I don't really like Peter Elbow.
There, I said it.
I don't like his writing style and I don't like most of his ideas.
(I know what you are thinking: "Wait, have you read [insert title of Elbow book here]? I remain unconvinced)
But . . . .
I used some of his (and Belanoff's) 11 methods for sharing and responding to texts, taken from A Community of Writers in my class. And they weren't bad.
We all read the same essay - an anonymous selection from the class - and divided into groups. Each group was assigned a specific method of responding: voice, center of gravity, believing and doubting, skeletal feedback and outline, movies of the reader's mind, and metaphor. Each group discussed the piece and collaborated to produce a response using whatever method assigned. The groups then shared their writing with the whole glass, which led us into discussions of how reading and writing are related, as well as how to use these methods as writers as well as readers.
So Elbow, maybe you aren't half-bad; though you will never have me convinced on Writing Without Teachers or Closing My Eyes as I Speak: An Argument for Ignoring Audience.
-WW
you know, I'm not a huge Elbow fan either, tho I do recognize some of my writing habits (freewriting, also known as braindump) as those theorized by E long before I was a comp scholar. I'm more willing to be persuaded by his *methods* when they are communicated to me through someone else's language (Yancey has a good article on believing/doubting, for example). I don't like his voice. He's so arrogant and this weird, "I'm such a bad writer" act when he's, like, one of the most famous and well-published comp scholars of all time. Laura tells me this is in line with his interest in paradox. Ok, but I still don't like reading him.
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