With eight of 22 students graduating with distinctions this year, those involved with the Rhodes MA in Creative Writing say that reading is the key to success.
With eight of 22 students graduating with distinctions this year, those involved with the Rhodes MA in Creative Writing say that reading is the key to success.
When Mangaliso Buzani was studying jewellery design and manufacture at the University of Technology in Pretoria, he read a lot. He read so many books that his aunt said that if he had been doing a literature course, he would have received a distinction.
Six years later, Buzani did just that. Plus, he was one of the first two students to graduate with a thesis in isiXhosa. He attributes his achievement to motivation, hard work under the guidance of dedicated teachers and supervisors, and to reading.
“Reading and writing are living like twins inside me,” he said, adding that reading widely is a major element of the MACW course which “prepares you to come up with the amazing creation of writing".
Students of the course get exposed to different genres, including poetry, drama, prose, fiction and non-fiction. They then chose to do a book-length creative thesis in either poetry or prose.
The focus on reading has been an essential part of the Rhodes Creative Writing MA since it began. “We actively attempt to reinvigorate the pleasure of reading as a central activity of creative writing,” said course coordinator, Robert Berold. The course runs two reading groups with its seven full-time students, in prose and poetry, and is now starting the same reading groups with its 16 part-time students.
Assistant coordinator, Paul Wessels, reinforced the point that reading is a key part of what the Rhodes MA is aiming to do and is something that sets it apart. “It’s part of our method of teaching and doing creative writing, which is different from other MACW courses in the country.”
Quoting the southern US writer, Eudora Welty, he said, "learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading".
The MACW students are given a 200 book reading list, divided into various categories and genres, and are asked to read a minimum of eight books and write three book reviews during the course.
Buzani, whose thesis comprised collections of short poems and prose poems in isiXhosa and English, is currently working on a novel inspired by a book he read during the course called The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela. Spanish writing, in poetry and prose, has had a particularly strong influence on him.
As a child, Buzani preferred reading to watching television. One of his childhood friends teases him because he remembers arriving at Buzani’s house to find him reading the dictionary. Stories like Ushoti and Udingezweni by PT Mtuze remain with him today. Reading them with a critical and analytical eye as a writer, has played no small part in Buzani’s development in allowing “each brain cell to work its way creatively on shocking if not entertaining the reader,” he said.
Said Berold, “We’re trying to improve the quality of South African literature, but South Africa is not a very literate country. Many people don’t read. A lot of writers don’t even read.”
This, however, is not an accusation that could ever be levelled at the exciting new writers emerging from the Rhodes Creative Writing MA.
