English Salesman

Reading Response Elbow Academic vs. Writer

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According to Elbow one difference between the academic and the writer is the issues of authorship.  Where the academic cannot have true authorship because his writing is predicated on others thoughts and ideas; the author, when he is being original, his ideas are his own.  Where the academic is expected to stick to format and his work is judged for correctness; the writer must be unpredictable and is or should be almost beyond criticism. 

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For Elbow this is the crux of what it is to be a writer, ownership and freedom.  It is all important that his students develop the sense that their writting has value that they are themselves writers.