In support of the Critical Practice Module, this website will introduce you to what we mean by critical reading, writing and discussion. As well as offering practical advice, we will explain why we think it's important. We hope this will encourage you to think closely about the way you read and write, and to enter into the ongoing academic discussion that characterises English Studies.
Critical versus Creative?
English Studies is a discipline that is always on the move. It is vital and responsive to the world around it. Moreover, its liveliness means that it frequently throws up exciting new challenges.
One such opportunity is presented by the growing popularity of creative writing within English departments. While some of you will be here to study literature, others of you will be here to learn how to write creatively. Many of you will plan to do both.
There’s good news: critical writing is creative!
Traditionally, creative writing has been perceived as distinct from critical writing. However, there is a growing sense that they are not quite as divided as they first appear.
Rob Pope addresses this issue directly in his introductory book to English Studies:
The challenge, then, is to develop practices of reading and writing that operate in a variety of dimensions and develop in a variety of directions, simultaneously or by turns: critical and creative, theoretical and practical, historical and contemporary. For only in this way can texts be fully grasped as ongoing processes as well as achieved products, and words be used for experiments and exploration as well as analysis and argument. In short, for serious play. (Pope: 2002 10)
The Writing Website is our response to this challenge. We believe that words and writing matter. We have created this site especially to support the development of your writing, irrespective of whether you aim to study ‘literary criticism’, ‘creative writing’, or both.
What’s in a Name?
As you can see from the full title of this website, we have followed the literary convention of having a title and a subtitle.
The Writing Website, Verbarian: having to do with words
Why bother? Surely a snappy little name is more suitable for a website?
In many ways this is so. The Writing Website is a concise title that doesn’t waste words. However, as a label it doesn’t give much away, and we are left uncertain about the content. A subtitle tries to fill the gap by adding a little extra information.
So what is this extra, and how does it tell us more about the website?
If you look up ‘Verbarian’ in the Oxford English Dictionary, you will see that it is defined as follows:
a . adj. Having to do with words. b. n. An inventor or coiner of words.
Our subtitle is a supplement to The Writing Website that emphasises our commitment to words: as inventors and coiners – creators and critics.
Critical practice is having to do with words.
What this Site Offers (and what it doesn’t)
This site offers you a range of advice on different topics relating to writing. It doesn’t tell you what to write, but it does offer support on how to write.
The site is divided into four main sections: Critical Reading, Critical Writing, Critical Discussion and The Writing Workshop.
It also offers: top tips from members of the School of English; useful links to other sites relating to critical practice; references to works cited in this site, and the Verbarian Forum, in which you can have your say!
How to Use this Site
All sections are readily explorable, as we have intentionally designed this site to be quick and easy to use. We would rather your time is spent reading, writing or talking about literature!
We hope you will enjoy The Writing Website. We aim to be inclusive, so please let us know if there is something missing that matters to you. This is a work-in-progress and we very much welcome your responses.
Please contact Denise Jackson on D.B.Jackson@kent.ac.uk
