From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #538 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 Friday, December 7 2001 Volume 01 : Number 538 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 20:51:13 -0600 From: lajackson@juno.com Subject: [AML] re: Beards Barbara Hume: > "Now Brother Johnson" sayeth he. "What can I do > to get you to shave off your beard?" He didn't say why he wanted you to do that? ... It seems so much more a cultural issue than a religious one. ... a book about the intermingling of LDS culture and LDS dogma (which someone ought to do, if no one has). _______________ Some day I'm going to write a book (<-- list connection, it worked for Barbara). And in it, I'm going to include the story of the stake president who called a new bishop, telling him that the beard had to go. The good brother told the stake president that, although he had no desire to serve as bishop, he was certainly willing to do so if called, but that the beard came with the face. This brother said it was completely up to the stake president, and he would not be offended either way the decision went. He was sustained with the big red bushy beard. And I'm going to tell about the bishop who also happened to be a senior officer at the nearby Air Force Base. He encouraged the members to live the gospel, but they didn't respond to the bishop's requests as the more junior military responded to him at work. The bishop became very frustrated. One day another good brother in the ward put his arm around the bishop and said, "Bishop, do you know what your problem is? At work you are a senior officer, and the airmen respond quickly to your instructions. I'm really sorry, but here at Church, you're just the bishop!" Then I'll tell why the first bishop shaved off his beard (it had nothing to do with Church), how the second bishop succeeded in getting his members to follow, and what motivates members to serve and build the Kingdom. And then I'll find a good editor to tell me why I shouldn't be telling all these things and help me make it into an internationally famous best selling book. (I could even intermingle a little LDS culture and dogma in there, too, which I "ought to do, if no one has.") But, how would I make it interesting enough to read? Larry Jackson ________________________________________________________________ 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/web/. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 08:00:50 -0700 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: Re: [AML] "Great" Books On Mon, 3 Dec 2001 14:57:31 -0700 "Jacob Proffitt" writes: > ---Original Message From: Major Productions: > > Decades ago, when I was but a young lass at BYU, there were > > condescending references made to "kiddie lit". > Melissa had the same experience at BYU. So did I. My play, "Dial Tones," was in the PDA (Playwright, Director, Actor) Workshop. One of my characters confessed to another that her favorite book was Scott O'Dell's _Island Of the Blue Dolphin_. One of the professors in the workshop wrote in this comment on the script: "Her favorite book is a children's book? This brings her mind down a notch in my estimation." So, I rewrote the scene. It now goes like this: HAZEL I make all my students read it, so every year I get to read it again. It's pretty much my favorite book. KELLY What grade do you teach again? HAZEL Fifth. KELLY Fifth graders read this book? HAZEL Yeah, well, it's kind of --, it's children's literature. KELLY I'm not into kid's lit. HAZEL Why? KELLY ‘Cause when I was ten I started to read Stuart Little, and I thought it was totally absurd for this guy -- the author -- HAZEL E.B. White. KELLY Whatever. But there's no way he's gonna get me to believe that two human beings gave birth to a little white mouse. I'm sorry, but even at ten years old, I knew more about -- I knew enough to know where little white mice came from. HAZEL Really. A man of the world at such a young age. KELLY Yep. HAZEL Well, that was only one book, and it was a long time ago. Give it another try. KELLY I don't want to read a book about a little white mouse with human parents. HAZEL You don't have to read that one, there's all kinds of good "kids lit" you could read. KELLY No thank you. HAZEL You like science fiction, what about A Wrinkle in Time? KELLY Not interested. HAZEL Why? What are you afraid of? KELLY Not afraid of anything. Just don't wanna waste my time with it. HAZEL Oh, so it's beneath you, is it? KELLY I didn't say that. TELEPHONE But you meant it. HAZEL "Children's literature does not enlarge one's intellect." KELLY Hazel-- HAZEL So, I suppose, since Island of the Blue Dolphins is my favorite book -- one of my favorite books anyway -- it takes my mind down a notch, in your estimation. KELLY No. TELEPHONE Liar! HAZEL Tell the truth, Kelly. KELLY I a --. TELEPHONE Go ahead. Try to lie to her. KELLY Well, it's not what I expected. HAZEL Okay, now you listen to me Mister Snobby Pseudo-Intellectual -- KELLY Whoa. HAZEL I mean it. This type of thing really pisses me off -- KELLY Hey, relax. HAZEL No! I will not relax! TELEPHONE That's it! HAZEL Okay, I'll relax. TELEPHONE Wimp. HAZEL Maybe "kid's lit" isn't the most "scholarly" type of reading there is, but that doesn't mean it has no value. Maybe a lot of it doesn't speak to your mind, but, if it's well done, it certainly speaks to your heart. KELLY That was very eloquent. HAZEL Oh, don't patronize me you jerk. KELLY Hey, I'm sorry. HAZEL The hell you are. KELLY Good grief. HAZEL You're just like every other self-proclaimed intellectual I know. Believing all the books they read in college, and adopting all the elitist opinions of their professors and then actually believing it was something they thought up themselves. The "offending" professor recognized himself in this scene and to this day we are still ... well, I wouldn't say friends (we don't hang out together) ... on very friendly terms. I don't think, however, that my little tirade in the