evil and the student writer
Julianna Baggott was quoted in this article on the Poetry Foundation web page. The article discusses the effect that the VT shooting last Spring has had on how creative writing professors handle violence in their students’ writing. Baggott is named as the voice of one extreme - that teachers have only literary, not moral, responsibilities to their students - while the other extreme argues for a absolute merging of those duties.
From the article:
“Most of the poets who responded to my interview first defined their own notion of “evil,” and, like Levertov and Duncan, they differed on the question of their moral and literary responsibilities. On one end of the spectrum is Bucknell University professor G.C. Waldrep, whose theological beliefs inform his work and life.
“Evil is a given. It is part of our human condition, whether one perceives its origin in the putative ‘Fall’ or not,” he says. “The most we can do, perhaps, is recognize it for what it is, in ourselves and in others. And behave accordingly: which includes writing about it with honesty and passion.”
On the opposite end is Florida State University professor Julianna Baggott. “I don’t think in these terms and I don’t think I ever will,” she says. “Are you asking if it’s my role to teach the difference between good and evil, or the evils of evil? No, that’s not my job. I teach people how to write—I believe my duties are more of an artful mechanic than a preacher. . . . I’m not a psychologist and have no understanding of psychosis, but I see Seung-Hui Cho’s actions as those that stem from a deep mental illness.”"
Also, here is a link to the PDF file of Virginia Tech’s plan for responding to disturbing writing.