From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #340 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 Wednesday, May 30 2001 Volume 01 : Number 340 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 00:18:47 -0400 From: Merlyn J Clarke Subject: [AML] Tessa Santiago Contact Information > Sent along as a personal favor, if appropriate... Merlyn Clarke From: JaneAnne Peterson >Subject: [dw] address request >Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 13:20:14 -0700 > > > >One of you AML types have Tessa Meyer Santiago's current e-mail >address? I looked her up in the BYU directory, but a message sent to >the address listed therein bounced. > >JaneAnne - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 14:48:14 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] HOLZAPFEL (et al.), _On This Day in the Church_ (Review) On This Day in the Church: An Illustrated Almanac of the Latter-day Saints by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Alexander L. Baugh, Robert C. Freeman and Andrew H. Hedges 2000, Eagle Gate (a Deseret Book imprint) Hardcover, 282 pages, $32.95 Reviewed by Larry Jackson If you enjoy curling up by the fire to read the latest Church almanac, this book is for you! The four authors, an associate and three assistant professors of Church history and doctrine at BYU, present events in Church history from each day of the year (including leap day, February 29th). Pages of this hardcover book are 8-1/2 x 11" in landscape orientation (more wide than tall). Information is laid out in a very nice two-column format. Events appear one day per column, two days per page, except for those busy days such as April 6th, July 24th, and days around conferences in early April and October, where two columns becomes the norm. Anywhere from six to ten items are included on most days, with a dozen or more on key dates in Church history. Some days include only four or five items. I only found one date with three notes (and a photograph). Nearly every page has one or two photos relating to historical events of the day. Although they are black and white, they provide an interesting and significant enhancement to the book. While this really is not a book one "reads", the photos and illustrations were interesting enough to cause me to leaf through the entire book on first sitting. They are enjoyable and of very good quality. They contribute in their own way. Most are unusual, not being the picture that would first come to mind when a particular subject is mentioned. There are seven pages of photo and illustration credits. A major portion come from the LDS Church Archives, a few from the authors themselves. They include Sister Charone Smith (one of the first humanitarian missionaries in Albania) with Mother Teresa, a young Elder Gordon B. Hinckley on his way to Asia in 1960, BYU president Rex E. Lee with U.S. president George Bush in Provo, 1992, and U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt during a visit to Salt Lake City in 1903. (Should president have been capitalized?) The book has a thorough index, and if what you are looking for is in the book, you will find it. Of course, if you already know what day in Church history something happened, you could turn directly to that page. You would be surprised at what you found, though. As expected, major historical events in Church history are included, along with birthdates and ordination dates of Church leaders (not including Area Authorities--too many of them). But, there is much besides information on general authorities. Philo T. Farnsworth, Jon Huntsman (Jr. and Sr.), Alexander Doniphan, John Whitaker, Crawford Gates, Ariel Bybee, Kurt Bestor, Sam Cardon, Anne Perry, Orson Scott Card, and other people rate mentions in the book. Unusual "things" include the SS Arizona, SS Joseph Smith, and the Mormon Meteor III, each with photo. Also noted are events such as the creation of the first stake in a country or state, the opening of missions, and the groundbreaking and dedication of many temples. Historians who already quibble over dates and events will have the same quibbles. The information for this book came from recognized and established histories of the Church. The selected bibliography includes 41 books, but most of the information came from four primary sources, plus the _Church News_, and several editions of the _Deseret News Church Almanac_ series. This book is diverse but not comprehensive. The authors note that some significant events do not come with dates (the First Vision and the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood, for example), and that some dates come with enough significant events to fill an entire volume. Recognizing that limitation, this book is still fun. Because there are some "slow news days", many minor events in Church history have found their place. In fact, a few really obscure and interesting events in Church history are to be found in these pages. This is a magazine table kind of book, fun to browse through when guests come to visit, a conversation piece, perhaps the source of a trivia question or two, fun and entertaining, and of no significant import