Lit to Lit examines the traditional split between the study of literature and composition and rhetoric programs, asking writing studies scholars to think critically and creatively about the role literature can play in the teaching of writing and the field’s conceptions of its own relation to writing. Grounded in diverse experiences and practices, contributors offer provocative but thoughtful analyses of how composition and literature can be brought together in the study and teaching of writing.

Complex forms of writing should not be the sole territory of one subfield or discipline but rather should benefit from multiple perspectives generated by those with keen and abiding interests in writing writ large. Many in the field of composition and rhetoric also have an active engagement in the literary arts, particularly the flowering of literature from diverse cultural experiences in the last decades. What new teaching and learning approaches could emerge from a synthesis of theoretical, literary, rhetorical, poetic, and compositional methods? This question becomes even more compelling when considering how English departments often house programs in journalism and creative writing, allowing robust opportunities for multiple ways of thinking about and studying complex texts.

Lit to Lit makes visible the generative overlap between subfields already present in the broad field of English, pointing to new ways forward that value each area’s separate endeavors while highlighting the possibilities for what could be built together.

Eli Goldblatt is professor emeritus at Temple University and former director of New City Writing, an institute focused on community-related literacy projects in North Philadelphia.

Jonathan Alexander is Chancellor’s Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine, where he is also chair of the Department of English. In 2023, he received the Conference on College Composition and Communication Exemplar Award in recognition of career achievements.