play had any effect on his views of kid-lit. Too bad. J. Scott Bronson -- Member of Playwrights Circle - ------------------------------------------------------------------ "The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do." Galileo - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 09:38:02 -0700 From: margaret young Subject: Re: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ I can't tell you how thrilling it is for me to hear this. I was asked to talk for a few minutes on the subject (same lesson) in my ward. To be honest, I was a little chagrined that the manuel spoke about the Church in Africa--where there is so much miraculous success--but said little about the Church and African Americans. There is considerably less success with missionary work among African Americans, and much difficulty retaining them after baptism. We are yet haunted by words of past leaders, which new converts inevitably (it seems) come across and are troubled by. Many new converts don't know about the former priesthood restriction, and when they learn are troubled again. When I discuss the book with returned missionaries, I often ask if they were confronted with the race question on their missions. The answer is almost always YES. And when I ask how they answered, they usually say they didn't really feel like they had a good answer. It's tough stuff. Perhaps the most troubling thing I've heard lately--and this from three returned missionaries who served in different missions--is that some false doctrine is circulating again (a discourse by Alvin Dyer which talks about valiency in the pre-existence). These missionaries received it ON their missions. Can we call that discourse Mormon literature and hence tie it in with the list's objectives? Here's my question: How on earth can we get that talk out of circulation? Is it possible? Or how can we train missionaries to recognize that its teachings are contrary to the scriptures? Do we need a special class at the MTC for this? [Margaret Young] William Morris wrote: > I'm pleased to report that in my ward's gospel doctrine class yesterday > _Standing on the Promises_ was used as one of the main sources for a > lesson on the June 1978 revelation on the priesthood. Granted this is a > fairly liberal ward, but it was still cool to see. And it was also nice > to be involved in a lesson where much of the discussion and presentation > wasn't 'here's how we answer the question of why the blacks didn't get the > priesthood until 1978' but instead was focused on the experiences of > African Americans and black Africans in the Church. > > ~~William Morris > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping. > http://shopping.yahoo.com > > -- > AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature > - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 10:15:06 -0700 From: margaret young Subject: Re: [AML] Fw: MN The Other Side of Heaven: From Book to Movie toPaperback: Deseret Book Press Release 1Dec01 US UT SLC A2 May I just invite everyone to support the movie? Remember that the first week of a movie's release is of vital importance to its success. Please come, if possible, during that first week. The actual premier is December 12 in Salt Lake City. Dec. 14 is the opening in Utah theaters (the Scera here in Utah Valley). Yesterday's BYU devotional featured Elder Groberg, his wife (Jean) and Mitch Davis, the film's maker. President Bateman scheduled it--it was an extra devotional--and told Elder Groberg that he wanted every BYU student to see that movie. Though some administrators were nervous that the devotional would appear to be a commercial, it was all done in good taste. [Margaret Young] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 13:18:54 -0600 From: Jonathan Langford Subject: Re: [AML] Harry Potter Books I'm going to skim around the edges of the "Great" Books thread here, then talk specifically about the Harry Potter books and where I think they fit in that regard. I agree with those who argue that "great" is a relative term that has a lot more meaning when attached to a specific genre or type of literature. But then, that follows from my arguments about esthetic standards. I think that the qualities of a good children's book are not necessarily those of a good book for adults, though I know some excellent books that can be enjoyed by children and adults both. But I don't think that breadth of audience necessarily makes these books better than those that may appeal more narrowly, but just as deeply, to an audience specifically of children, or specifically of adults. In the field of children's fantasy... I find Rowling's books very good, but not (at least, not yet) "great." I certainly agree with Chris Bigelow that they lack Roald Dahl's originality, but then originality is Dahl's strong suit. It would be just as accurate (in my view) to say that Dahl lacks Rowling's ability to create engaging, realistic characters. But then, I'm not a great Dahl fan. In any event, I don't think Dahl and Rowling are really similar enough to make meaningful comparison possible. So who and what are the "greats" in children's fantasy? Top of the list, in my view, has to be Lloyd Alexander's Prydain chronicles. Exceptionally well written--and they do the best job of any children's fantasy I know in realistically "aging" the main character from book to book. And there's a lot of thematic depth there, too. (Harry does some aging in Rowling's books, but so far, his growth has been on a more superficial level, in my view.) Other candidates? Probably Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising sequence, much though I dislike the way the series ends and some of its ethical undertones. (I dislike books that suggest humans are so frail that the truth needs to be concealed from them.) But these books, particularly _The Dark Is Rising_ and _Greenwitch_, do very well at evoking a "spirit of England" that I think is also part of what appeals to readers of Rowling's books. Another