Live data from Hacker News

Not Another MFA Essay

joukovsky.substack.com

11–14 of 14 posts

Re: Not Another MFA Essay

#11
Background: MFA in Creative Writing is a degree taken by aspiring novelists. MFA stands for Master of Fine Arts (and not multi-factor auth ;-)). Poetry, fiction, novels, personal essays, and non-fiction are all sub-genres, but I think they are discussing creative writing in general.

The essay and the linked essays together seem to say the following:

Master of Fine Arts (Creative Writing seems to be the topic under discussion) [MFA] is a degree of the privileged.

A majority of those who graduate with an MFA, end up teaching MFA courses.

Those who teach, try to publish more via friendly publishers (university/independent). Pressure to publish for tenure. Quantity over quality.

Compares NYC writers vs writers who have MFA. NYC good. MFA graduate bad. (My thought: What about the rest of us who are not from NYC and have not taken an MFA?)

Re: Not Another MFA Essay

#12
The author of this essay assumes a familiarity with the MFA v. PHD debate that might not be right for the HN crowd. If you're curious about this topic though, I would recommend Elif Batuman's Get a Real Degree: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v32/n18/elif-batuman/get-a-r...

It's very funny writing, Batuman has a PHD in Russian Literature and she does a good job of giving a high-level overview.

Re: Not Another MFA Essay

#13
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Incidentally, I, in fact, have an MFA in creative writing from the now-defunct low-residency program at the University of Tampa. Ask me anything.)

Do you think multi factor authentication just provides the illusion of extra security for little real benefit?

No.

Re: Not Another MFA Essay

#14
post #11

Background: MFA in Creative Writing is a degree taken by aspiring novelists. MFA stands for Master of Fine Arts (and not multi-factor auth ;-)). Poetry, fiction, novels, personal essays, and non-fiction are all sub-genres, but I think they are discussing creative writing in general. The essay and the linked essays together seem to say the following: Master of Fine Arts (Creative Writing seems to be the topic under di…

Actually only a small fraction of MFA grads end up teaching any kind of academic creative writing. The oversupply of creative writing grads is even more extreme than in other academic disciplines.
Post reply on HN