From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V2 #62 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, May 23 2003 Volume 02 : Number 062 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 22:15:29 -0600 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] Does Intent Matter? D. Michael Martindale wrote: > Yes, few artists are perfect. Like few of any other profession. So does > that we mean we allow people who know nothing about a profession make > the decisions instead of the imperfect professional? But that's the way the business is run, isn't it? Publishers are not artists; they're business owners who want to make as much money with as little investment as possible. They're largely held in thrall by distributors who are even less concerned with art than publishers, but who do the ugly work of tracking shipments and payments and sales so that (eventually) the author gets paid. They aren't in it for the art; they're in it for the money. And if the art ain't selling, they'll drop your ass in a hot second and find someone who will make them money. If art is marketable, they'll market it; otherwise they'll give it a pass and the art can rot. Unless you want to publish with an art house that's in it for the goal of getting some good work out to a very small audience without losing too much money. We can be mad about the way the world is or we can find a way to work it to our advantage. Quite of bit of Jongiorgi's rant against non-professionals bugs me, but he makes at least one point that I can only applaud and repeat--if you're serious about getting published you'll find a way. If you want publication more than you want validation of your unique value as a human being, you'll sell. It may not satisfy your soul, but it will pay for sodas and Internet access. And if you're really, really good--and willing to make choices that support crass commercialism over pure art in some circumstances--you can both satisfy your soul and your accountant at the same time. It's a matter of which choices you're willing to make--and follow through on. Having said that, I see nothing at all wrong with small presses or specialty publishers and the people who both read and write for them. A great many successful writers spend an inordinate amount of time reading books that don't sell huge numbers of copies, and admit that a fair amount of their own inspiration comes from sources that are not household names. It's all part of the continuum, and there is nothing at all wrong with writing for publication in smaller venues if that's what you want to do. One can be just as influential in impacting the thoughts of a generation by inspiring a popular author as by being that author. It's part of why I would like to see some more people write explicitly Mormon stories that don't fall into the traditional DB/Covenant mold. I think there's a niche (between 2K and 20K readers right now; could be developed to a loyal group of 10-50K readers) out there who are interested in well-wrought stories that look at life as seen through the peculiar lens of Mormon spiritual constructs. I also believe that there's a breakout novel or two to be had from the currently active group of Mormon writers. Not a crap shoot, but a consistent statistical occurence--someone will tell the story that transcends the local or regional mind and speaks to larger community. When that happens, all who write Mormon stories will be raised one step higher in the food chain and greater opportunity will exist for tellers of overtly Mormon stories. Does that mean Mormons should only write Mormon stories? Of course not. We should tell the stories that meet our goals as humans and as writers. That Mormon fiction doesn't sell well only proves that it's a young market. No one particularly cared about shark stories until Peter Benchley knocked our socks off (or bit them off, as it were). No one cared about Greek weddings until a particular big fat one came along. No, it's not likely any given story will be the breakout piece--especially if it's only published through a regional press. Like it not, _The Christmas Box_ didn't really break out until it was picked up nationally--and after an enormous amount of dogged self-promotion by Brother Evans. Somewhere out there is a gifted author/huckster who can put it all together. I think I've met him--or at least his soul brother. In fact, I think I've met several candidates who could do equally well in the role. I'm just trying to figure out how to get that/those author(s) in front of a broad enough audience that mathematical probability has a fighting chance. