Last week, the University of Missouri eliminated its Center for the Literary Arts because of budget cuts. The center was an interdepartmental program specializing in creative writing8212;a form of expression that seems as though it’s becoming, or at risk of becoming, a lost art.
Although the U doesn’t have any plans at the moment to cut any departments or colleges, similar reductions seem inevitable as the U is facing a 9 percent cut in the 2009 budget that could reach as high as 19 percent during the next two years.
Creative writing is something that makes you laugh, think deeply or relive a good memory. Publishing stories not only allows us to record and share them with each other and future generations, but is also a way to express the significance of what we do and who we are.
“I take creative writing to be an endeavor which has, as its primary purpose, the “publishing’ of the world around us, an activity of witnessing rather than “communication,’ in the narrow sense of the word,” said Derek Henderson, a creative writing professor at the U. “To publish the world, to make it known, is simply to point at it, to say “look at all this activity.'”
Henderson is a strong believer that publishing as a résumé builder or a way to make a lot of money isn’t as important as being a means of connecting like-minded individuals. In another form of writing, it can be just as satisfying to see your work take on a life of its own, which could provide not only financial security, but also potentially generate thousands of loyal readers.
Local author Brandon Mull said it is important to be true to your own voice and interests. He penned Fablehaven, a New York Times bestselling fantasy series.
“Good fiction interprets and reflects the world around us,” Mull said. “For me, the primary purpose of creative writing is storytelling. I’m trying to breathe life into characters, create relationships between them and have those characters face interesting problems. I write because my head is full of stories. I hope my stories offer engaging, vicarious experiences for readers.”
The University of Utah Press is a publishing outlet for individuals who bring written works that feature quality research and writing that can benefit the entire academic community.
“Quite simply, if individuals don’t publish, we don’t exist, scholarship doesn’t advance and scholarly reading grinds to a halt,” said Bruce Roberts, marketing manger for the University Press. The worry of the bumpy economy shouldn’t bring writing and publishing to a halt.
Virginia Woolf once wrote, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” The truth of the statement goes beyond just women.
The U and other universities should maintain some funding for creative writing programs, even though they’re facing budget cuts. We should fight to foster this skill as the vehicle for self-actualization and as a record of who we really are.
Liz Carlston