series of children's books that evokes a spirit of "England past" particularly well is Hugh Lofting's Dr. Dolittle's books. These are not read as widely as they deserve, in my opinion. _The Story of Dr. Dolittle_ and _The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle_, which are perhaps the most widely read, are nowhere near the best of these. Arguably the most American of all fantasy authors is Lyman Frank Baum, who wrote the 14 original Oz books. (After his death, other authors took up the series, but none so well as he.) In sheer inventiveness, these books surpass any other fantasy novels I have ever read, whether for children or for adults. Again, the first is by no means the best (my personal favorites are _The Emerald City of Oz_ and _Glinda of Oz_). The first three books in Joan Aiken's Alternate England series (_Wolves of Willoughby Chase_, _Black Hearts in Battersea_, and _Night Birds on Nantucket_) are exceptional as well. No library should be without these, though too many are. (Aiken has also written some other stories that almost rival Dahl in their zaniness...) I'm sure there are many others. My point is that, taking these as my baseline, I don't think Rowling quite makes the "great" category--at least, not yet. It may be that by the time the series has ended, I'll revise that opinion. (For example, I think the Prydain series needs the last two books in order to make it into the category of "great.") Rather, for me they fall, so far, into the category of "very good," together with authors such as John Bellairs--an uneven, but sometimes very good author, now sadly rather neglected. All of which is only my reaction. Other readers' responses clearly will vary. But in cataloging this list of great children's fantasies, I'm realizing once again that I do think there is a discernible difference in what constitutes greatness in children's fantasy and greatness in adult fantasy. For one thing, none of the worlds of these novels are developed with the level of internal consistency, attention to detail, and depth that I expect from a Tolkien, a McKillip, or a Moorcock. Indeed, to develop their worlds at such depth would risk losing the books' narrative threads. But even "very good" in the distinguished world of children's fantasy is, in my view, high praise indeed. Jonathan Langford Speaking for myself jlangfor@pressenter.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 11:30:16 -0800 From: jltyner@postoffice.pacbell.net Subject: [AML] Re: Harry Potter Books Glad to see mine and D. Michael's verbal jousting has started so many Harry Potter postings. As an aside, I wish his wife continued speedy recovery with many good thoughts and prayers for their whole family. Jacob mentioned Scholastic's big marketing push of the books and I wasn't so sure that was the case with my daughter's school. I asked her and she discovered the first book through a classmate whose grandma bought it for him. (He had a waiting list of borrowers for it). It wasn't available from the book club flyers that get sent home, nor was it in our school library. The teachers weren't didn't have the books and put them on their wish list for their personal class libraries and the parents bought the set for them. We didn't see the books until the bookfair late in my daughter's sixth grade year. So for us, it was a fellow classmate and the display at Sam's Club that brought Harry Potter to our house. But even with whatever marketing has been done, I agree the books have gone beyond what they imagined. As big a literary fault as it is to use 'ly' adverbs (A big fault of my own), I believe it works for the Harry Potter books. Remember, these are the same preteens who bought Savage Garden's "Truly, Madly, Deeply" CD by the carload. They like 'ly' words, that's how they talk! J.K. Rowling's 'ly' adverbs are fun anyway-stuff like abysmally incurably,apprensively,carefully,and gradually to name a few. Jacob also mentioned he thought the character's physical descriptions were minimal or lightly sketched, I tend to disagree with that. The first and second chapters of the first book have good, visual descriptions of the Dursleys, (such a wonderful last name for them), and of Harry with more details in the rest of the books. I think the few illustrations match the wording of the books and I think the movie did a good job with casting and costuming the actors. Nevertheless, I have to say "right on" to most of what Jacob and others have had to say about Harry and his world, and the related genres. Although these books will always be classed with YA/Fantasy fiction there is indeed much that adults can enjoy and identify with. Her use of character names is phenomenal. For one that likes clever use of names and semantics I just love that about these books. The Dursleys, Sirius Black, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Dementors, Ludo Bagman, Snape, Gilderoy Lockhart, I could go on and on...BTW, Hugh Grant has our vote to be Gilderoy Lockhart in the second movie. We think he would be perfect with the toothy grin and pretty boy looks to play perhaps the most irritating character in the books. Trying to describe what it is about these books that makes them so special is like trying to describe good comedy. You can talk about things like timing, expressions and other things, but you can almost lose it if you over analyze it. There is a good essay by Alan Jacobs about Harry Potter's Magic from his book, " A Visit To Vanity Fair". ( I read it yesterday on WorldNet Daily, but I don't know if the link is still there). Finally, the link to Mormon Lit: To answer Eric's question-yes I think there is a connection between liking literature and family scripture study. For me, it worked the other way; I grew up in a family that didn't read the Bible much, it wasn't encouraged in the Catholic Church at that time. But my family did and still does love reading books. My Dad was one of the most well read men I ever knew. The dictionary, the size of a