Advanced Creative Writing: Genre and Literary Value

What is the value of contemporary fiction in a publishing milieu saturated with 'content'? And how can those who wish to write fiction navigate a landscape where the novel has been declared dead, and the study of literature is allegedly in a state of crisis? Advanced Creative Writing examines and enters into discourse about the significance of literary and genre fiction, and disputes about the category of value in interpretative methods. Students discuss a series of texts which engage with ideas about literary value, including independent literary journals, and read fiction that dramatises questions about the novel's status, or makes arguments about creative work's restorative powers in times of crisis. The course requires students to write a creative piece about a subject, and in a genre, of their own choice, and a response to a novel or theoretical text. Together, the creative piece and the response will constitute a position statement about literary value. The course will culminate in the design, editing and publication of a literary journal composed of students' revised work, and edited by peers.