From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #307 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, April 24 2001 Volume 01 : Number 307 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 15:00:22 -0600 From: "Cathy Wilson" Subject: Re: [AML] BECK, _Expecting Adam_ (Review) Harlow delights at length about the troublements of ambiguity. Reminded me immediately of our recent trip to St George where we visited the Tabernacle. Russell wanted to check it out because he's going to be doing a concert there in connection with his presenting as a clinician at a church music workshop in June. The tour guide clutched our elbow and explicated the meaning of all the paintings displayed in the basement. I clenched my jaw but Russell was gracious, ah yes, thank you. Upstairs he continued to tell us that the All-Seeing Eye at the front of the Tabernacle meant having an eye single to the glory of God, and that the plaster frieze of grapes meant that the Swiss pioneers used to grow grapes, and the same friezed sheaves of wheat meant that the European pioneers used to grow wheat. . . . .thankfully someone else came into the room and we were relieved of explication. Cathy (Gileadi) Wilson Editing Etc. 1400 West 2060 North Helper UT 84526 - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 00:33:53 -0600 From: Boyd Petersen Subject: Re: [AML] BECK, _Expecting Adam_ (Review) > on 4/18/01 10:55 AM, Steve at skperry@mac.com wrote: > >> I worry about this thread turning into gossip. Interesting, yes, but >> gossip. >> >> :-) >> >> Steve While I agree with Steve that caution is needed here, I'd like to refer back to Jonathan's item b as to why this topic may be appropriate to the list (i.e., the issue of "potential effects when someone's writing impacts/reflects on real people"). When exactly does the act of gossip begin? Does it begin when a family member tries to respond to what she sees as a distorted published account of her home life, or does it begin when the author publishes the account? Is one gossip and not the other? Is either justified? Is either charitable? I seriously would like to know what others believe the best response from a family member would be in this situation. For the most part, the Nibley family has remained silent about Martha's book and hoped people would recognize that her portrayal of the family, BYU, Mormonism, and Utah is biased and unfair; however, it's obvious that this silence has had mixed results. - --Boyd - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 10:24:47 -0600 From: "Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] BECK, _Expecting Adam_ (Review) Has anybody read her new book "Finding Your Own North Star" or something? I saw it advertised top bonanza strip in the New Yorker for Barnes and Noble. I wonder what it's about. It looks like she's in big time now. It said "Author of Expecting Adam." Why do I just get the feeling (well, Carol Smith at Norton is the main reason) that you can be the best possible writer in the world and you won't get anywhere with New York. But the minute you "tell it like it is" about this podunk church, you can soar. Well, I guess I will have to die without being a famous writer, because I decided long ago to be a believer and to let it show. Oh well. Sigh. Marilyn Brown - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 10:59:54 -0600 From: "Barbara R. Hume" Subject: Re: [AML] BECK, _Expecting Adam_ (Review) AWhy do I just get the feeling (well, Carol Smith >at Norton is the main reason) that you can be the best possible writer in >the world and you won't get anywhere with New York. But the minute you "tell >it like it is" about this podunk church, you can soar. Well, I guess I will >have to die without being a famous writer, because I decided long ago to be >a believer and to let it show. Oh well. Sigh. Marilyn Brown Perhaps it's like what Jesus said about the hypocrites who pray in public to be seen of men. "They have their reward." barbara hume - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 10:51:28 -0600 From: "Barbara R. Hume" Subject: [AML] Trying to Be Fair (was: BECK, _Expecting Adam_) [Thom wrote:] >I wrote a play years ago where my initial plan was to, once and for all, >destroy the credibility of the LDS ultra-conservative. . . . . So I began writing, giving the liberal character as many "stupid" ideas as I >felt I was giving the conservative character. The result amazed me: people >whom I knew leaned to the right, considered the conservative character as the >protagonist. The left-leaning group saw the liberal son as the main >character. This is pretty much the way it's going to work. If I see a play or read a book in which the protagonist is critical of my worldview, I don't immediately assume that my worldview has been wrong. I assume that the playwright or novelist is a wrong-headed idiot. If the work seems to be thoughtful or open-minded in any way, however, I may allow myself to consider the other side of the argument. But if the work attacks my position, I find something less agitating to view or to read--in other words, something in which the protagonist shares my worldview so I can be happy and comfortable with the character. Not saying this is the right way to respond--just saying that's what happens. Life's too short to spend it being irritated. I am probably just the sort of play-goer or reader you wish were not out there. barbara hume - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 21:13:52 -0400 From: Richard Johnson Subject: Re: [AML] BECK, _Expecting Adam_ (Review) At 12:33 AM 4/22/2001 -0600, you wrote: >> on 4/18/01 10:55 AM, Steve at skperry@mac.com wrote: >While I agree with Steve that caution is needed here, I'd like to refer back >to Jonathan's item b as to why this topic may be appropriate to the list >(i.e., the issue of "potential effects when someone's writing >impacts/reflects on real people"). When exactly does the act of gossip >begin? Does it begin when a family member tries to respond to what she sees >as a distorted published account of her home life, or does it begin when the >author publishes the account? Is one gossip and not the other? Is either >justified? Is either charitable? > >I seriously would like to know what others believe the best response from a >family member would be in this situation. For the most part, the Nibley >family has remained silent about Martha's book and hoped people would >recognize that her portrayal of the family, BYU, Mormonism, and Utah is >biased and unfair; however, it's obvious that this silence has had mixed >results. > >--Boyd I hope that when (if, - not likely) my own memoirs are published, that my family is as kind and tasteful in writing rejoinders as your wife has been. I think that, for a list like ours where paradigm and perception are major issues, this is a very valuable thread. (Now if it were one of the neigbors writing, it might be different. Richard B. Johnson Husband, Father, Grandfather, Puppeteer, Playwright, Writer, Director, Actor, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important http://www2.gasou.edu/commarts/puppet/ Georgia Southern University Puppet Theatre - - 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 #307 ******************************