unless you happen to do a short historical feature on a Church radio station each broadcast day. So what happened in Church history on your anniversary, my birthday, or October 26th, to pick a few dates at random? Well, this book is a great place to start. Larry Jackson May 2001 ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 23:36:40 -0600 From: Scott and Marny Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] DUTCHER, _Brigham City_ Travis Manning wrote: >Do you believe that Dutcher's depicting missionaries struggling with >their faith is "proselyting?" I hate to give a non-committal answer, but this is such a loaded question that I feel like I have to set any answer up with a little explanation. Simply put--yes...maybe...sort of...not *proselyting* per se, but something that's essentially similar...I guess. (I finally saw both _God's Army_ and _Brigham City_ this past weekend; more on that in another post.) Do I believe that Dutcher is trawling for converts with a message specifically tailored to bring people into the church? No. I think he told a story of his own experience and his own beliefs, for an audience that shared some/most of those beliefs and experiences with him. He raised some difficult questions, and didn't provide all of the answers. Do I believe that he's trying to convince people that he (and others) have found something powerful and important in the set of beliefs that Mormon missionaries try to offer? Absolutely. His missionaries are real, fallible people who are not always at their best, who are trying to do some good as best they can with what tools they have. By showing good and honest people, I suspect some will come to wonder more about those people. If that's a missionary tract, then I think it's a darned well made one. His story allows for some people to doubt and for some to believe. Reality in motion. Then again, I'm one of those who believe that every story is an attempt to convince the reader of some viewpoint or concept or fact or belief, making every story written an effort to proselyte something. So the simple answer is yes, but not necessarily the way most people think of when they say "proselyte." He tells true stories, and I believe true stories do have power to enlighten, teach, and expand the experience of people, which leads (I believe) to a better understanding of truth, and encourages the honest in heart to seek more. But all good literature does that. Scott Parkin (Has Dutcher released other films than _God's Army_ and _Brigham City,_ or are these the only two with his name as both writer and director? Has he written other scripts? Just curious.) - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 12:40:21 -0600 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] Posting Stories "J. Scott Bronson" wrote: > > On Thu, 24 May 2001 19:52:51 -0400 "Tom Johnson" > writes: > > > --re the guy who can't sell his novel b/c it gives us too much info > > about ourselves, would he please post it on his website or > > something so I can find out some things about myself? > > I wouldn't mind doing that -- much the same way plays have been posted in > the past for discussion -- as long as I don't lose any of my copywrights. > Anyone know what is possible? Just make sure a copyright notice is included with everything you post. - -- Thom Duncan Playwrights Circle an organization of professionals - -------------------------- Shameless Plug - ------------------------------- Don't miss the Playwrights Circle Summer Festival at UVSC! *J. Golden* - a one-man play by James Arrington, starring Marvin Payne *SFX5* - 5 original short science fiction plays *Peculiarities* - a new full-length play by Eric Samuelsen For more information about the Playwrights Circle and our summer festival: http://www.playwrightscircle.com - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 23:33:26 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Influencing Mormon Culture "Stephen Goode (by way of Jonathan Langford )" wrote: > In a story I've begun, put on hold, begun again, and is now currently on > hold, I've tried to challenge a number of cultural attitudes and beliefs. I > fear I am taking on too much in one story. You probably are, unless the attitudes and beliefs are closely related to each other. Better to focus on one or a small cluster of related ones. > Yet I scoff at people who > extol the virtues of pure, unintentioned art. I don't believe there are > artists that have risen above agendas. It's not the agenda that's the problem. It's elevating the agenda above honesty to the story. If you pressure the reader to accept your agenda, you will create resistance, except among the choir. If you tell the story, and present the agenda without pressure, as you also give opponents of the agenda their day in court, then you'll let the agenda work on the reader without pressure. The reader may decide for himself to accept your agenda, then you'll have a true convert. I think the fear that agenda-laden authors have about the latter approach is that too many readers will not accept the agenda, and in fact may side with the opponents to it. How terrible to write a book