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Performance Criticism: Dramatizing the Nature and Art of Fiction in Teaching
By David Madden.
Published by The International Journal of the Book
| Format | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Article: Print | $US10.00 | |
| Article: Electronic | $US5.00 |
My teaching in all genres of literature over the past half-century has always been affected by my aesthetic as the author of 10 novels, two collections of stories, poems, plays, literary essays; both creative writing and creative teaching are simultaneously products of my innovative temperament.
On the assumption that the range of things I have learned may be suggestive for writers and teachers, I would like to describe in a talk or on a panel one or more of my experiments in teaching literature, especially fiction, as they relate to the nature and art of writing fiction. Here’s an example: focusing on the art of fiction, less than the thematic element (which follows naturally from the art), I once taught introduction to fiction for the general student (40) by devoting the entire 50 minute class, three times a week, to writing only. I dictated 5 key questions and I gave students about 10 minutes to respond (producing 100 pages by semester’s end). This intimate engagement of the student with each story proved, as students testified, to enable the student to learn about the art of fiction in such ways as to be able to read intelligently any “difficult” work of fiction in the future. Hard work and pure enjoyment happened immediately hand in hand. I will repeat that approach with 240 students in a single class next spring. Presently, however, with 40 students, my approach is no writing at all, rather the focus is on what I call performance criticism, a new genre, I think, which I have developed also as a critic. Two students, one prepared, one called on at random, perform a key passage in the assigned story for about 10 minutes, then describe the aspect of the art of fiction that he/she has just performed. Then, the rest of the students demonstrate intelligent listening in their comments on both the performance and the critical points the performer made.
| Keywords: | Performance Criticism, Dramatic demonstration, Nature of fiction, Art of fiction, Teaching fiction |
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The International Journal of the Book, Volume 4, Issue 4, pp.89-94. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 785.033KB).
Prof. David Madden
Donald and Velvia Crumbley Professor of Creative Writing, English Dept., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA