Preamble

I supervise Creative Writing PhDs – those new-breed, non-traditional doctorates that worry university administrations, attract scorn from some older writers and academics, and bring in more candidates than we can handle. I supervise three times more PhDs (18) than my university’s recommended load (only 6) because: (1) I like watching new work come to fruition; (2) I crave discussion with other writers over bottles of wine; and (3) I am, like most academics I know, a workaholic. I am also a novelist, so mainly I supervise novel-writing PhD candidates.

The writing of a novel for a Creative Writing PhD involves administrators, supervisors, coursework, critical exegeses, high-pressured examinations, and dressing up in colorful garb (for graduation) once the work is accepted by its critics/readership. Writing creatively in the academic context is different from normal creative writing.

This new beast, the academic novel, has some quirky features. You don’t just write it, you enrol in it. You don’t just live in a garret to produce it, you attend classes/workshops/progress meetings. You don’t have a private, lingering, developing affair with it, you have a supervisor or a supervisory panel who butt in on the intimacy of your writing it. You don’t simply send the manuscript off to a publisher once it’s completed, you fill out official forms and submit it in triplicate. Importantly also, you don’t write it for yourself and (hopefully) the thousands of others who will read it, you write it for your supervisors initially, and then, your examiners. The academic novel – following its rapid spread across English-speaking campuses during the 1990s – represents a significant evolutionary leap for the novel species.

What is all the university bother doing to the novel and its writing process? How is the novel faring in its new academic environment?