concrete block, lay waiting to look up any word that wasn't understood. When I became interested in the LDS Church I soaked the scriptures up like a sponge, I just loved the language and visual pictures they spoke of, especially in the Parables of Jesus. For me, it was easy to understand because I had been read to as a child and time for reading was always encouraged and rewarded as a break from homework or after chores were done. With our children I think reading the scriptures aloud allows them to appreciate books like Harry Potter, Tolkein, and the works of classic literature. I believe it helped place our son in the advanced placement English Lit class he had in high school. Children grounded in the language of the scriptures have a better chance of grasping the wording of good books, they have a better, larger, richer vocabulary in my opinion, and that is a good thing for the enriching of their whole life. Kathy Tyner, Orange County, CA - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 10:46:20 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Jack WEYLAND, _Megan_ (Fw from MN) Dealing with Your Weaknesses Can Help You Find Your Strengths SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- On the outside, Megan seems liek a typical LDS girl. She participates in all the Church programs and always seems to have the right answers. But when she falls in love with Kurt, a young boy who is not a member of the Church and is a couple of years older than she, the standards she can recite by heart just don't feel all that important. In "Megan" (Bookcraft, $16.95), popular LDS youth writer Jack Weyland tells the story of a young girl willing to take risks for the boy she loves. At first the risks seem small -- staying out too late, dressing more provocativesly to please her boyfriend, even the friction developing between Megan and her mother. But those risks lead to an unexpected pregnancy, abandonment by the baby's father, and the challenge of facing a difficult situation on her own. Is repentance possible? Should she keep the baby? or should she give it up to be adopted by a childless couple whose greatest wish is to have a family? In his usual insightful way, Jack Weyland explores the problem that is all too common in today's world. The author of more than 20 novels and short stories specificially designed for LDS teens, Weyland is best known for titles such as "Ashley and Jen," "Michelle and Debra," "Night on Wolf Mountain," "The Krystle Promise," and "Charly." He and his wife Sheryl are parents of five and live in Rexburg, Idaho. Source: Dealing with Your Weaknesses Can Help You Find Your Strengths Deseret Book Press Release 1Dec01 A2 >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 12:30:34 -0700 From: Russ Asplund Subject: RE: [AML] Harry Potter Movie From: Christopher Bigelow [mailto:Chris.Bigelow@UnicityNetwork.com] >However, we did go see the movie, and I agree with Katie's statement above. >As an old Dungeons & Dragons and fantasy fan, this movie came across to me >as throwing all kinds of familiar fantasy elements together into a stew. It >had some interesting visuals and moments, but mostly it was about as >compelling to me as stew. Here to me is the crux of the "greatness" debate. I will agree that Harry Potter is a stew of things that came before--I just happen to think it is great stew. Just the right sprinkling of humor for sweetness, but with a spike of danger for that perfect tang in the aftertaste. It also helps that I love stew. I don't think there is just one type of Great Book, just as I don't think there is one kind of Great Meal. There are a lot of meals I like to eat, including some--like macaroni and cheese--that I know aren't gourmet class, but I enjoy anyway. I like the notion Robin brings up about "interpretive communities," I'd just add that I think we can often be in several of these communities depending on our mood and reasons for reading. Harry Potter, the book, was a great book by my definition. It left my children and me wanting more. The movie merely okay, but I loved it because it didn't undermine the book. Russell Asplund russa@candesa.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 13:26:44 -0700 From: "Paris Anderson" Subject: Re: [AML] (Andrew's Poll) What's the Point? I don't read nearly as much as I should and would like to, but I really, really think reading and writing are the best ways to understand. I don't know if it's head-injury or just stupidity, but if I see things or hear or experience--I'll forget after a while. But if I read it two or three times or write it down I can remember. It's good to read or have things to re-read because I forget (and get so confused--damn, I'm only forty-one). Paris Anderson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 21:34:53 GMT From: cgileadi@emerytelcom.net Subject: Re: [AML] (Andrew's Poll) What's the Point? I read because my mind seems hungry all the time--for stories, new things to think about, fresh ideas, images. . . A good read fills in all those empty spaces :). Then, after a while, I get hungry again and have to find another book. Cathy Wilson - --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 14:41:34 -0700 From: rwilliams Subject: RE: [AML] Harry Potter Movie Steve writes: "J. K. Rowling is >what Roald Dahl could have been without his unquenchable inner core of >bitterness and hatred." I think you should explain yourself a bit here. How does someone as delightful as Roald Dahl have an "unquenchable inner core of bitterness and hatred"? How is Rowling's totally one-dimensional characterization of the Dursley's as fat brainless people (and Harry's somewhat unreasonable revenge on them), any less "bitter" than Dahl's characterization of, say, Matilda's parents or James's Aunties? I think if Rowling had any storytelling mentor at all, it was Dahl. Isn't it obvious? Harry Potter is a virtual amalgam of every Roald Dahl hero: the painfully abused/deprived child discovers some magical power (in