I don't have an MFA and am unlikely to get one, so I can only go by my feel as a spectator, but it's felt for a long time as though a lot of MFA discourse is just a way to displace literary marketplace discourse. In other words: whatever gets trotted out as an example of 'MFA style' (which itself can vary wildly from minimalist realism to maximalist postmodernism) is almost always, at most, an example of how MFA's respond to market demands (either the market of sales or the market of prizes). The MFA seems like a psychologically satisfying answer to the question of 'Why do books I don't like get published/get big advances/win awards?' if you'd rather see it as an intentional conspiracy. But I tend to think that if the MFA had its way the path to becoming a successful writer would probably still run through a debut story collection.
I also think this sort of discourse just kinda happens as an industry that hasn't required academic accreditation professionalizes itself by normalizing it, and anxieties around professionalization and accreditation manifest themselves. I remember a lot of discussion around film school near the turn of the century as American directors became increasingly likely to have attended it, and culinary degrees in professional kitchens were also subject to some debate as they became a much more likely path to success. Given both of those discourses have died down I'd expect MFA discourse to follow the same route, though obviously both chefs and directors are less likely to write posts, essays, or articles than professional writers, so it may take longer.
These are really great thoughts. Wish I’d put it so succinctly myself. MFAs seem to be a constant—and all too enticing—location of displacement for all kinds of negative emotions about being a writer and trying to publish books.
If I were to try to come up with a focused, fair critique of MFAs, it would probably take off to some extent from McGurl: MFAs are a product of the massively expanded Postwar university, and largely for that reason, they exist in a contradictory class space. There’s this distinctly American insecurity about being too bougie at the exact moment as you’re trying to snatch as much money and status for yourself as you can. Authenticating yourself as somehow not pretentious even as you write fancy fiction becomes this dire and impossible imperative.
While this is now a venerable tension, I’d say I still saw it play out to some extent in my own MFA. But that’s a whole other essay.
"Is this all there is³? You get your writing critiqued, hope to get a bit better, and then you just have to keep writing and see if anyone ever cares to read it?" -- spot on. About halfway through my, ahem, MFA, someone suggested that I view the experience as an apprenticeship. Which proved useful, then and now.
That's pretty much the healthiest way to view it. It's also of course 'time to write'--with some structure, including deadlines--and that's obviously hugely useful. I'm not sure I know anyone who's gotten an MFA who didn't feel a little ennui towards the end. But I also know plenty of people who are glad to have gotten one
I don't have an MFA and am unlikely to get one, so I can only go by my feel as a spectator, but it's felt for a long time as though a lot of MFA discourse is just a way to displace literary marketplace discourse. In other words: whatever gets trotted out as an example of 'MFA style' (which itself can vary wildly from minimalist realism to maximalist postmodernism) is almost always, at most, an example of how MFA's respond to market demands (either the market of sales or the market of prizes). The MFA seems like a psychologically satisfying answer to the question of 'Why do books I don't like get published/get big advances/win awards?' if you'd rather see it as an intentional conspiracy. But I tend to think that if the MFA had its way the path to becoming a successful writer would probably still run through a debut story collection.
I also think this sort of discourse just kinda happens as an industry that hasn't required academic accreditation professionalizes itself by normalizing it, and anxieties around professionalization and accreditation manifest themselves. I remember a lot of discussion around film school near the turn of the century as American directors became increasingly likely to have attended it, and culinary degrees in professional kitchens were also subject to some debate as they became a much more likely path to success. Given both of those discourses have died down I'd expect MFA discourse to follow the same route, though obviously both chefs and directors are less likely to write posts, essays, or articles than professional writers, so it may take longer.
These are really great thoughts. Wish I’d put it so succinctly myself. MFAs seem to be a constant—and all too enticing—location of displacement for all kinds of negative emotions about being a writer and trying to publish books.
If I were to try to come up with a focused, fair critique of MFAs, it would probably take off to some extent from McGurl: MFAs are a product of the massively expanded Postwar university, and largely for that reason, they exist in a contradictory class space. There’s this distinctly American insecurity about being too bougie at the exact moment as you’re trying to snatch as much money and status for yourself as you can. Authenticating yourself as somehow not pretentious even as you write fancy fiction becomes this dire and impossible imperative.
While this is now a venerable tension, I’d say I still saw it play out to some extent in my own MFA. But that’s a whole other essay.
"Is this all there is³? You get your writing critiqued, hope to get a bit better, and then you just have to keep writing and see if anyone ever cares to read it?" -- spot on. About halfway through my, ahem, MFA, someone suggested that I view the experience as an apprenticeship. Which proved useful, then and now.
That's pretty much the healthiest way to view it. It's also of course 'time to write'--with some structure, including deadlines--and that's obviously hugely useful. I'm not sure I know anyone who's gotten an MFA who didn't feel a little ennui towards the end. But I also know plenty of people who are glad to have gotten one