promoting an agenda and convince some readers in the opposite direction! What authors who worry about that don't seem to understand is that they will never convince everybody--that's a given--but the gentle persuasion will influence many more readers to your agenda that the blatant browbeating ever will. You come out ahead with the subtle, fair approach. - -- 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: Tue, 29 May 2001 12:39:22 -0600 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] Is It Good? (was: WEYLAND, _Ashley and Jen_) Larry Jackson wrote: > > He is talking about the > new film directed by Mitch Davis, _The Other Side of Heaven_: > > "I loved this film. It touched me. It entertained me. > It took me on a journey to a place I have never been. > It enlightened me, and inspired me. It touched my > heart and made me cry. What else could you want > from a movie?" I would not necessarily consider myself a good writer (or a piece of theatre good theatre) if it touched me using symbols I'm already predisposed to. The mark of a truly great writer would be someone who made you, for instance, feel sorry for Adolph Hitler. It's so-o-o easy to make Mormon audiences and readers cry. So easy, in fact, that its mere existence (without any other qualities) can actually be considered a detriment. Now, take a movie about a guy who buys a bunch of Jews from the Germans, initially because of the cheap labor, make the main character a real womanizer, but have him eventually change, regretting at the end of the film that he could have done more to save Jewish lives -- and THEN you cry -- NOW you've got a movie. - -- Thom Duncan Playwrights Circle an organization of professionals - -------------------------- Shameless Plug - ------------------------------- Don't miss the Playwrights Circle Summer Festival at UVSC! *J. Golden* - a one-man play by James Arrington, starring Marvin Payne *SFX5* - 5 original short science fiction plays *Peculiarities* - a new full-length play by Eric Samuelsen For more information about the Playwrights Circle and our summer festival: http://www.playwrightscircle.com - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 11:44:03 -0700 From: "Jeffrey Savage" Subject: RE: [AML] Female Writer Wanted >Although I do believe in the remote possiblility that a non-missionary, >non-Mormon, black Norwegian male midget in his seventies could write a great >version of this story... AS a 70 year old NMNMBNMM I thought that I would never have a chance to get you to look at my work. But now, you've got me motivated! You must have been inspired. Thanks Richard that line alone made my morning! - -Jeff - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 12:47:42 -0600 From: Barbara Hume Subject: [AML] Writing What You Know (was: Female Writer Wanted) At 11:24 AM 5/25/01 -0600, you wrote: >! I think this is one of the areas that new writers often get tangled >in--having been taught to "write what you know" they assume that they can >only draw on the experience that they've already had as the bases for >their stories. I love to write historical fiction. I've never lived in a Mayfair mansion in the London of 1817, but I love writing about it. I've never sent a man off the Napoleonic Wars, but I can weep for the one I invent when he comes home scarred and hardened. I can make the points I want to make about what I consider to be true by setting my stories in a milieu that I enjoy in part because it is exotic to me. But I do tell my story first, and as I work with the plot and the characters, the themes that are central to me somehow come to the surface of the story. I prefer to illustrate them rather than to hit the reader over the head with them. The novel I am just finishing up deals with perception: one character learns that the world is not at all as she had been taught to perceive it, and another learns to judge a person by what you know of him yourself rather than by what others say about him. I could have made those points in a book set in Provo, Utah, but it wouldn't have nearly as much fun for me! barbara hume - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 21:33:00 -0700 From: jeff.needle@general.com Subject: [AML] Richard P. HOWARD, _Restoration Scriptures_ (Review) Review ====== Richard P. Howard, "Restoration Scriptures -- A Study of Their Textual Development" 1969, Herald House Paperback, 278 pages, no price given Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle As most of you know, Herald House is the publishing arm of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now the Communities of Christ). This volume is just one of several interesting and helpful studies from scholars in the Reorganization. "Restoration Scriptures" offers a detailed, fascinating account of the development of the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Joseph Smith Translation. Howard documents his findings with photos of facsimiles of the original documents, and comparative, side-by-side columns showing the evolution of these Latter Day scriptures. The most interesting section to me was the chapters covering the Book of Mormon. Beginning with the "D" manuscript (that dictated directly by Joseph Smith and recorded by his scribes), he shows how the scribes then emended the text (he calls this the "E" manuscript), which was then submitted to the publisher, who made further revisions, mostly in paragraphing and punctuation. Subsequent changes are tracked with some interesting historical notes. Howard makes his views on inspiration clear at the outset. From the Foreword: Jesus Christ himself is the foundation of Christian faith. Christianity is a personal religion before it is anything else. Ancient Hebrews believed in a personal God. New Testament disciples responded to the call of a person in whom they recognized an authority exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees and who came to be known to them as "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:17, I.V.). The ministry of the Holy Spirit is a personal ministry, whatever may be the other functions of divine power. In response to this fundamental personal experience in which God confronts man through the Incarnate One, Christians have gathered together the prophetic traditions, historical accounts, and ethical interpretations pertaining to the revelation of God. By common consent and the formal action of certain historical councils, these materials have been canonized as the Holy Scriptures. This is a natural and desirable process. By so doing the accumulative records continually enrich man's growing understanding of his spiritual heritage. In the Restoration we participate in this process through the doctrine of "open canon." Without assuming the infallibility either of the documents or of our judgment of them, we nevertheless exercise the best wisdom we can bring to the situation and decide whether or not a certain matter presented to the church by its president is to be regarded as divinely inspired. Formal legislative acceptance and subsequent publication incorporates the document into the scriptural literature of the church. It is important to note that we have always distinguished between the *experience* of revelation and the *recording* of the experience. The record is not the revelation! But the record does preserve the verbal interpretation of the experience, enriching the understanding of those who study the record and offering guidance to those who share in the spirit of the original experience. The founding prophet stated for himself and for us the principle that we believe in the scriptures "insofar as they are correctly translated." It is equally important to qualify this belief with the condition: "insofar as they have adequately recorded the revelatory experience and are accurately preserved." And in these words Howard lays down the rules for his study. He studies the scriptures from a critical standpoint, rather than from an awe-filled distance. He sees the evolution of the text as the result of the inevitable disconnect between the "experience" of revelation and the "recording" of that revelation. His discussion of the development of the Inspired Version was filled with new information for me. The circumstances of the revision, the focus on certain parts of the Bible and the neglect of others, are interestingly presented. Pages 70-116 deal exclusively with the IV. Once again, parallel columns are used to demonstrate the evolutionary character of Joseph's revision. Chapter 8 is titled "The Role of Committees in the Development of the Text of the 'Inspired Version'". It recounts an action affirmed at the April 1866 RLDS General Conference, where it was decided that the text of the IV needed revision. In several cases, it is shown where the committee chose a reading that was contrary to Joseph Smith's final choice before his death. "Restoration Scriptures" is not pool-side reading. It is a serious and studious study the Restoration's unique contribution to the canon of scripture. Scripture students will find it to be a valuable addition to their libraries. ... Jeff Needle/jeff.needle@general.com ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 13:04:45 -0600 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: Re: [AML] Posting Stories On Sat, May 26, 2001 at 09:05:56AM -0600, J. Scott Bronson wrote: > On Thu, 24 May 2001 19:52:51 -0400 "Tom Johnson" > writes: > > > --re the guy who can't sell his novel b/c it gives us too much info > > about ourselves, would he please post it on his website or > > something so I can find out some things about myself? > > I wouldn't mind doing that -- much the same way plays have been posted in > the past for discussion -- as long as I don't lose any of my copywrights. > Anyone know what is possible? No matter how you release your work, you don't lose any copyrights unless you assign them to someone else. A publisher wants to be the first one to publish a work. If you make your play available to the general public, some publishers will look at that as publication and no longer want to consider your work. I think that you can safely make you novel available to a limited audience without fear of losing publishability in the future. For example, you could put the file on a web site, but not make the address publicly