Synopses & Reviews
With
Writing without Teachers (OUP 1975) and
Writing with Power (OUP 1995) Peter Elbow revolutionized the teaching of writing. His process method--and its now commonplace "free writing" techniques--liberated generations of students and teachers from the emphasis on formal principles of grammar that had dominated composition pedagogy.
This new collection of essays brings together the best of Elbow's writing since the publication of Embracing Contraries in 1987. The volume includes sections on voice, the experience of writing, teaching, and evaluation. Implicit throughout is Elbow's commitment to humanizing the profession, and his continued emphasis on the importance of binary thinking and nonadversarial argument. The result is a compendium of a master teacher's thought on the relation between good pedagogy and good writing; it is sure to be of interest to all professional teachers of writing, and will be a valuable book for use in composition courses at all levels.
Review
"This volume belongs in the library of everyone who teaches or studies composition theory.... This collection,...drawn from three decades of musings and reflections, demands the attention of anyone seriously interested in teaching writing."--The Quarterly
Description
Includes bibliographical references. "Published works of Peter Elbow": p. 471-475.
About the Author
Peter Elbow is Professor of English and Director of the writing program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In 2001, he received the James R. Squire Award from the National Council of Teachers of English "for his transforming influence and lasting intellectual contribution to the English Profession."