him/herself or in a chocolate bar or in a peach), and embarks on a magical journey to some utopian, fantastic, dream-like place where "good" finally prevails. (Only Dahl pulls it off with a bit more charm--and a LOT more variety). - --John Williams - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 15:41:04 -0700 From: katie@aros.net Subject: Re: [AML] (Andrew's Poll) What's the Point? Quoting Andrew Hall : > What's the point of reading all those novels all the time? Don't you have > anything better to do? > My own conclusion has been that art, in whatever form, touches the soul in a way that straight lectures or numbers or other left-brain activities don't. I need my soul touched. Also, I think that reading improves my writing skills. Someday I hope to be really good at writing and to publish novels of my own. So it has a temporally useful purpose for me as well. (And I write because...) But I agree that reading novels for pleasure should be the icing on the cake in one's life, rather than the main course. - --Katie Parker Salt Lake City, UT - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 18:29:14 -0600 From: James Picht Subject: Re: [AML] Harry Potter Movie Steve wrote: > Hmmm. Whimsical and fetching as Dahl can be, I came away from both the > Harry Potter books and the Harry Potter movie thinking, "J. K. Rowling is > what Roald Dahl could have been without his unquenchable inner core of > bitterness and hatred." I've always enjoyed Dahl, bitterness and all, but it's a taste I don't care to indulge too often. If you think Rowling is Dahl without the bitterness, I suppose I'll have to break down and buy one of her books. Dahl really is an excellent writer, a nastier version of Nabokov who pretends to write for children. I'd no sooner let my child read one of his stories unattended than let him play with razor blades. I have some idea in my head about why Dahl and Nabokov are good writers. Could anyone be a little more direct about Rowling's literary virtues? I don't recall seeing a post regarding just what it is that many of you like about her. Jim Picht - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 08:43:02 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Bad Personal News margaret young wrote: > > Michael, many of us will want to include you and your wife in our prayers > and put both your names on temple prayer rolls. We know your name, but we > need hers. What is it? Naomi Hoki Martindale. She is making remarkable progress. She is on a regular diet, has been moved out of ICU into a regular hospital room and is scheduled to be moved to rehab in a day or two. She is feeding herself with a regular diet and can walk by herself with the aid of a walker. Everything functions--she just has weakness and lack of coordination on her right side. She is very difficult to understand when she speaks--both because of slurring of words and problems with choosing the right word--but I can see definite improvement in everything each day I come to visit. She is boggling the minds of all the medical personnel. Her physical therapist said, "Do you realize how fast you're making progress? Normally patients like you take months to accomplish what you've done in days. Thanks to all of you who have expressed words of comfort and for your prayers. I'm not answering them all personally since I have hundreds of e-mail to get through, but rest assured I am noticing them. The prayers are working. - -- 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 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 09:33:02 -0700 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] AML "Best Film" Award Terry L Jeffress wrote > First, lets make some adjustments in vocabulary. AML did award > Richard Dutcher the 2000 AML Award for Film for his work on "God's > Army." The word "best" does not appear in the title of this or any > other the award category. The AML Awards recognize an individual for > their contribution to the field of Mormon letters. In practice, the > year's "best" novel does not necessarily make the greatest > contribution to Mormon letters. Thank you, Terry, for this clarification on the AML Awards. To reiterate Terry's point: the AML Awards are *not* a contest--we don't claim to annoint a best work in a category, but rather seek to recognize excellent work in the broad field of Mormon letters. Often that means recognizing a work widely regarded as the best in its class, but selecting a "best" work is not the intent of the award and is not a specific criterion for judging. This is clearly illustrated in the award in the Novel for 1999, when we awarded Anne Perry's novel _Tathea._ The judge felt that it was not necessarily the best written or best plotted Mormon novel of the year, but that it was the most important and influential novel in terms of exposing Mormon ideas to a wider international audience. The judge felt that Perry's risk in writing an explicitly Mormon novel when she's known for her mysteries was an extraordinary thing and one that should be recognized. I personally felt that several other novels were "better" that year, but I also agree fully that _Tathea_ deserved to be awarded, as did the AML board. In the specific case of Dutcher, the Film category, and this year's crop of films, let me offer some comments. By rule, one person can't win an award in the same category on consecutive years, meaning that Dutcher is inelligible to receive a 2001 award in film for _Brigham City,_ which I feel is a bit unfortunate. I agree that BC was a better film, and I wish we *could* recognize _Brigham City_ with an award this year. But that's not how the rules are written. I can tell you that the AML is actively looking at films this year, and that an award in film may well become more regular as more and more quality films are produced by Mormon artists. I can't tell you whether we will award in film this year; that's a matter for the judges to decide. But we are explicitly considering film as a category. A