From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #287 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Tuesday, March 27 2001 Volume 01 : Number 287 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 11:26:47 -0700 From: "Scott Tarbet" Subject: RE: [AML] Humor (was: Satire) Thom wrote: > Scott Tarbet wrote: > > > > There ARE situations where humor is out of place. Laughing in > sacrament > > > meeting is inappropriate, for example, > > > > Strenuously disagree. > > You realize, don't you, that Jim's response was one long satirical > comment? His whole post was one screamingly hilarious send-up, so well > written, an excellent example of satire because it seemed so real. > > Great job, Jim! Jim's was, yes. But his wasn't the one I was responding to. - -- Scott - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 11:35:01 -0700 From: "mjames_laurel" Subject: Re: [AML] Writing Schedules > I'd like to put a word in for LDS male writers, who are also fathers. Thom makes an important point. IMO fathers have as much or more difficulty making time in their lives for writing (and for a lot of other things they'd like to do as well.) Bearing all or most of the responsibility for providing for a family is a huge responsibility, and for those men who pitch in to help around the house, coach little league, take the scouts camping once a month, fix leaky pipes, mow the lawn and shovel snow, help with meals, kids, dishes and grocery shopping, there's little time for writing. Some of the most talented writers I know are fathers who carry a very heavy load. What they do makes what I do look easy. Laurel Brady - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 11:57:48 -0700 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: [AML] Tony MARKHAM, _The Jaxon Files_ (Review) Markham, Tony. _The Jaxon Files_. Boulder City, NV: R. K. Books, 1996. Trade paperback, 230 pages. ISBN 1-55978-781-3. $12.95. While I worked as an editor for Covenant Communications, Tony sent a set of submissions that contained some of the most vivid writing I had ever experienced. Images of swarming crows and subterranean dinosaur civilizations flashed through my mind for days (and now years). I recommended both Tony's short stories and his then unfinished novel to the publication committee at Covenant, but they couldn't see the LDS market at that time buying an allegory of Joseph Smith or a science fiction novel that had a Mormon character and nothing else explicitly Mormon. I even argued that we should publish for the sake of good literature, even if it wouldn't break even in the short term. Alas, finances won over art, and I had to write a rejection letter. Years later while reading posts to the Association for Mormon Letters mailing list, I saw a post by Tony. I wrote to him privately and confirmed that except for the passage of time he was the same person. Tony told me he had found a publisher for his book and that we would send me a copy. I read _The Jaxon Files_ and found both renewed delight and subtle disappointment. Tony writes some of the most vivid descriptive scenes. At any time, I can bring to mind the image of the Arizona desert with the setting sun illuminating a crosshatching of fighter-jet contrails above Jackson, the protagonist, as he prepares to spend the night in the desert. Jackson has narrowly escaped from Breath, a bipedal dinosaur from an underground civilization. Country singers could have a heyday with Jackson: he has lost his dog, his truck, and most of his personal belongings; the beautiful woman he meets turns into a lizard; and he turns down eternal life. But Jackson hasn't seen the last of Breath, she takes on both a sympathetic and antagonistic role throughout the book and he makes a somewhat unwilling journey into the underworld along the lines of traditional epic tales. In case you were wondering, Jackson belongs to the Mormon church and attends Brigham Young University. These associations shape much of Jackson's worldview, but provide more of a setting than a source for prominent themes. My disappointment comes primarily from a desire for additional material. I could have enjoyed a novel of twice the length. This desire has both selfish and literary components. I like Tony's writing and would have enjoyed reading more, but also the chapters could have used more connective tissue. Each chapter reads well on its own, but the overall story feels abrupt. By the time you reach the climax, you have seen only a few formative components of Jackson's personality. With some more material, Tony could have fleshed out Jackson's character and made his emotional state at the climax much more unstable, making the ending more of an all or nothing struggle for survival on both the physical and psychological levels. Also with some additional material, Tony could have more fully addressed some of the themes he invokes: reality vs. illusion, fate vs. free will, and good vs. evil. Another disappointment has nothing to do with Tony, but rather with the publisher. R. K. Books typeset _The Jaxon Files_ like online fiction: no paragraph indents, full line breaks between paragraphs, straight not curly quotes. Yech. _The Jaxon Files_ shows a lot of promise for a first novel, especially for a Mormon science fiction novel that takes place in modern day. Tony, write us another one. Please. - -- Terry L