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Three Genres: The Writing of Poetry,
Fiction, and Drama
Sixth Edition
by Stephen Minot
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PREFACE FOR TEACHERS
Why a New Edition?
A sixth edition? After the first five, what is there left to change? As a cynical friend asked, "Still can't get it right after 32 years?"
As a fellow teacher, I know how annoying a new edition can be. Those familiar marginal notes lost, those favorite works dropped for no good reason, old syllabi made obsolete. And from the writer's point of view, a new edition means two years of work, much of it tedious.
For all that, there are justifications. First, although excellent literature is timeless, students are not. Their needs and expectations change. A work that draws them into the world of literature one decade will strike students in the next educational "generation" as naive or pedestrian. Yes, we who are involved with literature do proselytize. We want to use works that will attract today's students and will still give them enough complexity to stretch their abilities.
Second, analysis and examples that seem highly effective in manuscript don't always fare as well as expected when tested in many classrooms. This text has now been adopted in all 50 states, in a great variety of institutions. There are good reasons for every change in each edition, but the ultimate test is in a multitude of classrooms. I depend on teacher response.
Third, while the text is new for each succeeding class of students, it becomes more than familiar for those of us who use it regularly. We as teachers need fresh examples, fresh approaches to the art of writing.
The Mechanics of a New Edition
Putting out a new edition is a two-year process, at best. The first step is to elicit feedback. Four formal critiques from teachers are commissioned by the publisher. These are anonymous and represent different types of schools in different sections of the country. In addition, I maintain a file of comments I have received. Opinions vary, of course, and sometimes contradict each other directly. The diagram of the relationship between similes, metaphors, and symbols, for example (page 64), has just as many enthusiasts as detractors! Ultimately I have to make a series of judgments.
The next stage is deciding on the poems, stories, and plays that will serve as illustrations. This means securing permissions. In many cases, even works that are retained have to be renegotiated. Some agents and certain publishers are unrealistic about what is a fair permission fee. Bargaining is a slow and frustrating process. It takes six months at best.
Then comes the actual writing. By revising about one-third of the text and replacing one-third of the examples, I try to strike a balance between change and continuity. At best, this takes another six months.
It takes almost a full year from the time the completed manuscript is delivered to the publisher to the time the actual book is available. My wife and I proofread the manuscript, the edited manuscript, and the page proofs in addition to the work of the in-house proofreaders. (Even after these nine professional proofreadings, every new edition contains at least two elusive typos!) This is all a long, time-consuming process, but we hope that it results in a text that meets the needs of both teachers and students.
What's New This Time?
1. Stress on "Poems for Study": The poems that are used as illustrations throughout the text now appear as Chapter 2 rather than at the end of the poetry section. My hope is that teachers will spend extra time focusing on these poems at the outset, establishing a base for the analysis that follows. My apologies for the strident tone of the title, "Read These Poems!" but I do want to impress on students that the poems themselves are of prime importance.
2. More poems as illustrations: There are nine more poems included in their entirety. I urge teachers to use supplementary anthologies, but adding illustrative mate-rial within the text allows me to offer a greater range of analysis.
3. Expanded fiction section: There is one more story in the fiction section and a new chapter entitled "Liberating the Imagination." These additions expand the analysis to include innovative and unrealistic fiction. They stress the fact that even new aproaches have structure and form.
4. Expanded drama section: The extra play in the drama section allows me to introduce three strikingly different tonal approaches: tragedy, comedy, and farce.
The Instructor's Manual will once again be available upon adoption of the text. It contains suggestions for syllabi as well as exercises for individual topics. I urge teachers to contact the publisher for a copy of this helpful resource which has been prepared especially for them.
Special Thanks
I owe sincere thanks to my production editor, Shelly Kupperman, for her most able assistance. Thanks also to those initially anonymous critics for your thoughtful suggestions: Joyce Dayton, Indian River Community College; Toni Libro, Rowan College of New Jersey; Gay Davidson-Zielske, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; Betsy Watson, Davenport College; and Susan Hubbard, University of Central Florida. Finally, I owe an immeasurable debt to my wife, Virginia S. Minot, who has in the past three decades proofread 22 sets of typescripts, galleys, and page proofs for this text alone without so much as a sigh of protest.
