Looking for the Write Stuff

Every year, nearly 1,000 people sign up to hear Martin S. Feldstein'62, Baker professor of economics, extol the virtues of the free market in Social Analysis 10: "Principles of Economics," inevitably the biggest class at Harvard. But if the invisible hand had its way, the class commonly known as Ec 10 might have competition for that coveted title.

In recent years, Harvard's creative writing program has been gaining momentum. The spring semester information meeting for those interested in applying to classes almost filled Emerson 105. Before the Faculty even began their presentation, the editor of the Dudley House Review announced that those students who didn't get into a class could apply to an extracurricular workshop. Unfortunately, her announcement set the tone of the meeting by revealing just how few spaces were available in the actual program.

There are only four members of the creative writing Faculty (and an occasional fifth from outside the program). Like most creative classes at Harvard, creative writing classes are limited and require applications.

According to Creative Writing Program Director Natalie Kusz, creative writing applicants number between 250 and 500 a semester. (She says the number surges in the spring, when more students are aware of the program and its application process.) This semester, five instructors are teaching eight classes, each capped at 15 students--meaning there are no more than 120 creative writing students total. Auditors are not allowed. The small size of the classes is key to their purpose--discussion and criticism of reading, generally including the work of participants.

Many more students than the number applying are actually interested in the courses; when full, Emerson 105, where the intro meeting was held, seats about 300. With the informational meeting one day and the application deadline the next, novice writers with not enough time to write the samples most instructors require may choose to postpone their applications a semester.

"I think the fact that there are so few courses and such an enormous interest in them imposes a sort of mental anguish on the creative writing Faculty because we have to turn away dozens of really exciting applicants," Kusz says.

Creative writing theses are similarly limited. Kusz says that only eight students a year can write creative theses, because the four creative writing Faculty can advise only two projects each. As many as 60 students a year have applied for creative theses.

Kusz says that when she first became director of the program two years ago, she was shocked at the number of prospective students who called inquiring about the creative writing concentration. "I would have to tell them that we didn't have one--we had classes. I had to tell them, don't come here depending on that as your future," Kusz says.

Why are there so few Faculty teaching what is obviously an extremely popular subject? Kusz attributes the small size of the department to the fact that it is difficult to get funding for courses that aren't required by the Core or any concentration.

"Of course I see the logic there," Kusz says, "but what these students who get disappointed year after year tell me is...why aren't there more courses? And when I respond that we don't have the Faculty to offer more courses, they say, why aren't there more Faculty?"

And why aren't the Faculty involved hired in more permanent positions? Currently, core creative writing Faculty are hired in five-year positions, as Briggs-Copeland Lecturers on English and American Literature and Language.

"Every new writing Faculty member comes into his or her post knowing that these are five-year positions," Kusz says. "There are no illusions. I'm not sure this affects the structure of the program, except that it reflects a notion that this program is not a program, that it's some individual classes which are here but which do not constitute a program."

Many other colleges have successful undergraduate degree programs in creative writing, among them Brown University. Although the Brown department also requires applications, the fact of its existence means the university is taking the field and students' interest in it seriously, as well as providing an opportunity to go farther in it.

At Harvard, the lack of commitment to the creative writing program and its Faculty reflects the College's indifference to the subject and to the students interested in it. A well-rounded education should not just be about studying other people's work--it should involve creating your own.

Students who write will better understand what they read, and students who read will, in turn, write better. Especially in college, where students are supposed to be able to spend their time investigating new or special interests, limits on creative departments can be a serious barrier to education. The College already has one thriving creative concentration--Visual and Environmental Studies--that has proved to be both popular and successful.

Based on this precedent, hopefully the Faculty Council will soon begin to consider taking some action to change the creative writing program and accommodating the huge and still-growing interest there. The overwhelming majority of students who apply are being turned away. As Feldstein might say, there's a demand. We're just waiting for the supply that should logically follow. Vasugi V. Ganeshananthan '02, a Crimson editor, lives in Holworthy Hall.