Rhetorical modes at play

An exercise in literary and creative writing research practice explored

Abstract

This paper examines the complexity of fictocritical writing as a form which draws together creative writing, literary and cultural theory, and self-reflexive writing to create a hybrid text as a scholarly genre in research. Encouraging students to combine creative and critical work in literary studies or in writing courses, allows them to build a bridge between ways of responding to texts which are traditionally taught and assessed as two distinct forms. The paper uses the example of an undergraduate student’s Honours thesis as a catalyst for discussing the nature of fictocritical writing. Fictocritical work as a scholarly genre offers different possibilities for combining theoretical and creative approaches to responding to and pro-ducing texts; it offers a bridge between the creative and theoretical in research, either in the discipline of creative writing or in literary studies.