Describes instructional and departmental forces creating the following problems for undergraduate creative writing teachers: (1) they hold an uneasy position in the English department hierarchy; (2) courses are radically different from creative writing courses in either high school or graduate school; and (3) instruction has lagged behind…

James Baldwin's special sense of his blackness enables him to combine Walt Whitman's awareness of urban wandering and Henry James' self-conscious cosmopolitanism in his books, particularly "Go Tell It on the Mountain." (BJV)

Claims students should be allowed to rank, rerank, and reshuffle thinking and then share their views with class members regarding poetry and poets before formal criticism is thrust upon them, and suggests teachers should be careful not to over-analyze and tell students about a poem's significance. (NH)

Claims that Malthus'"Essay on Population" is preeminently a rhetorical achievement because it (1) originated from controversy; (2) traced and dramatized the effects of a principle that, in Malthus's opinion, was long known but little understood by the public; and (3) drew its power from the evocation and conscious imitation of Newton's…

Examines the dimensionality of compliance-gaining message use (CGMU) ratings. Analyzes data from three studies, suggesting that the multidimensional solutions they present are spurious. Presents a unidimensional model which claims that CGMU is related nonlinearly to message choice. (JD)

Uses phenomenology to (1) examine how stories of pregnancy exemplify the strategic nature of family storytelling, and (2) explore the nature and function of storytelling as a cultural strategy for the generation and reproduction of small-group cultures, and (3) reveal the way in which stories of pregnancy organize communication and constitute "the…

Discusses how a teacher forced his college students to think critically, rather than intuitively, about children's literature. (SRT)

Addresses the pros and cons of biographies in general and reviews both good and mediocre biographies of women written for an adolescent audience. (SRT)

Claims that some of the finest works of contemporary science fiction and fantasy borrow heavily from the epic tradition. Proposes that science fiction and fantasy can avoid the disbelief problem by the simple expedient of removing the "here and now," and, thereby, the realistic diminishment of causes and heroes. (JD)

Describes a college composition course in which the class read and evaluated newspaper articles from the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" as it critically addressed the operations of subtexts, genres, target readers, and class interests. (JD)

Contributors discuss aspects of occult literature and present varying views on whether it is creative and involving or macabre and satanic. (JD)

Claims that most teachers who read "The Great Gatsby" in high school English courses do not notice the work's extensive use of nautical imagery. Cites examples and claims that close reading reveals Gatsby to be not only the dreamer and unsuccessful suitor but also the American fisherman who "hooks a big one." (JD)

Reports responses of several authors of young adult literature concerning the importance of first readers' reactions to their unpublished drafts. Offers comments on the general subject of writers' attitudes toward criticism and revision. (EL)

Examines the effects of catalytic, symbolic, antagonistic, and melding New England settings as they reveal conflicts of values in fiction. (JK)

Presents a fantasy theme analysis of the nuclear war issue derived from a comparison of personal statements and the film "The Day After" and its resulting complex rhetorical vision. Notes the vision's irony and discusses its implications for the nuclear war issue. (JD)