known. Thus, only those whom you tell about the file will know of its existence. I don't think you should post the instructions for downloading your novel here on AML-List because list messages get archived in a publicly accessible repository. But you could announce that you have made your novel available and ask interested parties to send you private email. You then respond to each party in private email with the instructions for downloading or with the novel itself. (And if you choose to make your novel available to a select few, may I be one of those few?) - -- Terry Jeffress | It took me fifteen years to discover I had | no talent for writing, but I couldn't give AML Webmaster and | it up because by that time I was too AML-List Review Archivist | famous. -- Robert Benchley - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 14:59:46 -0600 From: Jacob Proffitt Subject: Re: [AML] Influencing Mormon Culture Stephen Goode (by way of Jonathan Langford ) wrote: > As an example of old ideas that I would like to crusade against are the > ideas about physical contact between men. How we got from John resting on > Jesus' breast and Paul's holy kisses to the arms-length style of modern > Mormon men I do not know, but for selfish reasons, I would like to see the > culture change. > > Perhaps the most ridiculous manifestation of this cultural bias is the > back-slapping, post-ordinance embraces I see regularly in priesthood > meetings. Personally, I feel like a baby being burped on those rare > occasions when I get a hug from a Mormon man. I understand the phenomenon you mean. I'm not sure this is a good example of arms-lenth style, though. At least, in my case, the back-slapping part of it is an expression of male joy of the occasion. It is a joy that requires close, physical expression and I think the back-slapping hug is a good way to express that. I don't think that the added back-slap is an attempt at burping so much as it is a need for physical motion that isn't expressed adequately in a non-moving hug. I don't think that there would be that back-slapping if the post-ordinance contact was supposed to contain comfort. Hugs, like kisses or any other form of contact, fulfill a variety of emotional needs and cues. I think that if you were in a situation that required comforting contact, you might find our LDS brethren a little more up to the contact needed and you would find more rocking than back-patting. I know that I would if I were in such a situation. Not that you don't have a good point, though. There is a cultural distance between men, but I think that comes from our wider culture more than it comes from our LDS heritage. I think that overall, LDS men are more likely to be more willing to provide the physical contact in an unabashed manner than non-LDS, but I don't have any evidence than my feeling that it would be so--mostly I just know I wouldn't flinch personally, and I know others I feel wouldn't either. > I contrast that to a friend I once was having a deep conversation with about > his father who had abandoned him as a child. He was not a member of the > Church, but was a man of faith and active in another church. As we stood > talking, he rapidly became emotional. I don't remember the comment I made, > but it evoked a torrent of tears from him as he wrapped his arms around my > chest and back and pressed his soggy face against my shoulder. There were no > slaps against each other's back, no conscious effort to make sure that all > contact points where above the waist, no side-saddled avoidance of a > full-length connection. With my penchant for empathy, I began to cry too, > and fifteen to twenty minutes later, we separated. The entire right half of > my shirt was drenched and his was similarly wetted. I think that is a touching situation, but not one that we find ourselves in often, or at least not one we talk much about. Again, not because we daren't, but because it is a private moment filled with the private pain of another. I don't think that we would be ashamed, but I do think that we would be respectful of that moment and not share it where it might provide additional pain. Jacob Proffitt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 15:31:36 -0500 From: "REWIGHT" Subject: Re: [AML] Female Writer Wanted > > As you can tell, I react pretty strongly when someone tries to tell me > that as a man I cannot write a convincing birth scene, or that as a > white man I cannot write a convincing scene of oppression. I > personally may not have the skill to write a convincing scene, but I > don't think that you can exclude an entire class of the human race as > unable to share in the experience of some other class. And someone, > somewhere will write the scene you though could not be written. > > -- Interesting. And here I was getting annoyed because we belong to a church where generally we only hear men's voices. Yet when someone wants to hear a woman's voice, the men get upset saying they can do just as good or a better job. We've been focusing on the ad asking for a woman. What they were asking for was a woman writer. The writer part was as important as the woman part. Somehow