MFA Brouhaha

 On Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity, Erica Verrillo published MFA Prof Raises Writers' Wrath, Incites Ire, which I recommend to those of you, my dear readers, who aspire to be writers for these reasons:

1. Those who think they are too old to be writers.
2. Those who think they need an MFA to be a writer.

Ms. Verillo's post has links to the underlying controversy, and having followed them, I would add my own points:

1. I find Professor Boudinot's logic about age confused: he holds that if one does not start writing when one is a teenager, then they are screwed, but then goes on to speaking of reading. I wrote as a teenager and gave it up, but I did not quit reading until I was much older and well into my depression. Writers need to be readers; not every writer needs to be a teenager. Boudinot writes of two different things.
2. I think he has valid points about the publishing industry.
3. He has a point about being entertaining. I am pretty sure Aristotle did the same thing in his Poetics. If I cannot interest a reader, then why should they read me?
4. His points on wood shedding I have read elsewhere - Barthes and Ann Lamott both made the point on the difference between writing and publishing.
5. His essay prepared me for my reaction to his student's, J.C. Sevcik, response: I am not impressed with his teaching style.
6. I find Ms. Sevcik's thinking more appealing:

If you have an undying love of literature and arranging letters in a pleasing fashion, good news: You're the real deal!

There are no universal rules or standards for arts education, or life for that matter—we all come to things in our own sweet time and only a shit deals in absolutes.

I have wondered if the MFA world has not created a barrier to writers outside their club. Would James Joyce, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, or Kurt Vonnegut have fit into an MFA program? Do the interests of academic writers appeal to the reading public? 

I am too old, too broke, for an MFA program. My subjects and my prose are too unfashionable. I feel this makes me a prejudiced judge of the MFA world. The inclusive views of Ms. Sevcik do make me feel more optimistic that a better literature, better as springing from life rather than mere pedantry, is coming.

sch 12/28