Course Critique 10

The idea of teaching writing by trying to tap the sources of creativity in the unconscious is a fascinating one. Since I've heard that the most effective writing is a subjective confession, let me plunge into my own experiences with Dr. Rockwood's course in Advanced Composition, EH 301.

Originally I had been signed up for this course with another teacher. After going to his class the first day, however, I realized that though it would be easy for me, it would not be of tremendous value. Structuring a paper was not my particular problem. Orderly arrangement of ideas presented no difficulty. If anything, I sometimes regard myself as being too orderly and structured and secretly delight in the opportunity to break out. Insofar as mechanics were concerned, I had mastered that bugaboo long ago.

It wasn't unti a few hours later, however, when I found myself "trying out" Dr. Rockwood's class, that I could identify what I was looking for. Not only that, I was offered a way to find it. The course itself sounded somewhat mysterious. (It wasn't until much later that the full impact of that feeling hit me.) But his was a chance that I couldn't pass up. Admittedly, I gambled.

But, oh, to be creative! How many times in the past have I wished that I could write—REALLY WRITE! Not just insipid, orderly compositions, but to write "the stuff from which dreams are made"—that's what I wanted to do.

So, this is a course in door opening. It really should be called "Door Opening 301." The basic premise of the course is that the source of creativity lies in the unconscious, which is in a state of continuous activity. One of the best ways to tap the unconscious and to release the creative imagination is through the use of dreams. Dreams are not only charged with psychic energy, which allows for content to pour out in a spontaneous, unconscious way, but dreams consist of the stuff from which good writing is made: concrete imagery presented pictorially. Style itself is a natural development of this method; it is nothing that one must deal with consciously. In fact, once the door is open, images and words well up from, well, nowhere. That's the feeling one has as one stands there, an amused observer patiently watching the "happening."

— Marlene H. [7ED]