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 22:15:51 -0600 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Horror Andrew Hall wrote: > Someone mentioned OS Card's Lost Boys. He also did a couple of > horror novels in the mid-90s, The Treasure Box and Homebody. > Neither was particuarly horrific, and I thought they were among > his weakest novels. He did several horror short stories early on, which are > collected in: > _The Changed Man_ Tor, 1992. > Not all of them are really horror, but several are. I still > remember "Fat Farm" pretty well. The original short story of > Lost Boys is also in this collection. Hey, those were great > stories, I should read them again. It seems to me that Card actually started with something very much like horror, though with a vaguely sf twist. Stories like "Closing the Timelid" and "Euminides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory" and "Queitus" and even "Thoughts of My Head" would qualify as a sort of Weird Tales sort of horror. Other stories, like his short story "Kingsmeat" or his novel "Wyrms" certainly contain horrific elements, though I would stop short of calling them horror in the Dean Koontz vein. What I haven't seen a lot of are traditional horror stories from a Mormon standpoint. Unlike even the Jews with their golems and other homunculi, Mormonism doesn't really have a "dark side" of documented horrors. Yes, horrific stories of ordinarily horrible things happening to good people, but not a lot of theologically supported monsters, creatures, or ghouls, and no standard book of exorcism or counterspells to the dreaded seventh book of Moses. One could certainly speculate such things (we had a discussion over on the LDSF list a few years ago about clones being used as new homes for Legion and his compatriots in subversion of the correct order of things), but the lack of officially defined nasty critters seems like a pretty substantial hill to climb. It would require extraordinary imagination and delivery. Difficult, but possible. Who's up to the challenge? Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 22:16:13 -0600 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] In Defense of the Church/Art Paradox, Part 2 Jongiorgi Enos wrote: > Among J.C.'s many complaints about the church, were several that have = > come up in discussions among AML members, and about which I think each = > of us struggle-the faithful and the doubting alike. One of J.C.'s lines = > of complaint could be summarized simply as the following question:=20 > > "If the Church is true, why are there so many bozos in it?"=20 > > Or: "If the church is so true, why is there so much mediocrity in = > members of the church." Might I suggest Marden Clarke's fine essay "Liberating Form" as an interesting take on this question--or at least one that resonates strongly with it. I read it in his anthology of the same title; it was originally published in Dialogue, I believe, back in 1974 or so. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 20:21:16 -0600 From: "Paris Anderson" Subject: Re: [AML] Alternative Press I really wasn't thinking of finding an audience for anyone. I wasn't thinking of promoting Mormon Literature. I was thinking more along the lines of making a permanent record of something cool. A record that would last more than ten years. I know only ten copies of a book is really insignificant, but I don't think anyone could do more than that and still keep the cost at --0.00--. There are people who want to push Mormon literature and have it recognized--and it would be great if that happened--but I'm not one of those people. I want to make a record of Mormon literature. It's too easy to throw away a stack of papers. It's easy to lose something in a computer. But it's not easy to throw away something that looks cool. If your grandson came across a ratty-looking paperback that you had cherished, he would probably throw it away. But if he found a cool-looking book that was unlike any other book he had ever seen he would probably think there was something "Special" about it. He would probably keep it around--might even give it to his grandson. I might do only two or three books in my life, but each of those books will be a hundred times more likely to survive a hundred years. If you had read Scott Bronson's "The Whipping Boy" you would understand why this is important. Certain stories have to exist. Paris Anderson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 14:32:53 -0700 (PDT) From: "R.W. Rasband" Subject: [AML] FLETCHER, _Rule a Wife, Have a Wife_ Article from deseretnews.com 'RULE A WIFE' A DELIGHTFUL ROMP While Shakespeare's plays stay in heavy rotation hundreds of years later, one of his contemporaries, John Fletcher, who was every bit as famous as the Bard back in that day, has been left playing a distant second fiddle. FULL STORY: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C505034185%2C00.html ===== R.W. Rasband Heber City, UT rrasband@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 18:38:49 -0700 From: Jeff Needle Subject: Re: [AML] Biblical Language Don't worry. Buddhism isn't all that bad. I wanted to become a Zen student while I was selling vacuum cleaners for a living. But it didn't work out -- I was required to give up all attachments. (And yes, I do know of the Zen student who asked the hot dog vendor to make him one with everything...) Linda Kimball wrote: > > I have no idea why my essay (supposedly accessible from the Mormon section) > has a Buddhism header! :-) I never noticed that before. I imagine the > Buddhists are a little confused, too. > Linda > > -- > AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature > - -- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 18:43:07 -0700 From: Jeff Needle Subject: Re: [AML] Books on Tape Thom Duncan wrote: > > >-----Original Message----- > >Thanks -- this is the info I've gotten. I wonder how > >different