Generative Challenges: Notes on Artist/Critic Interaction

“Each mode of articulation by the writer and critic is necessary for particular fields or venues, even if in the last instance, it is limited by audience. Yet, what each does with language, however transparent or opaque, is the same: they seek to destroy the texts they are working with so they can never be read the same way again.”

—Shona Jackson, literary and cultural critic

“Scholars seldom engage the literary fiction that is being written right now, so I write with posterity in mind. That’s an important part of my audience. Still, I aim to produce work that is sophisticated enough to merit critical evaluation.”

—Mat Johnson, award-winning fiction writer

“It is the duty of your opponent to create the greatest possible difficulties for you, just as it is yours to try to create obstacles for him. Only by doing this do you give each other the opportunity to find out to what heights each can rise. So I arrived at the startling conclusion that true competition is identical with true cooperation.”

—W. Timothy Gallwey, tennis coach

The invitation to participate in the Callaloo retreat Literature, Culture, and Critique was a challenge to “. . . discuss what seems to be the ever-widening gap between the work of the critic and the cultural productions of the creative writer.” As Callaloo editor Charles Rowell put it, we would aim for “healthy and productive conversations between those who produce culture forms and those who critique it, so as to bridge or close the gap between the writer and the critic.” Rowell further explained, “This has long been one of the goals I have tried to achieve, however indirectly, in my efforts to publish the creative alongside the critical in Callaloo. Now is the time to be more direct in my efforts.”¹

Yet, as soon as we gathered, a sort of debate ensued about whether or not “the gap between the writer and the critic” even existed. Shona Jackson opened the retreat with a presentation to lay the groundwork for discussion. She admitted that her remarks would “over-simplify in order to produce strong reactions and get us talking.” Her presentation outlined some of the differences and similarities between what writers do and what critics do. In the process, she mentioned James Baldwin and Aimé Césaire. Many in attendance noted that Baldwin and Césaire very much blurred the line between artist and critic. Thus, they suggested, beginning the retreat with references to these figures only helped emphasize that perhaps we had gathered to discuss a false distinction. Some participants essentially asked whether it was possible for there to be an “ever-widening gap between the work of the critic and the cultural productions of the creative writer” when many in the room were themselves both artists and scholars.

If the rationale for the retreat identified a line between critical writing and imaginative writing, were those who produce both being asked to choose a side? Having encountered situations when they were expected to do precisely that, they were justifiably cautious. Often, the assumption is that critics are not very creative and that creative writers are not necessarily critical, but these scholar-artists stand as evidence to the contrary. Thus, they intervened immediately to make sure that our discussions would not be based on stereotypical understandings of “writers” and “critics.” They insisted that we analyze the assumptions that might inspire the call to “close the gap” between these presumably distinct groups. After doing so, I believe that our efforts to answer Rowell’s call were, and remain, worthwhile.

I cannot speak as one who works as both a creative writer and critic, but I assume that even those who do somehow divide the labor in their minds or in their habits. Just as they can speak only as people who occupy both roles, I can speak only as one whose work falls in a single category: cultural criticism. I therefore readily admit that I see a distinction between the work of the creative writer and that of the critic, and these figures sometimes seem to be less in...