Re: Checking the Personals

[Profsteven@aol.com]

Katie,

Exactly!  It's nice to find that other people think along the same lines.
Although my course (inherited years ago) carries the title "Creative Writing:
The Personal Essay," I titled my textbook "Writing Exploratory Essays" for
exactly the reason you give--too much talk-show-confessional impulse can be
encouraged by the term "personal essay."  In the book and even more in class,
I reiterate that the gradeable aspects of their essays is craft.  I give them
free reign in terms of structure and technique (with lots of examples--several
of which you mention--from the book), and we spend a lot of time discussing
which fiction techniques we can carry over into personal essays.  But I stress
that personal essays are both "creative writing" (whatever that is) and
"essays"--in other words, that the major point of personal essays must be
explicitly stated somewhere (or at least heavily implied) and that global
significance must be explicit.  And students are amazed as we work our way
through Dillard (is she a miracle or what!), White, Didion, Walker, etc. to
find how blatant and explicit all of the pros are in making the connections
between their ideas and experiences and those of the readers.  

To avoid the "I revealed my soul but only got a D" complaint, I state
explicitly on the syllabus that an essay that is well-written and well-crafted
that does not have a hint of the personal in it can receive a "B"; an essay
that is not well-written or well-crafted but which reveals earth-shattering
revelations about the writer can receive no higher than a "D."  Since I
started putting that statement on my syllabi several years ago, students have
quickly moved toward an emphasis on structure and style and thought rather
than mere revelation.

Sorry to go on and on--it's a topic close to my heart.

Steve