From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #543 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, December 12 2001 Volume 01 : Number 543 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 23:07:32 -0500 From: "Tracie Laulusa" Subject: Re: [AML] Quotation Marks I've been reading Cry the Beloved Country. The dialogue is sometimes set apart with -- and sometimes just mixed in with regular prose. At first I found it distracting. But as I've continued reading I've found that it has helped me slow down and catch the rythmn of the book. Tracie - ----- Original Message ----- I'm anxious to know what you think of the book, Terry. As far as I'm concerned you are right on with your points as to why an author would use no quotes. It is "stylistically" more literary. Makes it "better." Marilyn - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 23:03:03 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN Angela Lansbury Celebrates Christmas with Tabernacle Choir: LDS Church News Release 7Dec01 A1 Angela Lansbury Celebrates Christmas with Tabernacle Choir SALT LAKE CITY - Vocalist Angela Lansbury, renowned star of film, television and stage, joins the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in its annual public Christmas concerts beginning tonight in the Conference Center near Temple Square. The program features 20 numbers including traditional Christmas hymns and classical compositions by Handel and Bach, plus contemporary songs written by John Rutter and Victor Herbert. Ms. Lansbury adds her own flair with numbers from her stage repertoire such as "We Need a Little Christmas" from Mame, and the title song from "Beauty and the Beast." Ms. Lansbury is most recently known for her 12-year role as Jessica Fletcher in the TV series "Murder, She Wrote." She is the winner of 12 Emmy Awards and four Tony Awards, and was nominated three times for an Academy Award. Ms. Lansbury says working with the Tabernacle Choir as a "backup" to her solo numbers made her a little nervous. "I felt I was working with a group of people who are so wonderfully integrated among themselves to produce wonderful sound, music, and singing - their voices are so pure, so pure." The Orchestra at Temple Square joins the choir and Ms. Lansbury. All three conductors of the choir, Craig Jessop, Mack Wilberg and Barlow Bradford share directing responsibilities. John Longhurst and Clay Christiansen take turns at the organ. Ms. Lansbury's accompanist is Todd Schroeder. While reserved tickets for the free performances were all distributed some weeks ago, most people waiting in standby lines at the Conference Center are expected to be admitted. The 7:30 p.m. concert will be repeated tomorrow evening. Ms. Lansbury will also appear with the choir on the weekly Music and the Spoken Word broadcast at 9:30 a.m., followed by a brief concert with additional selections. Source: Angela Lansbury Celebrates Christmas with Tabernacle Choir LDS Church News Release 7Dec01 A1 http://www.lds.org/news/article/0,5422,116-7190,00.html >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: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 12:24:50 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN New plays featured in staged readings Dec. 11-13 at BYU: BYU Press Release 8Dec01 US UT Prov A2 New plays featured in staged readings Dec. 11-13 at BYU PROVO, UTAH -- Brigham Young University's Department of Theatre and Media Arts presents the annual Writers/Directors/Actors (WDA)Workshop Tuesday through Thursday (Dec. 11-13) from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Nelke Experimental Theatre. The staged-reading workshop is free and the public is welcome to attend. Two student plays and one faculty play will be read. Tuesday (Dec. 11) will feature "For Name's Sake" by theatre graduate student Char Nelson. On Wednesday (Dec. 12) "Slaying the Greeble," a "theatre for young audiences" piece by theatre faculty member Eric Samuelsen, will be presented. Thursday (Dec. 13) will feature "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," a romantic comedy by Tawnya Cazier, playwright and recent BYU graduate. The WDA is a class for theatre students experimenting with playwriting, directing and acting. The experience gives them an opportunity to fine-tune their skills and learn from their classmates.The class--comprised of six writers, six directors and a handful of actors--is team-taught by BYU Theatre and Media Arts Department chair Robert Nelson and Eric Samuelsen. "The WDA provides an intensive writing experience for our students," said Samuelsen. Each writer and director work together in a team receiving observation and feedback in a staged-reading setting. "This experience is helpful for writers to see different perspectives and see what works and what does not," said Tawnya Cazier. "It also enables the students to hear different readings of their piece and experience different interpretations," Samuelsen said. The audience is an essential part in the staged readings of these works and the workshop is the best thing a writer can go through, according to Samuelsen. - -###- Source: New plays featured in staged readings Dec. 11-13 at BYU BYU Press Release 3Dec01 A2 http://www.byu.edu/news/releases/Dec/plays.htm >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: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 12:25:19 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN New book on Spori Building features photos and history: BYU-Idaho Press Release 8Dec01 US ID Poca D3 New book on Spori Building features photos and history REXBURG, IDAHO -- A pictorial book commemorating the historic Jacob Spori Building is off the presses and should be available at the BYU-Idaho Bookstore by Dec. 7. The book will retail for $24 but will be on sale for $19.20 through Dec. 28. Shipping and handling is an extra $4. Phone orders are accepted at the Bookstore by calling (208) 496-2211. The oversized book entitled Remembering the Spori is a compilation of photos, memories, and essays commemorating the building that was torn down a year ago. A new Spori Building is being constructed at the same location on the north end of campus. The concept of preserving the imagery, memories, and histories into a book was conceived at a time when the end of a building was eminent. The book is intended not only to honor the Spori Building but also to preserve and enhance the legacy of the "Spirit of Ricks" by deepening understanding and appreciation for those who laid the foundation. The book was designed by BYU-Idaho graphic designer Brian Memmott. Much of the writing, research, and coordination was done by LaNae Poulter. Steve Moser, who retired from the Public Relations Office in August, compiled much of the information used in the book. Besides historic photos, many of the photos were taken by BYU-Idaho photographer Michael Lewis and faculty member Kelly Burgener. Besides photographs, the book also includes a history of Jacob Spori, a history of the building, and 50 memories by former students and employees. The structure was originally known as the Academy Building when completed in 1903 and was renamed the Jacob Spori Building in 1963 in recognition of the first principal at Bannock Stake Academy, the forerunner of Brigham Young University-Idaho. # # # Source: New book on Spori Building features photos and history BYU-Idaho Press Release 8Dec01 D3 http://www.byui.edu/News/NewsReleases/sporibook.html >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: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 10:49:04 -0800 (PST) From: William Morris Subject: [AML] Hybrid Genres (was: Writer's Lament) - --- harlowclark@juno.com wrote: > > I feel the same way. But I also have done some very good work combining > personal essay and literary theory and lit crit and creative > non-fiction, > something I've wanted to do for a long time because I think it's a grave > mistake to divorce criticism and creative writing the way we do in most > English departments. There was a lot of tension between the critics and > writers at the UW, and that's not unique. But I'm both. > Harlow had INDEED done some very good work combining the elements he describes above. It's a genre I'm interested in because I think that in many ways it's a rather Mormon-discourse way of approaching things. After all, many of the talks we hear from the pulpit combine scriptural exegesis with personal narratives and, sometimes, creative non-fiction (or even fiction). While I haven't yet tried to do this outside the classroom, I wrote a couple of term papers in my just-barely-ended college career that combined lit-crit with 'creative' writing. For instance, for a class on the Literature of the Americas, I wrote an essay exploring comparisons and differences (that's what us comparatists do, ya know) between Paul Auster's _City of Glass_ and Roberto Arlt's _The Seven Madmen_ [Note to Tom Johnson from way back in June: sorry you didn't like the work---you mentioned Auster, I made the leap because I had in this class---that's why I brought it up]. I conceived the essay as a song. The first verse was on Arlt; the second on Auster and the chorus on the two together. But between the two verses and the verse and the chorus, I wrote bridges. They were works of fiction that explored connections between the two authors. The whole thing didn't work super well because the chorus part was weak, but writing the bridges was fun and interesting, exploring lit crit as fiction (kind of like Borges and some of his work [e.g. "Pierre Menard, author of the Quixote"}). The genius of Harlow's work in this area is that not only is it incredibly funny, but he often makes connections between texts or between texts and his life that are unexpected but also illuminating. But to get back to this idea of hybrid works. Certainly mixing scriptural exegesis and personal experience isn't unique to Mormon dicourse, but I wonder if because it is a feature of the Mormon experience, it has made Harlow more prone to this kind of work. Or, more importantly, if some Mormon readers might be more interested in this kind of work because we already have interpretive schema that can deal with it, approach it easily. Which then, hopefully, could lead to a criticism that is less-alienated from readers of Mormon fiction. Or maybe Harlow and I are just hybrid freaks. ~~William Morris __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 11:19:13 -0500 From: Tony Markham Subject: [AML] Skeleton Story Maybe a year ago 60 Minutes did a story about a skeleton up in Washington State that was creating quite a ruckus. It was a male, non-Indian, that pre-dated the tribes of the pacific NW. The dispute was that the Indians were claiming the skeleton to dispose of as they saw fit, the archaeologists felt it belonged to science, the Army Corps of Engineers defied a court order and bulldozed the site where the skeleton was found into oblivion, and that was that. I've wanted to research this story for a writing project, but have been unable to Boolean Search any info. Does anyone up in the Pacific NW have any knowledge about this story--how the skeleton is referred to in news stories? Thanks! Tony Markham - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 11:00:28 -0800 (PST) From: William Morris Subject: Re: [AML] Skeleton Story - --- Tony Markham wrote: > Maybe a year ago 60 Minutes did a story about a skeleton up in > Washington > State that was creating quite a ruckus. It was a male, non-Indian, that > pre-dated the tribes of