note on awards and non-awards in a category. Sometimes we fail to award in a category because we don't feel that any work rose above to be worthy of special recognition. Just as often we choose not to award in a category because we have a limited budget for awards and a reasonably short time alotted for an awards ceremony, so we alternate years. Sometimes the awards coordinator just messes up and fails to solicit judges for a worthy category--as has happened under my watch with Children's and Young Adult fiction. There have been excellent works in both of those fields that weren't recognized over the past several years because I flaked out, not because the AML has made a judgement of unworthiness on the field. An AML Award indicates that a particular work is excellent, not that it's the only worthy work--or even the most worthy work--produced in a given year. The goal is to raise awareness and appreciation, not to annoint winners or losers, or to be a comprehensive judge of the field of Mormon letters. Scott Parkin AML Awards coordinator - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 11:49:36 -0700 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: [AML] Broken Back Mr. Jonathan Langford, My name is Kai Samuelsen, Eric's Samuelsen's son. He wanted me to let you = and everyone else on the list know that he injured himself this weeekend = and has broken his back and wrist. There's no spinal cord injury, and he = will be fine, but out of comission for a while. Please contact Chris Bigelow and tell him that Eric will not be able to = conduct the Neil Labute interview until January. He probably also won't = be able to pick up e-mail messages for at least a couple weeks. Many Thanks, Kai Samuelsen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 21:19:59 -0700 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: [AML] John BENNION, _Falling toward Heaven_ (Review) Bennion, John. _Falling toward Heaven._ Salt Lake City: Signature Books. 2000. 312 pages; Trade paperback; $19.95. ISBN 1-56085-140-6. Reviewed by Scott R. Parkin * Capsule: "Worthy Questions Well Asked" * For better or worse the current Mormon literary landscape is a sparse one, like a central Utah desert dotted here and there with life, but still largely empty. Because of that sparsity, each new work stands starkly against a largely empty background, and as such draws more of our scrutiny than it would against a more lushly populated one. Especially when one book is so clearly different than the majority of those around it. John Bennion's _Falling toward Heaven_ is one such book. In a small market dominated by thrillers, historicals, and teen morality plays, Bennion has written a literary-academic novel whose primary purpose is neither to illuminate historical fact nor explore Mormon solutions to moral/ethical problems. Rather, _Falling toward Heaven_ focuses on asking questions of its Mormon readers--questions that are sometimes difficult and often uncomfortable; questions that each of us should be thinking about as we work out our own salvation and try to make sense of both our lives and our religion. This is the essence of the literary-academic genre: to ask questions of the reader. As Mary Clyde said of Bennion in her back cover blurb, "his are worthy questions well asked." This is a worthy book, well written and well presented, depicting a faith that may not be orthodox but that is considered and well-earned. I think this book succeeds on its own terms quite well, painting a picture that is too often too true of our reliance on others peoples' answers to deal with the struggles of our own lives and faith. It is a book that invites you to agree, disagree, or defer; but it will force you to think about many of your assumptions and perhaps rethink a few of them. For some readers that aggressiveness may be disconcerting, but I would caution people from rushing to judgement about whether this book is "faithful" or "critical" of Mormon thought or practice; to my mind it is both, offering a faithful but critical look at attitudes and assumptions whose time may have passed. While _Falling toward Heaven_ certainly offers an often condemning social critique of how Mormon patriarchy can smother some good people and their expressions of faith as unorthodox (aka "untraditional"), it is no less critical of the all-or-nothing resistance that often comes in response. Bennion isn't trying to provide answers, he's trying to ask the questions well and explore attitudes on both sides of the fence, leaving answers to each reader to decide on their own. This book is not for every Mormon reader, but for those who enjoy well written literary-academic fiction that asks hard--and sometimes unflattering--questions about what it means to be a Mormon and a human, this is well worth reading. I don't think _Falling toward Heaven_ is a perfect book, but I think it is a good one and worth your time and money to read. * Plot Synopsis * The story revolves around Howard and Allison, and begins when Howard meets Allison while on his mission in Houston. He's counting days until he goes home and is struggling with a loss of faith--not a problem with the organization of the Church, per se, but a cognitive dissonance with the traditional Mormon definitions of God as a stern, angry, vengeful deity who hates sin and sinners alike. Those definitions don't make sense to him, though he sees them reinforced by the attitudes and behaviors of the other Mormons around him, including his companion, his parents, and to a lesser degree his mission president. When Howard meets Allison and her lover while street contacting, Howard is instantly entranced by her direct, intelligent, no-nonsense manner. She's an aggressive atheist, a computer programmer, and a fully independent woman--a kind of woman he's not sure he's ever known before, a woman who seems freed of the hedges that surround the Mormon women he's grown up with in Rockwood, Utah. He's also attracted to her sexually and that deepens