this is > >from "reading" a Readers Digest Condensed Book. My guess is > >that RD won't > >cut out entire storylines. > > Wrong. Their edited version of _Jaws_ cut out a sub-plot where the > scientist character has an affair with the Police Chief's wife. I read > both versions, and, in this case, the RD version was much better. The > original was overwritten by about a hundred pages with a sub-plot of > gratuitous sex scenes. I kept saying, "Get back to the shark! Get back > to the shark!" > > Thom Duncan > The difference, I think, is that the "Dove" storyline is a major component of the story that the author was trying to tell. By omitting this part of the book (it may be more than 1/3 of the book!), you have to leave out some of the major LDS characters, and a part of the story that was clearly intended to be told. Maybe I'm wrong -- perhaps you have to read the book to see what I'm talking about. - -- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 10:23:06 -0400 From: "Jamie Laulusa" Subject: Re: [AML] KUSHNER, _Angels in America_ Do "most LDS" even know about this play? I'd never heard of it before this conversation came up. Granted, I'm bearly out of High School and haven't had time to discover all the Dirty Little Secrets of the World. But I'm pretty sure that if I surveyed my ward about what they thought of Kushner and his plays "most" of them would have no idea what I was talking about. Or maybe I'm the only one. ~Jamie Laulusa - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 09:11:03 -0600 From: "David and Dianna Graham" Subject: [AML] Alma 32 In my last post, I cited Alma and mistakenly claimed that the seed of faith lesson was in Alma 34. I actually checked last night, and it was 32, sorry. Love, Dianna Graham - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 09:40:13 -0600 From: "Thom Duncan" Subject: RE: [AML] Beliefs on Trial >-----Original Message----- >From: owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com >[mailto:owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com] On Behalf Of David >and Dianna Graham > >I'm not trying to sound condescending. I'm sorry if this >comes off that way. I just think that we really need to be >careful how deeply delved we can get into the world in what we >read, watch, and create. On an ACTF trip some years back, >George Nelson was talking to one of the students about whether >or not to use some of the profanity written into her scene for >Irene Ryans. George made such a great comment. He pointed >out how the actors from the Y just stood out from the rest of >the actors so much. The cleanliness of our material was one >of those things that set us apart, and that our acting just >shined or something. (That was definitely paraphrasing). You >could probably guess what he meant, though. I totally agree. >Not to be prideful, be we were not allowed to depend on tricks >of any sort. We had to be much more imaginative. So how many awards did the BYU students win for their shining acting ability? Thom - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 11:04:20 -0600 From: "Eugene Woodbury" Subject: Re: [AML] KUSHNER, _Angels in America_ Though to put things in the proper statistical context, "most" Mormons have never heard of Tony Kushner, far fewer will ever contemplate seeing one of his plays, and only some fraction of them will actually see one of his plays. It is highly unlikely that those who do would attend without a good idea of what to expect. Granted, the odds of inflicting offense on the audience would improve somewhat if, say, Angels in America were to show up on PBS and be carried by KUED. But then we could discuss the kind of Mormons who watch prime time PBS on a regular basis. The cultural worlds we occupy, even under the rubric of a common church or state, can be very self-selecting. Eugene Woodbury - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 12:37:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Marie Knowlton Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Ideas of Friendship This is a great topic to explore, and one I think we rarely delve into as LDS authors. Jonathan wrote: Most of our literature seems to be either internal to Church culture, or focusing on the inner life of the individual, or seeing the outside world as the opposition that (in some sense) must be faced. >From what I've read, when authors focus on the tension between LDS and non-LDS as friends, neighbors, and community members, it usually serves as more of a plot device to: 1) get the nons safely converted; 2) test the hero or heroine's adherence to Gospel principles when the nons go astray; or 3) point out how much better is the LDS way of life. Rarely do we see co-existence, tolerance, or genuine friendship as valid story resolutions. This seems to be particularly true of LDS romantic fiction. I've yet to see a novel where the LDS protagonist marries a non-member and it doesn't end in total disaster (followed, of course, by a romance with, and marriage to a worthy member). It would be great to see more works that deal with the friendship aspect, too. We tend to be such a peculiar people that we often forget we can actually love others without converting them. [Marie Knowlton] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 14:29:14 -0600 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] ROGERS, _Huebener_ Review (FW) 'Huebener' is a well-scripted, powerful piece By Ivan M. Lincoln Deseret News theater editor HUEBENER, Black Box Theatre, Bountiful Performing Arts Center, through June 11 (294-7469). Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes (one intermission). BOUNTIFUL - This intense, emotionally moving drama focuses on the true-life story of a German teenager who - with three friends - attempts to thwart Hitler's Nazi regime. Helmuth Huebener is not just a daring young man, he's also a member of a tiny branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hamburg. Both he and his branch president - a member of the Nazi party - are torn between being true to their own ideals and one of the church's central beliefs: "being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates . . . and sustaining the law." It's an awkward and dangerous time for both Huebener and President Arnold Zoellner in a drama that spans one year, from October 1941 to the fall of 1942 in war-torn Germany. (Playwright Thomas Rodgers, who wrote the play in the mid-1970s, is directing this first-ever Salt Lake-area production.) The mixed cast of seasoned performers and youthful talent gives the drama a realistic edge. Huebener and his young friends - played on Friday night by Chris Hunt, Matt Elggren, Mickell Wright and Nathan Keyes - deliver just the right touch of teenage bravado. They're out to change the world for the better, regardless of the cost. And for Huebener (Hunt), the cost is deadly. There are some fine performances - Bob Walkingshaw as the tormented President Zoellner, Candy Revels as Huebener's mother, Emma; Phil Edmunds and Rosemary Rogers as Emma's parents, and Shane Kester as the mean Nazi officer who tries - but fails - to beat Helmuth and his young colleagues into submission. Andrew Kirk is single-cast as Helmuth's half-brother, Gerhard, who gives the family a radio. (The fact that Gerhard is Emma's son by a previous marriage is not clear in the dialogue; this fact was gleaned from a copy of the script.) The radio is a key element in the drama. Helmuth's clandestine, nighttime sessions of listening to BBC broadcasts - and learning the truth about the German government's lies - is what motivates the young man to print inflammatory fliers (on the LDS branch's mimeograph machine), inciting people to question Hitler's motives. One of the most dramatic moments in the production is the first scene in Act Two, when President Zoellner asks the first counselor to give the opening prayer on Sunday morning - then has him read the prayer from a paper he's already written out for him. The first counselor (played on Friday night by the playwright) is obviously very uncomfortable with the situation - - delivering a highly political, scripted prayer. This is followed by an announcement that Helmuth has been excommunicated- an act that takes the small congregation, and the lad's grandfather, by surprise. Later, in a German prison cell, Helmuth himself ponders what the Prophet Joseph Smith faced in Carthage Jail - "going like a lamb to the slaughter, but calm as a summer's morn." Rogers' script is powerful and provocative, but it could use some tinkering and tightening. The Bountiful Performing Arts Center's tiny stage also has some built-in problems. The scene changes are lengthy and noisy, detracting from the intensity of the unfolding drama. But "Huebener" is an important piece of literature, focusing on a major incident in the church's history in Europe. It deserves a broad audience. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 14:31:44 -0600 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] Judith Freeman Excommunication? (FW) 'Massacre' Novelist May Face LDS Excommunication By Patty Henetz The Associated Press [printed in Salt Lake Tribune] Nineteenth-century polygamy and the Mountain Meadows Massacre are hypersensitive subjects in Mormon history. Judith Freeman wrote about both in her 2002 novel, Red Water. Now she believes she may be excommunicated. In July, six months after the novel's publication, the president of the Los Angeles stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Michael Fairclough, wrote Freeman a letter inviting her to meet with him "to discuss your feelings about the church and what, if anything, should be done about them." A lapsed Mormon who hasn't been to church for 30 years, Freeman said she found Fairclough's letter ominous, and considered it a disciplinary summons. "This letter was intended to silence or punish or intimidate me as a writer," she said. While Freeman hasn't been active in the church for decades, neither has she asked to have her name removed from membership rolls. The notion that church authorities might do that for her "brought up all kinds of feelings," Freeman said. "One of the feelings was, 'I'm about to be ejected from the tribe,' a tribe my ancestors had served for generations." In his letter, Fairclough said he was generally aware of her reputation as a gifted writer. "I am also aware of public reports that you have long since become disaffected with, and estranged from, the Church," he wrote. In an interview, Fairclough denied his