Imagine sitting in a writing class, leaning over to elbow Ken Kesey, and asking, 'When did ole Stegner say that assignment was due?'...

Stegner, Wallace that is, taught creative writing at Stanford University from 1964 to 1971 to the likes of Ken Kesey, Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, Raymond Carver, and many others. According to the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP), a list of modern literary luminaries who have studied writing in academia might include names such as Richard Bausch, T.C. Boyle, Alan Gurganus, Pam Houston, Terry McMillan, and Alice Sebold. Kurt Vonnegut taught a class at the University of Iowa that included John Casey, Gail Godwin, Andre Dubus, and John Irving.

But can writing really be taught?

Acclaimed novelist and National Book Award winner Pete Dexter doesn't think so.

“Nobody can teach you how to write,” Dexter said at an informal Q&A session for 28 faculty and students at Portland State University on October 12. “They can just teach you what not to do.”

Dexter, who lives on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, came to town to read from his new novel “Spooner” at Wordstock, Portland's annual festival of books, writers, and storytelling. Dexter won the 1988 National Book Award for his novel “Paris Trout,” and worked for years as a reporter and columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. A straight account of Dexter's life alone would make for an interesting read, from a childhood meeting with writer Flannery O'Connor at her Georgia farm to a devastating bar fight in Philadelphia which left him with severe head trauma, a broken back, and a broken pelvis. He visited PSU to answer questions on a variety of writing topics, including how to become a good writer.

"You can't instill talent,” said Dexter. “No one can make you see what you can't see yourself.” After a slight pause, he added, "The better you are though, the more help someone can be to you."

Pete Dexter doesn’t mince words. In his talk, he lampooned novelist and critic Norman Mailer as the stereotypical writer hiding in the ivory tower of academia instead of living life. Dexter claimed Mailer stopped living after he wrote his famous novel “The Naked and the Dead” at age 25, and said his subsequent work reflected this disconnect from life experience.

“Mailer is the single guy in the last 80 years most full of shit,” Dexter said.

Dexter's opinion aside, the huge rise in the numbers of creative writing programs at universities nationwide in the last three decades suggest that many writers believe they can be taught to write. According to the AWP, which was created “to support the growing presence of literary writers in higher education,” there were 79 creative writing programs at universities across the U.S. in 1975, including 15 Master of Fine Arts programs. Today, there are 822 creative writing programs in the country, with 153 MFA programs. Here in Oregon, there are four MFA Creative Writing programs, at Oregon State University, University of Oregon, Pacific University, and Portland State University.

Michele Glazer, winner of the 1996 AWP Award in poetry and director of PSU's MFA in Creative Writing program, believes the debate between formalized writing education and life experience is a bit more complex.

“I do think you can teach writing,” said Glazer, sitting at her wooden desk in PSU's Neuberger Hall, “but there needs to be some talent. You can also learn it outside academia. It just takes longer.”

Across campus, at his intermediate fiction workshop, PSU's newest writing faculty member, and author of “God Lives in St. Petersburg and Other Stories,” Tom Bissell, weighed in on the debate with his customary wit.

“You don't get points for what you've been through,” Bissell said. “Only how well you write about it.”

Sid Miller, who graduated from PSU with an MFA in creative writing, agrees with Glazer that both life experience and instruction inform a writer's development. Miller is a nationally recognized poet who resides in the city and publishes “Burnside Review,” an independent poetry journal. He cites the rarity of writers like Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski, neither of whom studied writing formally or revised their work extensively. Dexter, Glazer, Bissell and Miller all seem to agree on the importance of revision, and that editing is something that can be taught.

“For 99 percent of writers, revision is as important as the original genesis,” said Miller, leaning back on his bar stool in a North Portland dive. “That's what I learned in school.”

Both Glazer and Miller studied with the same instructor, poet and PSU professor Henry Carlile, and Miller emphasized the importance of the teacher/student relationship.

“I was so pompous. Henry tore me down, but cared enough to build me back up. That's what a good teacher does,” Miller said.” I learned to look at my own writing and say, 'This is crap.' ”

In a literary city where the next Chuck Palahniuk might be pecking away at a laptop in the neighborhood coffee shop, Portland writers may face the difficult of decision whether to take on the expense of school to refine their craft or trust their instincts and life experience. At current rates, completion of an MFA in Creative Writing at PSU will cost close to $20,000 in tuition alone. Dexter, Glazer, Bissell, and Miller were unanimous in their recognition of the financial burden of attending school for writing, in spite of the potential benefits.

“You're going to make a sacrifice,” said Glazer on pursuing an MFA, “but I don't want my students to go $60,000 in debt. The instruction and your effort better be astonishing to take on that burden.”

With the students gathered there in the halls of academia listening intently, notebooks and pens in hand, Dexter described his idea of a good writer's training.

“You gotta experience some stuff to draw from,” said Dexter. “You need to know how to try and fail, to know how to be hungry. You have to experience the world enough to know what's true. Go to bars. Listen to what people are saying. Get beat up. Get a little older.”