the dissonance he already feels about the definitions of God. How can his attraction to her--both physically and emotionally--be wrong? It's clear that she has little patience with religion of any kind, especially Mormonism, and yet her vivid spirit attracts him anyway. Howard finds himself obsessed by her and creates opportunities to see her, to the consternation of his companion who wants to drop her as an unproductive--and potentially dangerous--contact. Allison is also charmed by this odd representative of a religion she finds not just silly (she finds all religions at least a little bit silly), but actively offensive in its institutional suppression of women. She has every reason to simply dismiss him as a kook, yet she finds his intelligence and his honest faith both intriguing and troubling. She's as much amused by him as anything else, but she finds herself thinking about him a great deal. When the time comes to end his mission and return to Rockwood, Howard finds that he just can't leave Allison behind, so he steps off the plane and goes to find her before she leaves for Alaska to start a new job. He does find her and they decide that they need to explore what their relationship is, to find out whether they belong together. Allison gives Howard a ride back to Rockwood, and during their travels they have sex--each doing so in order to bind the other. This, of course, radically alters the future that Howard had planned for himself to return to Rockwood and marry his teen sweetheart, to manage his father's cattle ranch, and to take his place as a returning hero in his Utah Mormon community. The remainder of the novel explores how Howard and Allison deal with their different concepts of how life should be lived and the role of Howard's religion in it. She wants to save him from a traditional lifestyle that has locked four generations of his family into a pattern of slow self-destruction, as well as the religion that facilitated it. He wants to bring her into the life that he has imagined for hiself, where he manages a ranch and builds his own little kingdom on earth--a life so thoroughly informed by his Mormonness that he can't easily separate himself from his religion. As they come into conflict over each others' assumptions, dreams, and desires, they find that while there seem to be few reasons to stay together, they also each find something in the other that fills a space in their own soul that they never imagined needed filling. Each is forced to reconsider long-held assumptions about what is good and right as they try to build a life compatible for both of them in Alaska and as they deal with the challenges that Howard's family face back in Rockwood. * Comment: An Author's Craft * Bennion is a very good writer, which is to say that each sentence is well written and a pleasure to read. He writes visually and with style, yet keeps that style under control so that you rarely feel that the author is trying to show off. His characters are interesting and vivid, and Bennion does a good job of showing how odd Mormon assumptions can be to someone whose own philosophical heritage is quite different. This led to times throughout the book where I wondered why these two characters tried to stay together. The strong emphasis on their incompatibility seemed to overwhelm their search for compatibility. I understand the reasons for this and even agree that there needed to be a nearly frantic sense of that incompatibility in order to force the characters into decision points, but I might still have liked a little more powerful success in the relationship to offset the powerful reasons each has to leave the other. Perhaps my only strong criticism of Bennion's craft as a storyteller was a somewhat languid pace that seemed to go over the same functional ground again and again. As I said before, I understand the reasons for it, but that didn't change the fact that I had a hard time working through the middle third of this novel. At about the time that I wanted to skip to the end to see what happens, the character Allison voiced very much the same frustration: - ----- She grabbed him by the throat. "What am I going to do with you?" Time like a spiral bringing her back to the same dilemma. "I'm becoming more a pagan, but it isn't three old women, it's a bunch of hag-like old men weaving my life. They've decided to force me through the same experience again and again until I'm broken." (216-17) - ----- While there was good reason for that repetition, it still slowed the pace to point where I had begun to lose interest in the story. Oddly, I would have preferred not a reduced page count, but an expanded one that added some elements of success to their relationship to offset the recurring call for Howard to return to his old life in Rockwood and leave his new life with Allison behind. Otherwise, I think this is a well-constructed, well-told, and well-written story. It does not resolve the characters or their relationship completely, but that was never its intention. This book is as much about illuminating a situation, about stating questions clearly, as it is about anything else. * Comment: Male Mormon Feminism * I suspect that women will tend to enjoy this book more than men, because Bennion shamelessly inverts the positions of men and women and their relative power in a culture. Howard is an object of nearly constant condescension from the two strong women in his life--Allison and his mother, Emily. In fact, Emily sums it up nicely when she says, "Howard's a good boy...a simple soul" (274). This inversion made me angry as a male reader. Howard's feelings and desires and motivations mattered, too. He showed himself to be willing to compromise, as trying to understand and integrate all hopes and plans. I found it intolerable that neither Emily nor Allison seemed to recognize it as they made decisions that plunged his own hopes into doubt and removed his options and choices. They protested their concern for him but rarely if ever allowed