letter was a prelude to church discipline. "I just wanted to talk to her," he said. "I haven't read the book. I've only read about it." In Red Water, which won a 2002 Utah Book Award, three of John D. Lee's wives tell the story of the 1857 massacre in southern Utah of more than 120 Arkansas pioneers bound for California. Lee, the adopted son of church prophet Brigham Young, was the only man found guilty for the killings. On March 23, 1877, he was taken back to the scene of the crime, where a firing squad sat him on his coffin and shot him to death. Church leaders at first blamed the massacre on Piute Indians, then on apocalyptic fanatics on the frontier led by Lee. Historians continue to argue about the tragedy to this day, with some saying church prophet Young incited the mob and allowed Lee to be his scapegoat. Others maintain Young couldn't have known the settlers would attack the wagon train. In 1999, crews preparing a new monument to honor the Mountain Meadows victims inadvertently uncovered the scattered bones of at least 28 adults and children, some of whose skulls bore bullet holes. The conclusion they'd been shot at close range implicated the Mormons. But at the dedication of the memorial, church prophet and President Gordon B. Hinckley, while saying the church had a moral responsibility to remember the victims, refused to acknowledge any church complicity in the massacre. "Let the book of the past be closed," he said. For years, the story of the killings had been suppressed. Freeman said that when she was growing up, she knew only vaguely that something terrible happened at Mountain Meadows, but she, like many other Mormons, believed Indians did it. In 1996, after three of her novels and a short-story collection had been published, Freeman discovered Juanita Brooks' 1950 history, The Mountain Meadows Massacre, and decided she had to write a novel about it. That meant she had to write about polygamy, too. Freeman said that as a child with polygamous ancestors on both sides, she was taught a romantic view of polygamy, that everyone was happy and everyone worked together. But as she immersed herself in the 19th century diaries, including those of her own ancestors, Freeman concluded that polygamy, which church founder Joseph Smith said was an edict from God, caused plural wives to suffer emotionally and physically from the hunger and harshness and emotional privations of their lives. The Mormon church outlawed polygamy in 1890. It excommunicates practitioners and denies any affiliation with modern-day polygamous sects that consider themselves the true practitioners of original Mormon doctrine. Lee was excommunicated in 1870 for his part in the massacre. The church quietly restored his membership in 1961. In Red Water, Lee's excommunication terrified his wives, dependent on him for sustenance on Earth and a place in heaven. Emma explains that "to be excommunicated was to become a pariah, an outcast, in this world, and to join the realm of the damned in the next." Freeman said Mormon doctrine on excommunication, ingrained in her since childhood, contributed to her dismay over Fairclough's letter. Other Mormon artists have run into similar trouble with the church. Tom Rogers in 1976 wrote the play "Huebener," the story of a 17-year-old German Mormon boy who was guillotined for resisting the Nazi party; his bishop was a party member trying to protect the church. After its initial run at Brigham Young University, Rogers was told he couldn't produce "Huebener" again. English professor Brian Evenson left BYU in 1995 for the University of Denver and eventually left the church amid Mormon criticism of the dark themes and parallels to Mormonism in his fiction. Playwright and film director Neil LaBute was barred from taking sacrament and participating in church priesthood activities for creating despicable Mormon characters. Meanwhile, interest in Mountain Meadows remains high. A history of the massacre, Blood of the Prophets, by Will Bagley, was published last year. Two other versions by journalists are about to be released, and church historians are writing their own book. "I think many people in the church would be relieved to face the truth because then they could move on," Freeman said. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 16:54:17 -0500 From: "Lisa Tait" Subject: [AML] 20th Century Mormon Women: An Inquiry Folks, I want to enlist your help and ideas with a project I am beginning work on. I will try to be brief. I am working on a paper about my grandmother, Wanda Snow Petersen. I think she embodies an important tradition in Mormon letters--the humble, dutiful compiler of family history stories, primarily for her family's benefit. Now, Grandma was not a professional writer (though she was friends with a couple of future standouts in her years at BYU--Sam Taylor and Virginia Sorenson). But she was a serious writer. She didn't look to make money off her writing, but she produced almost as much as someone who did. She was a state president of the League of Utah Writers and she belonged to the Pen Women for many years. She wrote for newspapers; she wrote a study of the Lehi Sugar Factory (which I think was commissioned by the Alpine School District); she compiled a book of stories