Can creative writing be taught? Sometimes I'm appalled at the idea, believing that Patrick Kavanagh's vision of an army of 10,000 Irish poets has now been replaced by a much larger one of 100,000 Irish poets, 300,000 novelists and 500,000 people writing their memoirs. Sometimes I'm merely sceptical, seeing creative writing courses as jobs for the boys (and girls) and wondering if the nurturing of a rare, real talent is worth encouraging the delusions of all those who don't have any talent and never will - despite the prevailing wisdom, there isn't a book in everyone, or at least not one they're capable of writing.
And yet, and yet . . . despite these deep reservations, I'm currently conducting a creative writing course in Griffith College and encountering all sorts of imaginative ideas and some genuinely realised work. Will each of these students become a writer of distinction? Of course not, whether because of talent, or inclination, or distractions, or whatever, but perhaps one or two will, and it seems worthwhile to encourage both those who will and those who won't, because the development and refinement of imagination seems a good thing.
In other words I'm neither as hostile nor as cynical as I was, though I've a long way to go before succumbing to the believing zeal of Pat Boran, an old hand (though not old himself) at giving creative writing courses and now the author of a book on the subject. Still it's good to see that his book, The Portable Creative Writing Workshop (Salmon, £7.99) steers clear of grandiloquent claims for its subject, being content instead to offer practical assistance, encouragement and advice, especially to those interested in poetry and fiction. Indeed, if nothing else, his book is a model of common sense, and it's also engagingly playful.
So, if you're interested in the subject, I'll happily recommend it - just so long as you don't imagine it's going to reveal secrets that will mysteriously turn you into Joyce, Yeats, Kavanagh, McGahern or Heaney. Some secrets aren't to be found in any book.
Feminists who believe Virginia Woolf shared with Sylvia Plath not just a suicidal end but also a life of oppression by men are likely to be outraged by a forthcoming study of the Bloomsbury writer. Clinical psychiatrist Peter Dally maintains Woolf suffered from an inherited mental disorder going back to the 17th century, and also dismisses claims that her halfbrother George Duckworth sexually molested her, thereby intensifying the mental instability that led to her drowning herself in the River Ouse in 1941.
In Virginia Woolf: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, due from Robson Books in May, Dally traces the writer's manic depression back through four generations of her father's family. And if she were alive today, he argues, she would have been treated for her condition with lithium, Prozac and therapy. As for her relationship with Duckworth, Dally sees this as very loving: "I think it's untrue that she was molested by her brother. He would come into her bedroom and cover her with kisses, but there is no evidence that she was upset by this. It has been blown out of proportion by feminists. My view is that she welcomed the attention." Perhaps she did, but going into her bedroom and covering her with kisses . . . hmmm, seems a little excessive, though I suppose you'd need to have been there . . .
On the subject of women writers, Waterstone's is currently celebrating the female of the species with a special promotion. If, before the end of March, you buy two books from a selected list of 40 women writers, you'll get a third one for nothing. That's positive discrimination for you.
Competition time. You've still a few weeks left to enter the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, inaugurated in memory of the great short-story writer and essayist, who was born in 1900 and died two years ago. One thousand pounds is being offered for an unpublished short story of no more than 5,000 words. The judges are Hilary Mantel and Peter Vansittart, the closing date is 30th April, and you can get an entry form from: The Secretary, The Royal Society of Literature, 1 Hyde Park Gardens, London W2 2LT.
Nearer home (at home, actually, if you're from Meath), Bookwise in Navan is again holding its annual short story competition for unpublished writers born or living in Co Meath. Stories of up to 2,000 words are eligible: the main prize is £100, and the winning story will be published in The Meath Chronicle. The closing date for entries is June 12th. Yours truly, though a Jackeen rather than a Meathman, is the judge.