essays about poetics as well as writing poetry, and it became inevitable that
sometimes they would fuse the two together. Such an approach is also
common in new media work where hyperlinking provides a very good
means to link the theoretical and the creative (see Chapter 11).
Ideally fictocriticism creates a symbiotic relationship between theory/
criticism and creative work, so that they feed into, and illuminate, each
other. In fictocriticism, critical/cultural theory and creative writing are
juxtaposed or merged. As Anne Brewster points out, these endeavours
are often thought of as opposed to each other, but fictocriticism seeks to
challenge this opposition:
If there is a generic division or opposition which fictocriticism seeks to
mediate, it is the demarcation inscribed in academic production of the
genres of high art (fiction, poetry, drama) and the essayistic modes which
purport to study them (commentary, criticism, analysis, theory). The
opposition between these two genres is figured in the way we characterise
criticism, for example, as neutral and disinterested and literature as
expressive of a personalised subjectivity. Another figuring of this opposition
is the notion that criticism trades in ideas; literature in states of emotion
and feeling.
(Brewster 1996, p. 29)A fictocritical approach to creative writing tends to make intellectual ideas
rather more overt than in much fiction or poetry. Obviously, complex
literary texts usually have intellectual depth. But the conventional view of
writing would tend to be that the intellectual dimension had to be fiction-
alised or poeticised, and that its sources should be covered over and
hidden. In fictocritical work, intellectual ideas are often addressed more
directly and within academic frames of reference.
In common with other types of experimental writing, fictocriticism
tends to be an open rather than a closed form. It embraces mixed-genre
writing, discontinuous prose and linguistic play. Quotations (often from
theoretical texts) are also common in this type of work. However, such fea-
tures may not characterise all fictocritical writing. This is a variable and
developing field: you should create your own models, and draw together
theory and creative work in any way you find productive.
Fictocritics sometimes strive to revivify and rethink the essay form in a
more creative way. Although its scope for logical argument and analysis is
invaluable and irreplaceable, at times the essay can seem a stiff and inflex-
ible form. A fictocritical approach to writing an essay is less formal and
linear than the normal academic essay. Fictionalised, poetic and anecdotal
elements may be introduced, and the presence of the author may be made
The invert, the cross-dresser, the fictocritic 205