From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #556 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 28 2001 Volume 01 : Number 556 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2001 15:50:07 -0700 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: RE: [AML] Mormon Authors in Nat. Market Because we are a missionary church, we will never get our messages into the mainstream culture without tricking them into thinking we aren't trying to proselyte them--and I don't think we SHOULD be able to. The question that active Mormons can and should ask about authors like Brady Udall, Brian Evenson, and Neil LaBute is, Are they sneaking in any worthwhile Mormon theology or principles in their material? In addition to being intrinsic to the storytelling, perhaps their worldly, carnal, dark, violent (etc.) elements are like the "sugar" that helps the spoonful of Mormon medicine go down. (Or maybe some authors are just corrupt in some cases, without any redeeming Mormon medicine.) Frankly, if I were not a Mormon, I would never want to read something that assumed the Mormon church was true and presented all its cultural biases undigested by a solidly worldly sensibility and skepticism. Frankly, I don't even want to read that kind of literature as an active member. Fiction is a tool for expressing and exploring humanity, not a tool for institutional propaganda. Now what we need is for people to keep pushing more Mormon-informed stuff into the mainstream. I think we'll make gradual progress as time goes on and readers learn to trust us not to proselytize and we produce excellent work (no more excellent than anyone else). We need some solid "literary mainstream" (as opposed to genre) Mormon writers like Amy Tan, Margaret Atwood, Anne Tyler (it's interesting that all women are coming to mind--I could also say John Updike, Philip Roth, John Irving). They won't be able to include many--if any--explicitly Mormon elements, but they can suffuse the work with the saner parts of the Mormon sensibility, the parts that don't make intellectual, creative people want to spew. I like what Todd Peterson said at the most recent AML writers' conference: We use our Mormonism as a booster rocket to get us into the space of a story, but then that booster rocket falls off and is not visible to those observing the story in space. (This post is actually a bit hypocritical for me, because what I really want to happen is for explicitly Mormon stuff to stealth its way into the mainstream of contemporary literature, for starters my own or someone else's realistic account of the Mormon missionary experience.) Chris Bigelow - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2001 16:10:35 -0700 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] Salt Lake Trib Article on Utah's Rel. Divide [MOD: In replying to this post, keep in mind that the point of connection for AML-List is in how Mormon culture and belief translate into Mormon letters--including artistic creation, consumption, and criticism. Clearly there's a large area of connection between literature and belief; we're on topic here so long as our conversation straddles that line, rather than straying into purely doctrinal and cultural arguments and critiques.] The recent Salt Lake Tribune special section on the religious divide in Utah made me do some thinking. Personally, I'm the kind of Mormon who enjoys my membership more when I'm living outside of Utah as an exotic minority. As a Utah resident--especially in Provo, arguably ground zero for tunnel-visioned cultural Mormonism--I find myself constantly chafing under the prevailing conformity and assumptions. In the Mormon worldview, it seems like everything is either "uplifting" or "inappropriate." Mormonism replaces the spicy jambalaya of the "world" with room-temperature oatmeal. Yes, jambalaya gives me heartburn and I know oatmeal is good for me, but still. While I was serving as a Mormon missionary, one of the most difficult objections was when people challenged our claim of being the world's only true church. As United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in his recent acceptance speech for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, "The idea that there is one people in possession of the truth, one answer to the world's ills or one solution to humanity's needs has done untold harm throughout history." That statement contains much insight, and I'm grateful Utah is relatively peaceful despite Mormonism's intensity along those lines. It hasn't always been smooth going for the Mormons, but somehow we've managed to move away from conflict and toward peace, rather than vice versa. However, as hard as Mormons work to build bridges, deep down we can never fully respect anyone who doesn't recognize the Mormon gospel as true and accept it as God's only official religion. If I squint my eyes and look past Mormonism's Christian paradoxes of humility and charity, the religion looks to me like spiritual Darwinism. In the Mormon view, only the spiritually fittest will be able to continue reproducing after mortality, which is the source of celestial joy. Unless a person gets in tune enough with the "Holy Spirit" to recognize that Mormonism holds the keys of the universe and then adheres to its principles, he or she will not survive in the eternal gene pool. I see that not as a negative model but as a coldly realistic way to understand Mormonism. The warmth of the Mormon position is that, considering our massive missionary and public relations efforts and our emphasis on universal Christian repentance, no one can accuse us of exclusivity. Mormons honestly want everyone to see the light, and our message is as consistent and widely available as the Big Mac (and the comparison doesn't end there--don't get me started on "special" sauce). Mormonism has proven that it is a religion, not an ethnicity, except perhaps in Utah. Far from wanting to keep people out of our temples, we desperately want them to come inside--but only after they have proven their commitment to becoming what we see as spiritually fit. If they don't avail themselves of that opportunity, the best we can do is hope they eventually will. More often, we tend to write them off as spiritually unfit. My own problem is that I can relate with both sides of the divide. The insipid, simplistic Mormon mindset drives me nuts, and I really hope God is not a Mormon. I keep a current temple recommend, but I don't consider mainstream Mormonism my cultural home. On the other hand, comparing the world's belief systems makes Mormonism look to me like a computer stacked up against a typewriter. And I don't trust people's attempts to translate their emotions and earthbound understanding into fact. Just because people don't like--for whatever reason--a faith claiming to be the world's truest religion and God's only official church doesn't prove that claim is false. Rather, it shows that such people have more faith and hope in human capacities and communities than inclination and means to find out for certain what God is up to. Christopher Bigelow - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 10:08:32 -0700 From: "Cathy Wilson" Subject: Re: [AML] Salt Lake Trib Article on Utah's Rel. Divide There was a charming column in the Trib following up this article but my early-morning fuzzy mind doesn't land on the author's name. It was titled something like "How to Make a Gentile Friend." It promised yet another follow-up on how nonMormons can deal with us. You realize, of course, that there are many, many religions that claim to be the "only true." I think we lose sight of this when we are encompassed by the Mormon culture. However, we had an interesting insight the other day: LDS theology, alone among other world religions, offers a way to include nonbelievers in heaven--temple work. Cathy (Gileadi) Wilson Editing Etc. 1400 West 2060 North Helper UT 84526 - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #556 ******************************