the thought came that a male writer could write better than a woman about women's experiences. But could a good male writer write better about a woman's experiences than a good female writer? I guess I get annoyed by men who claim to know how women feel in situations that men couldn't possibly know. It's as if men are trying to take away those experiences, or lessen them. Standing by someone's side watching a birth, is not the same as actually going through the experience giving birth. I'm not saying men can't imagine. As writers we imagine things all the time. But in this ad, it sounded like they really wanted missionary experiences from the perspective of a female missionary. Why do some of the men on this board have a problem with this concept? Personally, I want to hear more women's voices. Anna - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 15:40:54 -0500 From: "REWIGHT" Subject: Re: [AML] WEYLAND, _Ashley and Jen_ (Review) > > If someone takes the time to write an intellectual treatise on your > work, you have moved that person -- one way or the other. You have > either inspired someone to take the time to see why your words created > such a positive effect, or you have disgusted someone so thoroughly > that she wants to analyze how your book creates the desire to fling > the work against a wall. > > The entire field of literary criticism exists to argue about what > works and does not work in fiction. In spite of what prescriptive > critics purport, without the text, the critic's job doesn't exist. So > even if you don't take intellectual musings as the highest compliment, > you should still accept the compliment. Yeah, yeah. And they hold classes about symbolism and what the author really meant when he wrote what he did. And sometimes I wonder, "how does the teacher know that's what the author meant and how do they know that's what the white daisy means. Did they ever speak to the writer?" I suspect too, that if the actual author of the book took the class in cognito, they would end up failing it because they wouldn't understand the symbolism in their own book, according to the teacher and other critics. I think we need to stop looking down our noses at people who "loved the book because it made them cry". This reason is as valid if not more so, than any other. It's honest. And it's probably what the writer was hoping to do. Anna Wight - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 15:12:16 -0700 From: Elizabeth Hatch Subject: Re: [AML] WEYLAND, _Ashley and Jen_ James Picht wrote: > > If Weyland isn't getting better . . . critics have > an obligation to tell him so, the more so since he writes for sale, not just > to hand out his stories as gifts for friends. There are probably many people who'd love to receive Jack Weyland's stories as gifts. But that's impractical. We can't all live near him; we can't all know him personally, though we may certainly feel like his friends; we can't really expect him to give/mail us all copies of his manuscripts. We need some way for his work to be widely distributed. Aha! Publishing!! Even if Weyland would give me a copy of his manuscript, I would certainly expect to reimburse him for xerox-copying and mailing costs. After all that, I'd probably come out ahead by going to Deseret Book and buying his book! Beth Hatch - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 17:32:31 -0600 From: "Samuel Brunson" Subject: [AML] Re: [AML-Mag] Influencing Mormon Culture I've been meaning to jump into several threads that have been discussed, but keep getting sidetracked. So I thought I'd jump in here--it seems to fit as well as any of the rest. At the end of the post, I'll introduce myself. I've been lurking, mostly, for a year or so. But if you don't car who I am (for which I wouldn't blame you), go ahead and read until you're bored, then delete. >Stephen Goode wrote: >In a story I've begun, put on hold, begun again, and is now currently on >hold, I've tried to challenge a number of cultural attitudes and beliefs. I >fear I am taking on too much in one story. Perhaps it is not truly artistic >to even have a motive to influence Mormon culture, yet I scoff at people >who extol the virtues of pure, unintentioned art. I don't believe there are >artists that have risen above agendas. While I think it's fine (and important) to recognize the difference between LDS doctrine and culture, using fiction to flush it out and shoot it down has potential dangers (I'd like to add, before I start, that I really think this applies to any writing that's ideologically motivated): The danger I see is two-fold: First, in denouncing a practice as LDS cultural rather than doctrinal, you are (tacitly or explicitly) suggesting that something within the Church has led to this practice, albeit wrongheadedly. Because Mr. Goode used men hugging, (>Perhaps the most ridiculous manifestation of this cultural bias is the back-slapping, post-ordinance embraces I see regularly in priesthood meetings. Personally, I feel like a baby being burped on those rare occasions when I get a hug from a Mormon man.) I'll give my reactions to the same. Because I don't see a male aversion