creative writing pedagogy

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 19:14 authored by Abi Curtis
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.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

New Writing

ISSN

1479-0726

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

2

Volume

6

Page range

105-116

Department affiliated with

  • Centre for Community Engagement Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-07-18

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    University of Sussex (Publications)

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