From Charlotte Higgins in
The Guardian:
The celebrated novelist, screenwriter and playwright Hanif Kureishi has launched a withering attack on university creative writing courses, calling them "the new mental hospitals".
Kureishi, himself a research associate on the creative writing course at Kingston University in London said, "One of the things you notice is that when you switch on the television and a student has gone mad with a machine gun on a campus in America, it's always a writing student.
"The writing courses, particularly when they have the word 'creative' in them, are the new mental hospitals. But the people are very nice."
This was at the Hay Festival. Sounds like a fun session.
The author also said that when he goes to his desk each morning to commence writing, he thinks to himself: "Why am I doing this? Shall I commit suicide."
If only he would---
ReplyDeleteBut then, it's only writing. Why kill yourself?
ReplyDeleteIt was a joke, but he is right about suicide. The point of writing is to pass on some information so that you are free to die. It is the same reason we like to impregnate and get impregnated. As you can tell I am on a mental health course.
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