While visiting my parents’ house a couple weeks ago, I happened to find an essay in The New York Times Magazine by David Gessner. The article discusses Gessner’s transition from full-time journalist and author to creative writing professor. I devoured the essay, highlighting my favorite parts along the way. There are two main questions in the essay. First, is it undesirable for a growing number of professional writers to be taking jobs as professors (or anything other than independent writer)? Second, is it possible to create memorable literature while in any kind of full-time job?
In Gessner’s words: “Consider that our first great national literary flowering constituted, in part, a rebellion against what was thought of as academic, effete and indoors-y in English writing.” A lot of his worries mirror my own. I often find myself wondering, is it possible to fulfill my drive to write without banishing myself to the wilderness? Can someone balance career obligations with creative impulses? Are security and benefits worth sacrificing an artistic lifestyle that is both consistent and unbridled?
“Something is lost by living the divided life,” wrote Gessner. “Intensity perhaps. The ability to focus hard and long on big, ambitious projects. A great writer, after all, must travel daily to a mental subcontinent, must rip into the work, experiencing the exertion of it, the anxiety of it and, once in a blue moon, the glory of it.” The job provides a “safety net,” some social activity, and (in the professor case) summers off for writing. But the job also means less adventurous writing, and less time for reading and creating. The author seems inconclusive until the end of the article, when he suggests that he wouldn’t miss teaching as much as he misses the writing life.
Once I finished reading, I went on the web to research the author. In some ways he seems to be a nature writer — but that’s an oversimplification. For example, I read on Amazon that his book A Wild, Rank Place: One Year on Cape Cod starts with the nature focus, but also covers family drama, battles with cancer, and drug use.
That wide array of topics presented through a condensed lens seems like exactly the type of thing that I’d like to do in the future. For the first time, I feel as though I’ve possibly found a writing mentor who is still alive. Unfortunately I’m not going to be able to enroll at UNC Wilmington where he teaches. I’ll just have to communicate with him another way. (UPDATE 12/9/08: I emailed David Gessner and he recommended his book Sick of Nature, since it contains discussions about these types of difficult decisions).
Below: A video of David Gessner giving a guest “lecture” on transformation in literature.
Link:
David Gessner’s Website
