Student writers get creative

Anyone who has browsed the U-Store's shelves has surely noticed that they are filled with the work of faculty authors, proving that many University professors are not only brilliant minds, but also brilliant writers. And on top of producing their own acclaimed literary works, many Princeton professors are charged with teaching University students how to some day do the same. This year, 21 seniors will make their first forays into the world of literature by writing creative theses.

Guided by a dream-team faculty under program director Paul Muldoon—including writers like Chang-Rae Lee, Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates and C.K. Williams, many of whom have either won or been nominated for Pulitzer prizes in their fields—the selection process for the Creative Writing Program is rigorous. A sampling of creative theses from this year's seniors reveals that this crop of aspiring authors should make for a promising spring.

"Since I arrived at Princeton, I have been hoping to write a creative thesis," says Ashley Wellington '06. "Princeton has the best university creative writing program, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to come here."

Wellington is not alone with her longstanding goals. Numerous other students making their way along the "Creative Writing track" attest to having set their sights on the program even before acceptance to the University.

"The Creative Writing Program here was definitely among the factors that drew me to Princeton," says Caroline McCarthy '06.

One of the most distinctive parts of the Creative Writing Program is that each senior's thesis is truly individual. Some of this year's writers will hand in collections of original free-verse and prose poetry. Ashley Howerton '06, however, will have translated the words of Pablo Neruda and César Vallejo into her own. Others are reassembling anecdotes into pieces of creative nonfiction, and others still are wading through the pages of a novel.

"I am writing a novella entitled 'Kissimmee Milk,' a sort of Yiddish Noir thing that follows a dairy deliveryman through Reagan-era Osceola County, Florida," says Rob Buerki '06.

Buerki's story follows an unsolved murder case in which the protagonist is the main suspect. Aside from the search for the killer, Buerki explains, "In this 'Land of Milk and Money,' there is kidnapping, necrophilia, rabies, modern-day minstrel shows, and [a] trans-Atlantic plot to prevent our nascent American ballistic missile defense from ever being launched."

The readership that might be drawn to Buerki's writing, which he describes as "characterized both as a reaction to Jewish guilt and a love of the irony of the mundane," is likely quite different from the audience for Erin Ebbel's '06 thesis.

"I am writing a poetry thesis with advisor Paul Muldoon," explains Ebbel. "Most of the issues dealt with in the poems are either very personal or deal with common problems that sion, growing up and growing older."

As any senior can attest, writing one thesis is hard enough. But some of those writing creative theses—including Ebbel and Buerki, both of whom are science majors—are completing a separate project as well. Buerki says that the most difficult element of the thesis process is undoubtedly "having to write and research a molecular biology thesis at the same time."

Aside from those balancing writing and science, some students are working a double shift in the creative department as well.

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"Working on two very different creative projects simultaneously is giving me schizophrenia," says Ruby Pan '06, who is working on a creative writing thesis as well as one in the Program in Theatre and Dance. "It's been a real challenge switching [back and forth]...It takes me a couple of days to get my gears going for one thesis, then suddenly I have to produce work for the other."

Pan's fiction thesis, which began as a collection of short stories, addresses themes including sex, consumer culture, gender, travel and the encounters of "East meets West." A native of Singapore, the setting for her stories, Pan says eastern culture has greatly influenced her creative work.

"Being in Singapore for three months over the summer gave me a wealth of material for my short stories," she says. Pan's initial intention was to piece together those stories in a form inspired by a cookbook, but with guidance from her advisor, she is exploring different structural alternatives. On what form her narrative frame will ultimately take, Pan says enthusiastically, "I guess we'll find out over spring break!"

Like Pan, Caroline McCarthy says her work is inspired in part by her cultural upbringing. She says that her historical piece of "perception, gossip, crime and class conflict in a small town in rural Maine," set in the 1930s, was shaped by two primary inspirations: "first, my love of really outlandish, colorful, tragicomic historical fiction; and second, the region of central Maine where my mother's family is from." The thesis grew out of a short story that McCarthy wrote in Chang-rae Lee's introductory fiction class her freshman year.

Jacob Savage '06 is working on a piece of fiction that begins with a death in the family, and tells the story that ensues when it is discovered that the narrator's parents just may have been 1960s Leftist terrorists.

"Nothing distinguishes my writing," he said via email. "It's certainly above average, though still in the realm of the mediocre. It's mostly characterized by my love of the word 'malinger.'"

Self-effacing comments aside, the widely diverse senior theses this year share one thing: creative excellence. Although some seniors undertaking creative writing theses say they hope to continue their literary pursuits after graduation, many are emphatic that the experience itself has been invaluable.

"The opportunity to work with some of the best creative writing professors in the country and to be able to get their feedback on your poems every week is an incredible experience," says Ebbel.

Adds Pan, "The encouragement and support from fellow students and teachers here have been a blessing."

Ned Rosenman '06 was unwilling to expound too much on the virtues of a creative writing education, saying, "I feel uncomfortable answering questions about writing, the way a freshman premed student might feel uncomfortable answering questions about neural surgery. Do it too much, and I'll wind up in a literary malpractice suit."

This spring, 21 seniors are not just grappling with theories and equations, but exploring their own creativity. And who knows? Only time can tell whose names will find their way onto our bookshelves in the years to come.