the pacific NW. > > The dispute was that the Indians were claiming the skeleton to dispose > of > as they saw fit, the archaeologists felt it belonged to science, the > Army > Corps of Engineers defied a court order and bulldozed the site where the > skeleton was found into oblivion, and that was that. > > I've wanted to research this story for a writing project, but have been > unable to Boolean Search any info. Does anyone up in the Pacific NW > have > any knowledge about this story--how the skeleton is referred to in news > stories? > I believe what your referreing to is "the Kennewick Man controversy." ~~William Morris __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 12:07:30 -0700 From: rwilliams Subject: RE: [AML] Harry Potter Books D. Michael Martindale wrote: >Taken in isolation, I don't think the film _God's Army_ is great. It's a >pretty good, sufficiently entertaining story. But placed within its >cultural context, where it had significant influence, it achieves the >status of greatness. It pioneered new trails, accomplished something >people were saying was impossible, opened up new potential for a new >genre of art. That makes it great in my mind. > >I think the Harry Potter books fall under the same classification. >Sometimes you have to look beyond the words to the cultural influence to >find the greatness in a work of literature. I agree, except to say I think you ALWAYS have to look beyond the words to the cultural influence to find the greatness in a work of literature. Like I said back in the "greatness" in literature post, any definition of bookish greatness (always) ALREADY carries with it certain cultural "influence." Furthermore, the phrase "taken in isolation" seems like an impossibility to me, as if to suggest that the movie _God's Army_ could somehow be disconnected from the culture that made it possible, suspended in an interpretive vacuum and judged objectively. But I can't imagine any circumstances where something could actually be "taken in isolation." - --John Williams - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 13:22:50 -0600 (CST) From: Rich Hammett Subject: [AML] Re: [AML-Mag] Skeleton Story This is the Kennewick Man. If you're really bored, you can use google to follow a USENET argument we had a couple of years ago about it on talk.origins and....hmmmm.....I think, soc.culture.native-american or something like that. I don't _think_ the Corps ever defied a court order, though. Some of the anthropologists did, as I recall, by keeping some of the bones or fragments. I don't remember if it was intentional, or not. rich On Tue, 11 Dec 2001, Tony Markham wrote: > Maybe a year ago 60 Minutes did a story about a skeleton up in Washington > State that was creating quite a ruckus. It was a male, non-Indian, that > pre-dated the tribes of the pacific NW. > > The dispute was that the Indians were claiming the skeleton to dispose of > as they saw fit, the archaeologists felt it belonged to science, the Army > Corps of Engineers defied a court order and bulldozed the site where the > skeleton was found into oblivion, and that was that. > > I've wanted to research this story for a writing project, but have been > unable to Boolean Search any info. Does anyone up in the Pacific NW have > any knowledge about this story--how the skeleton is referred to in news > stories? > > Thanks! > > Tony Markham > > > > > > - > AML-List Magazine, a daily selection of posts from AML-List. > See AML-List archives at http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm > - -- \ Rich Hammett http://home.hiwaay.net/~rhammett / rhammett@HiWAAY.net \ They that can give up essential / liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve \ neither liberty nor safety. -- Benjamin Franklin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 13:49:24 -0600 (CST) From: Rich Hammett Subject: Re: [AML] Pete EARLEY, _Prophet of Death_ (Review) Thanks, Tom. Do you mind if I post some of this to that list? I'm assuming I haven't been banned, yet. Several list members considered questioning the order to murder quite heretical. In this connection, the story in the old testament about the aftermath of the Golden Calf incident has come up several times recently. Many of these same list members considered that story (random men, women, and children were hacked to death by vigilantes as partial atonement for making the calf, as I recall) to be a warning to people in their wards. Several people told me that if their stake president told them to, they would walk into their ward with a machine gun and perform the modern equivalent. I had thought that the failure I perceive in them was just a failure to get into the literature, to understand that people in the old testament and other books are actually people, but it seems to be deeper than that. If these people, well-educated professionals that they are, can get that kind of lesson out of books (scriptures), why can't they learn compassion? How can your reach somebody like that? I'm afraid that most of them wouldn't ever make it to see a Thom Duncan play. rich - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 13:06:29 -0700 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: Re: [AML] Story Beginnings On Mon, Dec 10, 2001 at 12:29:16PM -0600, Jonathan Langford wrote: > Reading a story, as I see it, is a lot like a nature hike. There's a place > you want to go, because you've heard about it, or see it marked on a map, > or you're driving along and a sign at the side of the road catches your > eye. This model represents the situation where the reader has seen good press about a book. Maybe Oprah has recommended the book, or _PW_ has given the book a star, or a friend has raved about the book, or the reader has read other books by this