• Stephen Muecke

01 October 2009Universities have become the laboratories for creative writing, according to Stephen Muecke in The Australian

EARLY last month, Catherine Cole, who holds the chair of creative writing at RMIT University in Melbourne, hosted a meeting of Australia's professors of creative writing. In the process of inviting people, the numbers kept growing.

It turns out there are 14 professors and six associate professors across the country. They do not all have the same designation but they all teach, supervise or research in the field. By contrast, there are only two professors of Australian literature. There are, no doubt, similar numbers of senior people in the visual arts, music, design and architecture.

I see writing as an emerging discipline and an instance of a shift from reflection on literary works to their production. This has happened on several fronts. The information age has increased the economic importance of the creative industries. Vocationalism became more respectable after the Dawkins reforms; then, as universities were semi-privatised, students began to shape the market through their buying power. Suddenly, a lot of students were motivated more by the novel in them than by the desire to express their admiration for Jane Austen...

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Stephen Muecke is the inaugural professor of writing at the University of NSW.

Photo: Mike Bentley/ iStockphoto