Creative writing courses are killing western literature, claims Nobel judge

Grants cut off writers from society, whereas past greats worked as taxi drivers and waiters to feed their imaginations, says Horace Engdahl

Western literature is being impoverished by financial support for writers and by creative writing programmes, according to a series of blistering comments from Swedish Academy member Horace Engdahl, speaking shortly before the winner of the Nobel prize for literature is awarded.

In an interview with French paper La Croix, Engdahl said that the professionalisation of the job of the writer, via grants and financial support, was having a negative effect on literature. Even though I understand the temptation, I think it cuts writers off from society, and creates an unhealthy link with institutions, he told La Croix. Previously, writers would work as taxi drivers, clerks, secretaries and waiters to make a living. Samuel Beckett and many others lived like this. It was hard - but they fed themselves, from a literary perspective.

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