author. In this case, the reader will probably forgive a less-than-gripping opening. In most of the cases we have discussed so far, I pictured the reader coming to the work cold -- perhaps browsing in the bookstore. If the reader has no prior experience with a book, then the reader will make a decision based on either the cover art, the cover blurbs, or the author's words -- usually from the first chapter. Since authors cannot guarantee that readers will always have prior, informed information, it behooves the author to make the opening as interesting as possible. Why risk that the browsing reader will put your book? Also, when the reader starts a story out with a bang, I find reading the rest of the book something I look forward to. When I have to trudge through a chapter or two before the real action of a book gets going, that slow start colors my experience with the rest of the book, no matter how interesting or engaging the author makes the rest of the story. Just like my observations about why authors would choose not to use quotation marks, I think authors write dull beginnings at their own risk, and in doing so, equates the the author-reader relationship with master-slave rather than person-person. - -- Terry L Jeffress | I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the South Jordan, UT | paperwork. -- Peter de Vries - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 13:24:12 -0700 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: Re: [AML] Story Beginnings On Mon, Dec 10, 2001 at 04:42:37PM -0800, Jerry Tyner wrote: > I have to add my two cents to what Clark wrote here about lack luster > beginnings. I picked up a book by Piers Anthony several years ago (first > I had read by him) and it had won the British Fantasy Award for the year > before (sorry - I don't remember the actual name of the award). Anthony, Piers. _A Spell for Chameleon._ British Fantasy Award, 1978 Nominations - Hugo - Gandalf Locus Reader's Poll - 9th best novel > The point is sometimes you have to slog through the first part of a book > to understand the authors style and if it grabs you then you understand > how to read his or her other works as well. Sometimes you have to, but that doesn't make this a good practice for authors. Certainly, as Jonathan pointed out, we have to make allowances for the traditions of a particular genre. I will give one of those enormous fantasy tomes a chapter or two to get rolling, but by the authors should have convinced me that enough interesting things happen in the fantasy world that will make me interested and want to continue. I don't think that as authors we should ever look at our work and say, "Oh well, just let the reader slog through the first third of the book because then it gets really interesting." As reader's we should demand our right to have interesting works. Great authors know how to write an interesting opening scene that has just the right amount of interesting movement, establishing shots, character development, and revelation of backstory. Certainly not easy, but certainly worth reading when done well. - -- Terry L Jeffress | The secret of popular writing is never to put South Jordan, UT | more on a given page than the common reader can | lap off it with no strain whatsoever on his | habitually slack attention. -- Ezra Pound - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 13:30:29 -0700 From: Melissa Proffitt Subject: Re: [AML] Skeleton Story On Tue, 11 Dec 2001 11:19:13 -0500, Tony Markham wrote: >Maybe a year ago 60 Minutes did a story about a skeleton up in = Washington >State that was creating quite a ruckus. It was a male, non-Indian, that >pre-dated the tribes of the pacific NW. > >The dispute was that the Indians were claiming the skeleton to dispose = of >as they saw fit, the archaeologists felt it belonged to science, the = Army >Corps of Engineers defied a court order and bulldozed the site where the >skeleton was found into oblivion, and that was that. > >I've wanted to research this story for a writing project, but have been >unable to Boolean Search any info. Does anyone up in the Pacific NW = have >any knowledge about this story--how the skeleton is referred to in news >stories? I believe they call him Kennewick Man, but it's been so long I don't remember. Plus I wasn't living there at the time; my parents live in the Tri-Cities. There's a section of _Darwin's Radio_ by Greg Bear that = touches on the subject, but calls him by a different name. You might try looking= at the resource list at the back of that novel. Melissa Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 11:46:20 -0900 From: Stephen Carter Subject: RE: [AML] Critiques and Writer's Dreams James Wilson wrote: I haven't >been published yet either, but the idea of spending several pages describing >raindrops is rather horrifying. I don't suppose they could drip much >differently than usual, and focusing on trivial beauties doesn't make them >more beautiful. I recently read a provocative article in the Atlantic Monthly called "A Reader's Manifesto." I can't find it at the moment so I can't tell you issue or page, but it's recent. It follows along the lines of this monstrous TA and his literary quirks. The author takes down some of the greats like Annie Proulux (is that how you spell it?) and whoever it was that wrote Snow Falling on Cedars. I was laughing along with the author as he disemboweled these big names until he blasphemed Cormac McCarthy, then I had to actually think. Anyway, if you want a good read that really takes modern literary styles to task, seek this article out. Believe it or not, he actually favors good plots. What a relief. Stephen Carter Fairbanks, Alaska - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #543 ******************************