Overview

A vibrant history of the renowned and often controversial Iowa Writers’ Workshop and its celebrated alumni and faculty   As the world’s preeminent creative writing program, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop has produced an astonishing number of distinguished writers and poets since its establishment in 1936. Its alumni and faculty include twenty-eight Pulitzer Prize winners, six U.S. poet laureates, and numerous National Book Award winners. This volume follows the program from its rise to prominence in the early 1940s under director Paul Engle, who promoted the “workshop” method of classroom peer criticism.   Meant to simulate the rigors of editorial and critical scrutiny in the publishing industry, this educational style created an environment of both competition and community, cooperation and rivalry. Focusing on some of the exceptional authors who have participated in the program—such as Flannery O’Connor, Dylan Thomas, Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Smiley, Sandra Cisneros, T. C. Boyle, and Marilynne Robinson—David Dowling examines how the Iowa Writers’ Workshop has shaped professional authorship, publishing industries, and the course of American literature.

Full Product Details

9780300215847

Table of Contents

Reviews

This book provides readers with a rich history of how the nation's most important writing program has had an outsized impact on American literary and commercial culture. --David Blake, College of New Jersey David Dowling's A Delicate Aggression is irresistible reading. It is fascinating reading into the intimate workings of evolving talent and cross-hatching of competition and support in literary communities. --Shirley Goek-Lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara

This book provides readers with a rich history of how the nation's most important writing program has had an outsized impact on American literary and commercial culture. -David Blake, College of New Jersey David Dowling's A Delicate Aggression is irresistible reading. It is fascinating reading into the intimate workings of evolving talent and cross-hatching of competition and support in literary communities. -Shirley Goek-Lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara A fascinating look at the way writers are taught how to teach themselves how to write. I spent six years in a similar workshop and can still hear their voices in my head. - Steve Berry, The Malta Exchange

Author Information

David O. Dowling is associate professor at the University of Iowa’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His previous books include Literary Partnerships and the Marketplace and Emerson’s Protégés. He lives in Iowa City, IA.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available