about American Fork pioneers. She (self-)published half a dozen books of family history, three of which she tried to sell in bookstores with little success. She was a school teacher, a farm wife, "president of everything she joined" (to quote her daughter), and a lifelong (passionate) Democrat. Many of the strains of Mormon history come together in her life. She was a Snow (her grandfather was a brother of Erastus) with Mormon roots all the way back to Joseph Smith; her grandmother was a handcart pioneer from England. Her grandfather, and later her husband's family, were Danish immigrants. Both her parents were born of polygamy. And both were of Victorian vintage. She could write of the pioneer lifestyle (making soap and cutting rags for rugs; wash day and haymaking) because she had lived it to a great extent. The little towns in Carbon and Emery county where she grew up were among the last places in Utah (probably in the U.S.) to achieve "modernization." She did not have running water or electricity in her home until she was nearly 40. She was humble, self-effacing, and absolutely delightful. What I'm looking for is some contextualization of her life, and that of her generation. The general topic of this paper is LDS women in the 20th century. It's broad, and I'm not narrowing it down yet. I'm looking for suggestions for further reading, maybe for other studies that could serve as models. Some possibilities: **The writing of Mormon family history. Anything about this--the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers movement, for example. Or writing family history in general. There might be useful ideas in introductions to works that wouldn't otherwise apply--maybe someone who has written about his family. **Women writing about themselves; theories about women's writing, women's life stories. Also, writing biography or writing history. **20th century lives and the changes people like my grandmother witnessed in their lifetimes. (I'm reading "The Greatest Generation." It's not all that helpful because it's so focused on WWII but it is great reading.) I'm particularly interested in this in the Mormon context. Anybody know of good work on 20th century Mormonism? I know that I'm being very general here. And those suggestions are only a few possibilities. I'm hoping to jog your interests or memories. To that end, does anyone have any suggestions? You never know what might resonate or apply, so speak up. Thanks! Lisa Tait - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 17:12:03 -0700 (PDT) From: "R.W. Rasband" Subject: Re: [AML] Narrative Choices I'm sorry, but "The West Wing" has been sucking wind since 9/11. Remember two years ago at the close of season two, when Bartlet's MS secret had been exposed and a huge scandal had erupted. We know that Aaron Sorkin's template for his show was the Clinton administration, without the squalor. It was fairly obvious that his narrative plan for season three was to refight "the Clinton wars" only on Sorkin's terms: nasty Republicans try to destroy flawed but noble Democratic president. Donna was even slated to be the girlfriend of the House Republican counsel of the committee trying to impeach Bartlet. Then came the terrorist attacks, and that stuff suddenly seemed to most people to be a distant, sordid, trivial memory. Sorkin had to wrap up that storyline quickly in a few perfunctory episodes, and has been flailing around ever since trying to say something relevant about the new political situation. Thus the plotlines have gotten more and more "melodramatic" (some would say hysterical.) The show started out as a serious drama about politics, laced with literate, sophisticated comedy. Now its a soap opera and Sorkin's heart is no longer in it, since he's leaving now at the end of only four seasons. Joseph Smith once said, no man knows my history. You wouldn't believe it if I told you everything: I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't experienced it. And it was Philip Roth who said in the 1960's that the novelist was constrained by his imagination, whereas reality was constantly running away with itself, making it impossible for the artist to keep up. God does appear to be fond of melodrama, of spectacular surprises. Look at the course of Joseph Smith's life. Read the newspapers of the last twenty years about events both great and small. Read your own journals, if you keep them, and marvel at the transformations your own life takes over time. I've tried to watch "24" but can't get into it. Too much contrived adrenalin. God's surprises are at once sharper and more subtle than anything most American commercial television can come up with. That's why I'm so sorry to see "Buffy" go. Now there's a show that gives the mythic credit where it belongs: not to us, but to The Big Guy in charge of Everything. ===== R.W. Rasband Heber City, UT rrasband@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 18:41:04 -0700 From: Jeff Needle Subject: Re: [AML] Biblical Language There are several. There is the "Easy to Read BOM" and then there is a "Reading Guide to the BOM" which was, in earlier incarnations, "Mormon's Story" and then something else. I can easily get the details if there's interest. Of course, you do well to get the new version of