Lynda Barry’s Syllabus , Neuroscience, and “the Thing We Call Creativity”

This chapter explains how Lynda Barry's Syllabus does not have a right way to read it because it encourages readers to notice, linger, and reflect on the pages. Barry shares the creative process and pedagogy in Syllabus to help readers achieve a certain state of mind that results in writing and image making. The chapter also looks into the relationship between the brain and creativity. It considers how Keith Sawyer's research on the neuroscience of creativity provides direct and indirect support to Barry's approaches to teaching writing and drawing. Additionally, Barry aims to help her students avoid evaluative mechanisms through the use of time limits. The chapter recognizes that self-evaluation impedes creativity as it promotes perfectionism, self-doubt, shame, and fear. It elaborates on Barry's creativity strategies being imposed in a college composition classroom.