It's All Good: Jacket Copy Put Your Name on the List

In her book review at the Los Angeles Times, Carolyn Kellogg considers a new book published by renegade literary outlet, N+1, ruminating on the difference between living in New York and attending an MFA Creative Writing program. Well, we might see you there—fashionably late, of course. From Jacket Copy--

You're invited to a party. It's going to be fun, because it's being thrown by writer Chad Harbach, an editor of the literary magazine n+1, where he has been lightheartedly provocative. You're excited, because "MFA vs. NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction" — in the form of 18 essays divided into five sections — is debating one of the more contentious issues in literary America: whether getting an a master of fine arts degree in creative writing is a good idea, for the individual writer and book culture at large.

You should bring wine — and because you have $25,610.49 left to pay back on the student loans for your MFA, you pick up Charles Shaw.

Harbach's at the door, setting up the arguments: MFA programs turn writers into timid Raymond Carver imitators (or maybe they don't); they're expensive, but they give people time to write and a creative/networkable cohort; they're a needed source of employment for published authors, but a pyramid scheme for students because there aren't enough teaching slots for everyone; the MFA ecosystem is now mostly separate from the larger literary culture, with its own stars and economies; living in New York City is as good a way to enter the world of publishing as getting an MFA, and it provides life experience to boot.

The larger question is whether institutionalizing a creative endeavor benefits our culture. The essays in this collection show that though writers may complain about MFA programs, on the whole they take them seriously and see them as a valuable institution. Some even like them. [...]

Continue rollin' with ye homies, at Jacket Copy.