BOM from the RLDS (Community of Christ) Church. It's the missionary edition, and they remove "and it came to pass" and modernize other language. It really makes a difference. Many will also remember "A Voice from the Dust," an early attempt to tweak the book to make it more readable. "Ronn! Blankenship" wrote: > > At 10:26 AM 5/19/03 -0600, Eugene Woodbury wrote: > > >Still, institutions like the church could greatly move things forward > >on their own, for example, by authorizing "modern" English language > >versions of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. Not > >that I'm expecting it to happen any time soon. > > Somebody did produce a so-called "modern English" version of the Book of > Mormon several years ago. (Probably somebody else here will remember the > details.) > - -- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 22:18:07 -0600 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] Gagging of Neil LaBute D. Michael Martindale wrote: > Put simply, it looks very much like Neil LaBute wrote a play somebody in > authority over him didn't like, and LaBute the artist has been subdued > and gagged as a result. Neil made a choice, as all of us do. Was the ecclesiastical authority correct? Don't know, and to a very real degree I don't care. If _The Matrix Reloaded_ has any actual philosophical content, it's the idea that the choices we're faced with are not always fair, and there's no such thing as absolute, unfettered, uninfluenced freedom. What I find interesting is that Neil looked at some aspects of his work and decided they were less important to him than active membership in the Church. Is he now less of an artist than he was before? I'm not sure why he would be. It's an artistic choice like any other. Neil made it. What might he have written if he hadn't decided to steer away from some stories? Who knows? It's an unanswerable question, and any claim that all of Neil's work must now be somehow diluted or less powerful is to do a great disservice to Neil the living artist, imo. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were no choices to made, if we didn't have to stub off entire avenues of possibility by making certain choices? But from where I stand, that's the way the world operates. The best you can do is make your choices, take your chances, and do the best you can with what you have. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 22:19:22 -0600 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] Fw: Banned Book from Cedar Fort D. Michael Martindale wrote: > I'd refuse to allow the prurience, even if it meant losing the contract. > But showing Mormons as nutcases--maybe. Do all the devil possession > movies involving Catholics make Catholics look like nutcases, or do > people just realize it's meant as a sort of fantasy? Either way, it > wouldn't deter me from having the book published. But aren't the Catholics usually the good guys who ride in with their crucifixes, holy water, and published books of standard exorcisms, volumes one through three? The point being that the Catholics solve the problem rather than being the problem, and the question of the culture's general validity or specific theological correctness is never questioned--the crucifix always works, unless the single, solitary individual doesn't have sufficient faith to power it up. The institution itself is rarely on trial. Totally different animals. If we can tell stories with Mormons as both good and bad guys--*and portray both sides fairly*--without then going on to make grand interpretational statements about "Mormonism" then I'm game for it. Experience has taught me that most Mormon authors put Mormons in their stories either to prove or disprove Mormonism as a social or religious concept, rather than as a spiritual framework for establishing the peculiar and inventive neuroses of individual human beings. We need to grow up. Yes, some Mormon writers should defend The Faith, if that's the story they need to tell. But others should explore what faith as a general concept means from the viewpoint of one Mormon (just one, not all of them). We don't all have to grind our axes against the institution all the time in every story. Do we? We sure seem to spend a lot of time at it. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 23:50:10 -0600 From: "Mom" Subject: Re: [AML] KUSHNER, _Angels in America_ You're right about this. I saw _Angels in America_ in Houston and I was the only person in my ward that had any interest in seeing it. I had to beg a friend to see it with me. Then I moved to Utah and needed to find someone to go with me to see _Peristroika_. I had to track down a former Mormon drama coach to see the play with me. I wouldn't have asked any of my ward members to attend the play with me. But, I certainly knew what to expect, before going to the play. Having seen Part I and Part II of _Angels in America_, I definately want to read the play. I just haven't gotten around to doing it. I have lived here 8 years and I still don't have any friends who I think would enjoy seeing _Angels in America_. Most members of the church have absolutely no interest in Kushner's play. Nan McCulloch - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V2 #62 *****************************