to hugging as a particularly LDS thing. With this example, the first three things that came to my mind were _Bill and Ted_, a _Simpsons_ episode where Homer's worried that Bart's gay, so he freaks out about hugging him (I could be wrong about which Simpsons episode, but I know there's one, and, if not, it's still my second response), and a Dilbert cartoon in which Dilbert walks in on his boss telling a fishing yarn, arms outstretched, and goes up and hugs him and the man the boss is talking to. In the last panel, Dilbert thinks something about being glad the uptight 80s are over, but the boss and his friend are disheveled and shaking and completely shocked. I'm not saying that lack of male-to-male contact isn't an LDS cultural thing, but my first reactions are not remotely LDS. In my mind, it's an American thing (further emphasized by the Brazilian view of Americans as cold). In order for me to not shut off the story's message entirely, the writer would have to spend a lot of time giving me background on why this is specific to LDS culture and why we need to get rid of it. And, spending the sufficient time, I'd think said author would be forced to neglect the story and characters. The second danger is that you instantly alienate a huge audience. And I'm not talking just those who aren't members of the LDS church. I'm from California and, as anyone unfortunate enough to deal with freshman Californians at BYU knows, we don't think of ourselves as part of a Utah culture. More than that, I don't think of my cultural/aesthetic values or practices as being predominantly LDS. If you asked how I identified myself, LDS would be in the top two or three; if you asked what my culture was, I don't know that LDS would even show up. I'd say contemp lit, California, racquetball, jazz, Chargers fan, Padres fan, Lakers fan, writer, brother, son, etc., because those are the cultural influences I've embraced. I just become hugely nervous when fiction is written to prove a point or to promote an ideology. Because so often, it seems, the writer sacrifices ... something. I don't want to say character, because that's not always central. I don't want to say plot because I just finished _Underworld_, which was both plotless (please don't take me to task for that--you could probably argue it had a plot, but you'd have to tailor a definition of plot just for that book) and the most incredible novel I've ever read (I think it redefines what a novel can do and sets new standards for what a novel must do). But books that are first ideological and fictional only second seem to lack some sort of integrity. I'm willing to read something ideologically, but only if the ideology seems to have grown organically from the fiction itself. Sam Brunson About me--I've lived in San Diego County (in the same ward and school district) since I was four. I grew up reading and playing the piano and sax, and doing the occasional sport (especially racquetball) that seemed fun at the time. I spent a year at BYU studying saxophone, two years on a mission in Brazil, and three and a half years at BYU studying English. At BYU, I moved progressively from an interest in critical theory to my current preferences of writing short stories and reading contemporary American fiction (ideally from the last 20 or 30 years). Right now I think Don Delillo is the greatest American writer perhaps ever, and I also really dig Douglas Coupland, David Foster Wallace, Charles Frazier, Cormac McCarthy, and almost anybody else who seems very highbrow or very pop culture. I studied writing with Prof. Thayer, spent a year working on stories with John Bennion, and was fortunate enough to take a class from Dr. Macuck. I had the opportunity to intern in a small San Diego magazine office (San Diego Writer's Monthly) where, among other things, I went through the slush pile. I graduated from BYU in December and will start law school at Columbia in a couple months. My interest in LDS lit was huge for a little while, but almost all I can find seems to focus on Utah (Darrell Spencer and Brady Udall being the most notable exceptions), and most of it has, at the heart of the conflict, some issue with faith (Spencer and Udall, again, being the major exceptions, except maybe in speculative fiction, which I'm not a fan of). A couple weeks ago, a poster mentioned the possibility of LDS lit that has LDS characters interacting in a normal world, where the conflict isn't inherently LDS, even though the person's reactions, naturally, would follow from their culture (almost a rebuttal to all that I said above) and faith, but without making that culture or faith central to the plot. That's the direction of LDS lit I'm interested in. I've tried to write some (it's not that hard, it turns out, but then, a landscape populated principally by members of my faith would be more unnatural for me), and I'd love to see what others can do with this. _If_ they want to--I think being ideological about this is as bad as being ideological about anything else. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - 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 #340 ******************************