Ten years ago, Stephen Benson and I published an anthology of contemporary criticism entitled Creative Criticism: An Anthology and Guide (EUP 2014), which included work by John Cage and Sarah Wood, Kevin Kopelson and Eve Sedgwick, amongst quite a few others. In this talk, I'll reflect - perhaps a little ruefully - on some of the intellectual and institutional reasons we chose - from amongst many other possible options - the alliterative umbrella term 'creative criticism' to shelter this collection of work. I'll sketch in the history of the CC collocation, discuss the emergence and expansion of the discipline of creative writing in UK universities (especially outside Oxbridge) as a salient context for CC's current flourishing, and in conclusion consider - by taking a detour via Derrida - whether a different adjective - inventive - might better name the quality we want to celebrate and foster in critical writing.
Clare Connors is Associate Professor in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at UEA. She co-edited with Stephen Benson Creative Criticism: An Anthology and Guide (EUP 2014) and co-teaches with him an MA module on ‘Creative-Critical Writing’ on the MA in Modern and Contemporary Writing. Other works of hers in a creative-critical vein include ‘Creative Criticism: An Histori-Manifesto’ in ed. Irving Goh, French Thought and Literary Theory in the UK (Routledge 2020), ‘Derrida and the Friendship of Rhyme’ in Oxford Literary Review (December 2011), and ‘Free-Indirect-Style (Derrida and Bowen)’ in Parallax, (January 2014).