Adventures in Literary Practice

What makes our literary practice an adventure?

Literary practice—one’s continual experiences of reading, writing, thinking, discussion, action, and reflection, and its impact on intellectual and personal growth—is at the heart of our ongoing growth as literary professionals and educators. 

Michael Mack writes in How Literature Changes the Way We Think, “arts and humanities have the unique and underappreciated capacity to make us aware of how we can change accustomed forms of perception and action." 

In “What Does Art Do?” Vid Simoniti explains that art is a form of thinking that is “not based on a clash of positions,” but rather, is an “open ended space of thought, where oppositionality temporarily ceases.” 

In “The Ends of the Book: Reading, Economies & Publics,” Matthew Stadler explains that reading is open-ended and conversational, creating a “liminal space” where writers and readers meet and where readers can meet one another, which in turn creates opportunities for conversations that enrich our minds, broaden our perspectives, generate empathy, allowing us to recognize our “common humanity across difference.” 

In The Power of Writing It Down Allison Fallon asserts, “writing is communication, self-discovery, creativity, spirituality, and self-expression. Writing is the essential tool we use to find and practice our sense of voice.” 

Our literary practice is an adventure, intertwined with our teaching and learning as we embrace an adventurous mindset in order to continually improve as educators and as human beings. In The Reflective Practitioner, Donald Schön discusses the idea of combining research and practice; he explains that in our traditional professional models, academics and research are considered to be separate from the actual practice. Researchers often only focus on developing the theories and science that form the basis of how problems are solved, while professional practitioners are only supposed to focus on practicing the profession and they are not encouraged to conduct research. This disconnect is problematic because practitioners who are working in the field are the ones who best understand the current problems and the context; if practitioners are encouraged and supported in developing skills to research these problems, it might lead to solutions that are more humane and more feasible. Must we perpetuate the institutional separation between research and practice? Or is it possible that doing both could produce better outcomes?

Schön explains how expert professionals use reflection—especially reflection-in-action—to help with problem setting and problem solving. It provides a framework to understand how reflection can be used to help professionals adopt a research approach within the context of practice in order to develop expertise rather than just basic competency. 

Adventures in Literary Practice is our shared space for documenting and reflecting upon our literary teaching and learning. We are intellectual, committed to justice, and open to growth, and we welcome you to join us on our journey throughout the year! 

—Abena Ntoso
English Department Chair