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Synopsis
In the early 1990s, Linda Brodkey landed on the front page of the New York Times and in the columns of George Will and other conservative pundits. The furor was over the "Writing about Difference" syllabus she helped create at the University of Texas, an effort that came to be more casualty in the debate over multiculturalism in the academy. Writing Permitted in Designated Areas Only is made up of Brodkey's dispatches from the front lines of the culture wars. Comprising specific examples of student work in addition to Brodkey's own essays, Writing Permitted in Designated Areas Only ranges from personal essay ("Writing on the Bias") to hard-hitting polemic ("Writing Permitted in Designated Areas Only"). Touching on many of the major issues in the teaching of writing today. Brodkey explores alternatives to the standard methods for teaching composition. The result is a passionate plea for the loosing of writing to achieve its full power and potential; to unharness writing - and its teachers - from the institutional structures that stifle both creativity and independent thought.
Publishers Weekly
In 1990, Brodkey designed the controversial "Writing About Difference" syllabus for University of Texas composition students. The program was foiled by administrators who saw it as enforcing political correctness. This collection of Brodkey's writings includes a fairly effective defense of the program, including the syllabus and assignments, which aimed to make students closely analyze court decisions and other writings about discrimination. Brodkey is clearly on the left, her pedagogical mission ideological but defensible: to teach students that literacy (and education) has an inherent political component. She makes some worthy points; for example, she suggests that the introduction of multicultural essays requires pedagogical reform, recognizing how Anglo students or students of color will react differently. Unfortunately, Brodkey's essays, most written for academic journals, are thickets of poststructuralist jargon, accessible primarily to fellow initiates. She now teaches at UC-San Diego. (Apr.)