ABSTRACT
Chapter 10 introduces the idea of creative writing, suggesting that both the phrase and the practice involve a sense of ‘the impossible’. Creative writing, indeed, can be understood as a space in which the impossible happens (time-travel is possible, the dead can return, we can inhabit other people’s minds and so on). Examples discussed include Emily Brontë, H.G. Wells, Luigi Pirandello and Ted Hughes. The chapter then turns to Sigmund Freud, not only for his reflections on creative writing and daydreaming but also for his account of the three ‘impossible professions’ (government, psychoanalysis and teaching).
