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I'm Not Making This Up: Taking Humor Seriously in the Creative Nonfiction Classroom

I'm Not Making This Up: Taking Humor Seriously in the Creative Nonfiction Classroom In a 2002 article in College English , Peter Elbow argued that writing pedagogy would benefit by "(m)ore honoring of style, playfulness, fun, pleasure, humor" (543). Although Elbow was referring specifically to the need for cross-fertilization between the disciplines of literature and composition, his call for attention to playfulness in writing pedagogy is equally relevant to the teaching of creative nonfiction. The question he fails to consider is how playfulness can become an essential part of writing pedagogy without undermining the seriousness of the endeavor. My experience teaching an upper-level creative nonfiction class devoted to humor writing suggests that while incorporating playfulness into nonfiction-writing pedagogy poses serious challenges, it also provides significant rewards and develops skills transferable to other writing tasks. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture Duke University Press

I'm Not Making This Up: Taking Humor Seriously in the Creative Nonfiction Classroom

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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Duke University Press
ISSN
1531-4200
eISSN
1533-6255
DOI
10.1215/15314200-2010-023
Publisher site
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Abstract

In a 2002 article in College English , Peter Elbow argued that writing pedagogy would benefit by "(m)ore honoring of style, playfulness, fun, pleasure, humor" (543). Although Elbow was referring specifically to the need for cross-fertilization between the disciplines of literature and composition, his call for attention to playfulness in writing pedagogy is equally relevant to the teaching of creative nonfiction. The question he fails to consider is how playfulness can become an essential part of writing pedagogy without undermining the seriousness of the endeavor. My experience teaching an upper-level creative nonfiction class devoted to humor writing suggests that while incorporating playfulness into nonfiction-writing pedagogy poses serious challenges, it also provides significant rewards and develops skills transferable to other writing tasks.

Journal

Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2011

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