PORTER, Katherine Anne — TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS) on Creative Writing

Southbury, CT. A fine two-page TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS) on two sheets of blue 8-1/2" x 11" paper to journalism teacher Frank M. Flack of Pierce Junior College in Los Angeles, @400 words with several minor ink corrections. In small part: "...what are 'Communication Skills'? publicity writing? lecturing? acting? speech-writer for a politician? What you call creative writing and I call writing is perhaps on one level a 'communication skill,' only God knows why it should be described in such a foggy, roundabout term; it is actually one of the fine arts ... and it must continue to be described as such ... if we are not to allow our mother-tongue to flatten and stiffen into a horrible meaningless clacking noise.... there is no formula for turning out a creative writer. There is only the secret of the individual talent ... and the teacher helps to free this talent ... reading every kind of excellent literature ... such as Yeats' MEMOIRS … Henry James … Jean Cocteau's JOURNALS … Virginia Woolf's COMMON READER … they will learn how the artist's mind works…. They should be encouraged to read WUTHERING HEIGHTS, WAR AND PEACE, and not just know them as moving pictures….” Porter mentions a few of her own works and closes with more advice: “Teach the young their language from the great sources, give them the chance to read good literature, and ‘Creative Writing’ will take care of itself.”. Creases from mailing. Very Good