Jeffress AML Webmaster and AML-List Review Archivist - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 17:06:59 -0800 (PST) From: William Morris Subject: RE: [AML] Mormon Reading of Poetry - --- Scott Tarbet wrote: > If you'll read back to the question to which I > quipped a response, you'll > see that the Mormon part of the answer was inherent > in the question. I > didn't single us out. Like you, I don't think we're > much different than the > general population in that way. > Since I was the one who brought up the question. I'll go ahead and re-post what I wrote which was tacked on to my discussion of Whitney's _Love and the Light_. I wrote: "I wonder how 'mainstream' Mormon readers would respond to the poem these days." The question in my mind (which didn't translate so well into words---I should have been more conditional in my phrasing) was not so much whether or not Mormons read poetry beyond the greeting card variety, but whether the values/ideas (and humor) expressed in the poem would be of interest/worth to modern Mormon readers. That is: the idea that false learning and the lust for quick money (speculative commerce) are the twin secular evils that threaten faithful Mormons (and are ripe for satirizing), the belief that poetry and prophecy go hand in hand, the valorization of the virtuous, educated convert who has a firm testimony which can not be shaken by apostate or lukewarm members or by his former colleagues, etc. I'm sorry to so specifically reference a work that many list members may not have read (I myself came across it quite by accident), but it periodically infests my mind because it's such a brilliantly flawed work that captures for me both the failures and promise of Mormon literature. But to return to the original context of the question: The passages from it seemed perfect for the satire thread, and my question was directed more towards whether or not modern Mormon audience would see the humor in it, or would they reject a satirical critique of institutions even though they are not our own (the stock market, ivy league universities, etc.). ~~William Morris __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 01:28:43 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: [AML] Orson Scott CARD, _Ender's Game_ (Review) ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card First printing, January 1985 About a jillion printings after that Currently published by Tor Books Mass market paperback, 357 pages "The Big One" Every so often you come across a creative work that is so legendary, you can no longer look at it with fresh eyes. _Ender's Game_ falls well within that category. It's a legendary book authored by a living legend. When Orson Scott Card drops hints about the financial success of the book, one almost gets the impression he could live off its royalties alone. But is it any good? _Ender's Game_ is the novel that made Orson Scott Card. _Ender's Game_ is the book that started the cycle which allows us to call Card a living legend. _Ender's Game_ is The Big One. If you haven't read _Ender's Game_, you must slink shamefacedly to the bookstore, pick it up, and fix that social gaffe immediately. Otherwise you are boil on the butt of a flea in the fur of a rat in the science fiction or LDS literature landscape. Even the origin of the book is the stuff of legend. Freshly scrubbed Orson Scott Card was a BYU graduate in drama, trying to make a financial go of his own theater and failing miserably at it. He was in debt and at wit's end. In desperation, he resorted to an old love of his--writing science fiction--and penned a lengthy short story called "Ender's Game" (now available for free on his website at http://www.hatrack.com/osc/stories/enders-game.shtml). The story was purchased by science fiction editing great Ben Bova, and the rest is history. Many published short stories and a few published novels later, Card was a respected up-and-coming science fiction author who was considered to have had a strong career from the beginning. Then he decided he wanted to write something called _Speaker for the Dead_, about a fellow who would travel from planet to planet and "speak" the life (a sort of honest and brutally frank eulogy) of deceased people at their funerals. But the book wasn't gelling, and Card wrestled with the problem, searching for a solution. One day he realized that the Speaker for the Dead needed to be an adult Ender Wiggin, the youthful protagonist of his first short story. Suddenly everything fell into place, and again history was about to be made. The only problem was, for Ender Wiggin to be the protagonist of _Speaker for the Dead_, Card needed to novelize _Ender's Game_ so he could set up the newly designated sequel. And that's exactly what he did, with the blessing of his patient and understanding editor who had already contracted for _Speaker_. The plot and the characters of _Ender's Game_ became fleshed out, and the science fiction genre is better for it. Ender became the son of a Catholic father and a Mormon mother in a day when religion was all but illegal. He also became the hero of thousands of kids everywhere who saw in Ender a strong role model whose intelligence could put adults to shame. _Ender's Game_ is now his consistently best-selling book, and required reading in many schools across the country. Most Card fans find their