Creative Writing
A research project in this stream will be dedicated to the practice of writing as literary experiment: a radical inquiry into the possibilities of mind and language.
The project will be dedicated to the practice of writing, and regards creative writing as an extension of critical reading and seeing.
The research projects within this stream invite students to move through a number of short literary exercises, responding to the works of other authors, poets, and playwrights.
Throughout the project we will consider the critical, theoretical and creative implications of their works, allowing you to combine intellectually-challenging ideas with a commitment to the creative act of writing. Your final portfolio may consist of: creative critical essays on other poets and authors; your own poems or short fiction in response to their works; or a short film responding creatively to the works we have read and discussed.
Intended audience
Research projects in this stream are open to students from all disciplines.
As Comte de Lautréamont wrote in 1864, ‘Everyone is an artist, naturally’.
Previous knowledge
No previous experience of creative writing is necessary, but candidates should be capable and enthusiastic readers of literary texts in English, and have an interest in the interdisciplinary relationships of the arts.
Assessment
Creative Writing Portfolio comprised of written exercises set and/or a short (c.10 minutes) film: 100% of the total.
Research Topics
The potential research proposals you could pursue on the programme are listed below. The specific research focus of your project will be determined and confirmed with guidance from your supervisor.
1. Becoming Other: Emulating a Favoured Writer's Style
In this project, you may explore a writer of your choice (in consultation with your supervisor), and produce your own creative or critical work influenced by them.
2. Writing Sonnets
In pursuing this project, you will explore the history of the sonnet, from Thomas Wyatt to Wanda Coleman and Terrance Hayes, and produce your own sonnet sequence in response.
3. Writing for Performance
Interested in a playwright or a film-maker perhaps? Opting for this research topic will allow you to explore a playwright or film-maker of your choice (in consultation with your supervisor), and produce your own creative or critical work influenced by them.
4. Writing Short Fiction
Explore the history of the modern short story, from James Joyce to Alice Munro, and craft your own short fiction and/or critical essay in response through this project.
5. Personism: Writing after the New York School
In this project, you will explore the influence of the New York School's intimate, casual style on modern poetry, from Frank O'Hara to Hera Lindsay Bird, and write your own poems and/or critical essay in response.
6. Cambridge Authors
You will explore the work of authors connected to Cambridge, and write creatively or critically in response in this project. Authors may include Coleridge, Wordsworth, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Douglas Adams and Zadie Smith.
7. Introduction to Poetry
In this project, you will be introduced to a range of poetic genres and techniques, from the ode to the epistolary poem, the ballad to the litany, the haibun to the refrain, and produce your own creative and/or critical work in response.
Prefer to follow a research idea of your own?
Take a look at the Open Stream.