Blurb:

This introduction to the book employs theory posited by the canonized American writers William S. Burroughs, Ed Sanders and others to make a case for an investigative/discovery-oriented creative writing pedagogy. The intent of the investigative aspect is compared to the idea of the lyric essay as proposed by John D’Agata and Deborah Tall’s reference to the scholarship of Helen Vendler in the Fall 1997 issue of Seneca Review. As an active and experiential approach, the chapters are broken down into five main categories: Discovery-Oriented Basics, Investigative Theatrics, Programmatic Considerations, Eco-Investigations, and Experiential Exercises. Rationales are offered for the three to four chapters included in each section. The chapter is bound by the theme of accessing power for individuals and their communities and culminates with a brief discussion of the discovery-oriented process, which hinges on transformative learning events.