Natasha Sajé, "In Praise of Dispraise"
Natasha Sajé, author of Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Literary Theory, was recently featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education's blog The Conversation on the importance of critique:
When creative writers are offered only praise, including the default praise of publication, they aren’t pushed to improve. By contrast, at a toastmasters’ meeting, the audience gives feedback on both argument and delivery. Similarly, a scholar’s argument and its assumptions would be rigorously questioned by more than one person due to the critical response built into both scholarly-conference presentations and peer-reviewed publication.
Sajé’s nine essays in Windows and Doors cover foundational topics for creative writers of poetry—diction, syntax, rhythm, surprise, figurative language, narrative, genre, book design, and performance—and are explained through the lenses of theory, history, and philosophy and illuminated through vibrant examples from the works of numerous contemporary American poets.