him to create the conditions of his own happiness. He was marginalized. Then I realized that Bennion was showing me what it's like for many women--to be viewed as simple or sweet or innocent but not treated with the same sort of ordinary respect and dignity that men routinely show for each other. Even the closet feminists among us are forced to rethink some of our own behaviors when Allison proclaims of Utah (and by extension, patriarchal Mormon culture), "It's worse than Texas for--ah--a kind of deference toward women that is really contempt. They're diseased with it" (240). Bennion doesn't invert every situation--in Rockwood, the male power structure remains fully intact and is illustrated in the strong differences in how Howard's Church court is presented (for his fornication with Allison) versus how the bishop deals with Emily's so-called apostasy (for giving other women blessings by the power of her husband's priesthood). Part of the difference is certainly related to the clear nature of Howard's sin versus the somewhat less clear nature of Emily's, but in addition to that ambiguity there's an issue of trust and respect that is evidently different in the two cases--and clearly gender linked. This feminist commentary is the core issue of the book and is evident in pretty much every scene or situation--from the mission president plotting the marriage of his daughter to an RM, to the male gossips of Rockwood, to the Alaskan software company's structure with a woman as the driving force and a man as the secretary. Bennion plays with our assumptions about traditional roles on every page. At times, though, that commentary seemed overstated and a little forced. Allison spoke a few too many pronouncements for my tastes and acted too much the emasculating man-eater for most of the novel for me to really like her all that much. In choosing to invert expectations, I think Bennion sometimes undercut the righteousness of his womens' causes and made them seem more like caricatures of the dominating patriarchs they claimed to hate. Again, that's an issue of taste. I admit that I wanted his women to be morally and ethically superior to his men, perhaps illustrating my own guilt at showing "a kind of deference toward women that is really contempt." Or maybe I just wanted to see the focal characters being better than real, regardless of gender. * Comment: Central Utah, "The Backslider," and Cultural Criticism * About seventy-five pages into _Falling toward Heaven_ I thought this review would be as much a critique of Levi Peterson's _The Backslider_ as it would be of John Bennion's book. The two books are eerily similar in many ways--a good-hearted but oddly naive central Utah boy runs into trouble when his sexual urges exceed his limited resistance and he's forced to reconcile the noble parts of his soul against the harsh judgment he feels for having sinned against his religion. I thought this review would discuss the unfortunate stasis that I think much of Mormon literary-academic literature has fallen into as other authors tried to retell that powerful and important story. I thought I would accuse Bennion of doing little more than writing an updated version of _The Backslider_ that relied on the same scary, heartless institution of the Church that Peterson depicted, set against the same ineffectual Utah culture that had taught people to despise themselves along with their sins. But I won't do that, because it turns out that Bennion didn't do that. I've had a difficult relationship with _The Backslider_ over the years because I feel that the book was essentially unfair in never showing the institutional Church as providing useful spiritual support or guidance. In Peterson's book the institution fails at every turn, and peace comes only by looking outside it. While I don't disagree with the premise that grace is something we need to seek individually and in our own way, I have a hard time seeing the Church and its institutions as failing in all times and in all places. By failing to acknowledge that some do find peace within the institution, I think Peterson makes a broad criticism of cultural Mormonism that too easily dismisses the good bits as irrelevant and that defines the culture only by its failures. While Bennion took plenty of opportunity to show some of the failures of Mormon patriarchal culture, he also showed a success or two, and that makes all the difference for me in how well I can accept the totality of the world presented to me in the pages of the novel. By allowing the institution to sometimes work, by showing some agents of the institution as both able and willing to show individual compassion and discernment, Bennion shows a world where I hope and believe that change is possible. Still, I also look forward to a literature that doesn't attempt to criticize the entire culture, the entire institution of the Church. _Falling toward Heaven_ makes a grand critique, criticizing Mormon culture on a large scale, and does so as evenly and fairly as I've seen in my limited reading in the Mormon market. But it still makes the Church a character, and it still takes on the institution as a whole more than the individuals within it. Not a criticism of Bennion's book so much as a desire to see another kind of literature, one that leaves the institutional critique alone. We've let the institution define too much of ourselves already, as both Peterson and Bennion so aptly point out. * Conclusion: It's Worth Reading * I understand sales of this book have been quite poor. That's a shame, because this is a good book and a worthy member of the canon of Mormon literature. It jousts with big issues, but does so in a story that is engaging while still being intelligent and fair. This book will challenge you, but it does so in a way that leads to further introspection rather than easy judgment. That's all we can ask of a literature of our culture. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #538 ******************************