MFA vs. NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction ed. by Chad Harbach (review)

In the Introduction to MFA vs. NYC, Chad Harbach writes that when the titular essay was first published, it prompted feedback from some readers abroad who claimed that his discussion was depressing, and that it even made them reluctant to return to America. Both the essay and the larger work in which it appears focus on the shift in the power center of American fiction from the major New York publishing houses to the many MFA programs that have sprung up in American universities over the past few decades. Harbach avers that his goal with this work may have added to readers’ feelings of depression: “to consider the fiction writer less as an utterly free artistic being . . . and more as a person constrained by circumstance” (4).

This collection of essays makes it clear that the American fiction writer works within the confines of circumstances largely beyond his or her control, whether within academia or among the traditional big publishing houses. The essay “How to Be Popular,” written by literary agent Melissa Flashman, clearly shows how a book’s success is oftentimes the result of: its appeal to book clubs across the country; the extent to which it touches on subjects of interest in popular culture at the moment; its viability as an assigned text in American colleges; and simple luck and good timing. In “Application,” Diana Wagman humorously details her own experience as an instructor in an MFA program, particularly highlighting the tension that sometimes exists in the academy between those who teach literature and those who create it. David Foster Wallace also touches on this tension in his work “The Fictional Future,” a most appropriate addition to this volume, as it first shone the spotlight on the multitude of MFA programs when initially published in 1988.

As an MFA student, albeit in poetry rather than fiction, I can say these revelations are indeed depressing, or at least disillusioning. And, MFA vs. NYC has its greatest value in just that. This is a good resource for someone considering a career in creative writing, because it encourages such a person to think and rethink about the reasons for wanting to enter that field. I would assign this work to undergraduate students deciding whether to enter an MFA program, especially if I suspected they wanted to do so in order to get rich writing the next great novel. Reading this book would show them that there are many other people with their same desire, their same drive, and their same ability who have not been able to make that happen, either through pursuing the academic culture or that of the New York publishing houses. Similarly, people who believe avoiding academia will keep their writing true and unfettered will find from this book that both MFA and NYC bring their own restrictions and worries for would-be fiction writers.

MFA vs. NYC also has value beyond its depressing truths, insofar as it paints a clear portrait of both the academic and publishing worlds, sharing insights about each that would be unknown to people outside those communities and showing that both main paths toward becoming a writer can be useful and worthwhile. “My Parade” by Alexander Chee and Maria Adelman’s “Basket Weaving 101” eloquently discuss the sense of community one can gain from entering an MFA program. Likewise, Darryl Lorenzo Wellington poignantly shows in his “Reality Publishing” that writers so long for a community that they would be willing to endure the demoralizing contest for Amazon.com’s Breakthrough Novel Award in order to gain one there.

The book provides a relatively well-rounded portrait despite a tight knit group of contributors. Reading the essays, one quickly realizes that the “Keith” referred to in Emily Gould’s “Into the Woods” is Keith Gessen, author of “Money (2006)” and “Money (2014)” in this volume, and that the “Chad” mentioned in Gould’s essay is Chad Harbach, editor of this volume. Harbach can be...