-- Stephen Minot
PREFACE FOR STUDENTS
What Kind of Writer Are You?
People write poetry, fiction, and drama for many different reasons. Here are three of the most common:
1. Many find that the best way to learn about creative writing is to write it. Just as those who have played a particular sport become better spectators, and those who play an instrument listen to music with greater awareness and pleasure, those who have written poems, short stories, or plays read with a special understanding and appreciation. They see more in what they read, and as a result they enjoy reading more. Reading is a resource that stays with them for life.
2. For others, writing is in itself a rewarding avocation. A great majority of those in creative writing classes or adult workshops don't plan to make writing their primary vocation. They are like those who play a musical instrument seriously but without any intention of joining the Boston Symphony. They devote time to improving their skills, they take part in workshop groups, they may publish from time to time; but writing remains an avocation, not a vocation.
3. For a smaller group, writing has become a central commitment. It is not an easy route. Those who are college students may have to slight other courses. When they graduate, they will probably have to enter another field to earn enough to eat and pay the rent. In spite of these challenges, they identify themselves as poet, writer, or dramatist. To support this notion, they must allot a portion of each day to reading contemporary fiction, poetry, or drama in a close, professional way. They attend readings and conferences, but most important, they write regularly. In short, they are immersed in a particular genre - not just their own work but the best of what is being published as well.
Which group do you fall into? If you are just beginning, you may well be in a fourth category: those who are testing the field. They aren't sure just how important writing may become in their lives, but they know that they are not going to find out simply by wondering. They are determined not to become one of those wistfully passive adults who keep saying, "I've always wanted to write."
It may be that you will begin with high expectations and will discover after graduation that you are really a reader rather than a writer. But you will have lost nothing because you will have become a far more perceptive reader than you were before. Or perhaps you will begin with a commitment to one genre and find that your real talent and interest lie in another. Writers, unlike ballet dancers and atomic physicists, don't have to start early and stay on a single track. In writing, anything is possible at any stage and at any age. There is no way of predicting how much talent and commitment will develop until you make an initial effort.
What This Textbook Can't Do
Just reading this textbook won't make you a writer. It will serve as your guide, but it won't substitute for the effort of actually writing poetry, fiction, and drama. There is a fundamental difference between content texts such as those in history, philosophy, and political science and process texts such as those in the creative and performing arts. Process involves learning by doing. Doing in this case means writing.
Second, this textbook will not persuade you that every step of the way will be fun. Workshop sessions are often the most enjoyable classes on campus, but producing good writing takes effort. What this text can do is make that effort more rewarding, and it will certainly speed the process of development.
How to Get the Most from This Text
In the poetry section, spend extra time on Chapter 2, "Read These Poems!" The rather strident title stresses how important this chapter is. It consists of 44 poems carefully selected to illustrate the rich variety of poetric approaches available to you. Almost every one will be used to illustrate poetic techniques in the chapters that follow. Don't just read this chapter, study the poems carefully in relatively short, concentrated sessions.
There are five stories in the fiction section and three plays in the drama section. Allow extra time for them just as you did for the poems in Chapter 2. The analysis of literary concepts will seem abstract and confusing unless you can apply them to specific works. Review these selections frequently.
Try to use the terms introduced in this text accurately and often. Some will be new to you, but when you start to use them in discussions, they will soon become familiar and helpful. They will help you to be precise in discussing literary works.
If some section seems unclear or puzzling, get help. Talk it over with your teacher or someone else using the text. Or e-mail me at s.minot@juno.com.
Mark up your book with legible, helpful marginal notes. Link the various concepts and approaches with works you have read. Underline passages that are important. Tests have shown that those who take reading notes improve their comprehension. They convert passive reading into active involvement.
All this will take you a little more time than it would simply to read a textbook from beginning to end. But creative writing is not a skill that can be mastered in ten easy steps. It is a slow process of growth--growth both in your understanding of what literature has to offer and in your ability to create new work with your own individual stamp.
-- Stephen Minot
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