way to him via _Ender's Game_. Many science fiction fans cut their teeth on the book. It's not unheard of that eventually some readers convert to the Gospel, thanks to their introduction to Card through _Ender's Game_. And the legend doesn't stop there. The two most prestigious awards in science fiction are the Hugo and the Nebula--the former chosen by readers, the latter by authors. _Ender's Game_ won both the Hugo and the Nebula. But that wasn't good enough for the Card legend. When the sequel that started it all, _Speaker for the Dead_, came out, it also won the Hugo and Nebula awards. That had also never been done before. Card's standing as one of the science fiction greats was assurred. Like I said, the book is legendary. But is it any good? Duh. It's a book that works at many levels. If you're a kid who likes to see kids one-up adults, Ender's exploits in Battle School as he outwits every challenge thrown at him by the teachers will thrill you. If you're a connoisseur of excitement and action, the deadly confrontations Ender has with fiercely envious colleagues and the fascinating descriptions of training battle after battle will satiate you. If you're a lover of deep, multifaceted stories, _Ender's Game_ is loaded with deep meaning layered intricately throughout, as Card explores the moral implications of exploiting and destroying young children to save the human race from a superior alien threat, and the justification of genocide for self-defense. If you like hard science fiction, _Ender's Game_ contains one of the coolest and most famous gizmos in all of science fiction: the Battle Room, where kid soldiers can train in 3D, zero-G environments. Military interaction, political intrigue, psychological drama, action scenes, tender family moments, heavily-disguised spirituality, even the anticipation of virtual reality and the Internet--it's all there. What's not to like? I'll tell you what's not to like. In the short story, and even more so in the novel, Card horribly telegraphs the surprise ending, making it no surprise at all. And he does so with no need whatsoever. The circumstance that foreshadowed the ending was unnecessary and wouldn't have been missed. He should have left it out and allowed the ending to have the huge impact it should have had all along. Fortunately, there is so much going on in _Ender's Game_ that the surprise ending is only a small payoff in the book, and it's inept handling within an otherwise masterful piece of storytelling doesn't come close to ruining the experience of reading one of the most important books in science fiction. Let me emphasize again, if you haven't read it, do so at once. Order it anonymously online if you have to. They'll protect your identity, and your shameful secret will be safe. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 19:39:20 -0700 From: Scott and Marny Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] KUSHNER, _Angels in America_ Query I don't know if any of these are what you're looking for--most of these are national publications--but it's a start: Stout, Daniel A., Joseph D. Straubhaar, and Gayle Newbold. "Critics as Audience: Perceptions of Mormons in Reviews of Tony Kushner's Angels in America." In _Religion and Popular Culture_, 187-215. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 2001. [Based on the article in Dialogue; includes bibliographical references, p. 212-15] Ickes, Bob. "Heaven Sent: Will Tony Kushner's _Angels in America_ Rescue Broadway?" _New York_ 26 (April 12, 1993): 42-48. Madison, Cathy. "Tony Kushner: Angels on Broadway." _Columbia_ (spring 1993): 40-41. Evenden, Michael. "Angels in a Mormon Gaze, or, Utopia, Rage, Communitas, Dream Dialogue, and Funhouse-mirror Aesthetics." Sunstone 17, no. 2 (Sept. 1994). Geis, Deborah R., and Steven F. Kruger, eds. _Approaching the Millennium: Essays on Angels in America._ Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997. Christianson, Frank Quinn. "Literature, Drama, and Film as Instruments of Social Reconstruction: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Reading of Oppositional Texts." Master's thesis, Brigham Young University. Dept. of English, 1996. Felman, Jyl Lynn. "Lost Jewish (male) souls : a Midrash on Angels in America." _Tikkun_ 10, no. 3 (May/June 1995): 27-30. Savran, David. "Ambivalence, Utopia, and a Queer Sort of Materialism: How Angels in America Reconstructs the Nation." _Theatre Journal_ 47, no. 2 (May 1995): 208-77. Norden, Edward. "From Schnitzler to Kushner." _Commentary_ 99, n.1 (Jan. 1995): 52-55. Cook, Dwight. _Silver Angels and E-mail: A Father and Son Embrace Ambiguity._ [Salt Lake City: Family Fellowship, 1994]. Olson, Walter. "Winged Defeat." _National Review_, 24 Jan. 1994, v.46, n.1, p.72. Simon, John. "Angelic Geometry." _New York_, 26, n.48 (Dec. 6, 1993): 130-32. Marny Parkin - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 14:21:01 -0500 From: Edward Hogan Subject: RE: [AML] Humor (was: Satire) - - Scott Tarbet wrote: > > There ARE situations where humor is out of place. Laughing in sacrament > > meeting is inappropriate, for example, > > Strenuously disagree. I disagree too. My aim in most of my sacrament meeting talks is to evoke as much laughter as possible. I'm usually pretty successful. Ned - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #287 ******************************