From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V2 #99 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 Tuesday, July 8 2003 Volume 02 : Number 099 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2003 17:34:56 -0600 From: Gideon Burton Subject: [AML] Ann Cannon PEN Center Award Finalist _Charlotte's Rose_ by former AML president and 2002 AML YA awardee Ann Cannon, has been named a finalist in the PEN Center USA Literary Awards: - ----- Original Message -----=20 PEN CENTER USA ANNOUNCES 2003 LITERARY AWARD BOOK WINNERS=20 Los Angeles (July 1, 2003) - PEN Center USA today announced the book = winners and finalists of its 2003 Literary Awards competition honoring = outstanding works published or produced in 2002 by writers living in the western = United States. =20 PEN USA's annual awards program, established in 1982, is a unique = regional competition that rewards writers in ten categories, from playwrights to journalists to novelists and poets, and celebrates the written word in = all forms. Distinguished panels of judges, comprised of writers, editors and journalists, selected this year's winners and finalists from more than = 500 entries; Los Angeles Times editor Susan Brenneman served as chair of = judges. Each winner receives a $1,000 cash prize and is honored at a gala awards ceremony that will be held in Los Angeles at the Millennium Biltmore = Hotel on October 20, 2003. Also honored at the ceremony will be Gordon = Davidson with the Award of Honor, Kevin Starr with the Lifetime Achievement = Award, Danny Goldberg with the First Amendment Award and the American Library Association with a Special Recognition honor. =20 Complete list of literary award winners - including Journalism, Drama, Teleplay and Screenplay - will be posted, along with bios, by July 15th. Please email awards@penusa.org for additional information. The = information below is also available on our website at http://www.penusa.org/03bkwinners.htm. ***=20 FICTION WINNER: LYDIA MILLET * My Happy Life (Henry Holt and Co.) =20 FINALISTS: Noel Alumit * Letters to Montgomery Clift (MacAdam/Cage Publishing) Mary Rakow * The Memory Room (Counterpoint) Jewell Parker Rhodes * Douglass' Women (Atria Books) Bruce Wagner * I'll Let You Go (Villard) =20 JUDGES:=20 Jonathan Gold, Susan Straight, Jervey Tervalon =20 *** =20 CREATIVE NONFICTION WINNER: DANIEL ELLSBERG * Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (Viking) =20 FINALISTS: Brenda Miller * Season of the Body (Sarabande Books Chris Offutt * No Heroes: A Memoir of Coming Home (Simon & Schuster) Dale Pendell * Pharmako /Dynamis: Stimulating Plants, Potions & = Herbcraft (Mercury House) Katy Robinson * A Single Square Picture: A Korean Adoptee's Search for = Her Roots (Berkley Books) =20 JUDGES: Steve Chapple, Jennifer Fisher, Emily Green =20 *** =20 RESEARCH NONFICTION WINNER: TIMOTHY FERRIS * Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are = Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril (Simon & = Schuster) =20 FINALISTS: Ann Louise Bardach * Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana (Random House) Charles Bergman * Red Delta: Fighting for Life at the End of the = Colorado River (Fulcrum Publishing) Charles Bowden * Down By the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family = (Simon & Schuster) Donald Spoto * Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi (Viking Compass) =20 JUDGES: Joe Domanick, Celeste Fremon, Ann Herold ***=20 =20 POETRY=20 WINNER: DONALD REVELL * Arcady (Wesleyan University Press) =20 FINALISTS: Barbara Guest * Miniatures and Other Poems (Wesleyan University Press) Walter K. Lew * Treadwinds: poems and intermedia texts (Wesleyan = University Press) Keith Shein * Rumors of Buildings to Live In (O Books) Nathaniel Tarn * Selected Poems 1950-2000 (Wesleyan University Press) =20 JUDGES: Michael Davidson, Andrew Maxwell, Marjorie Perloff =20 *** =20 CHILDREN'S LITERATURE WINNER: RON KOERTGE * Stoner & Spaz (Candlewick Press) =20 FINALISTS: Pat Carr * If We Must Die (TCU Press) A. E. Cannon * Charlotte's Rose (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House = Children's Books) Dianne E. Gray * Together Apart (Houghton Mifflin) Brenda Woods * The Red Rose Box (G.P. Putnam's Sons) =20 JUDGES: Amy Goldman Koss, Sharman Apt Russell, David L. Ulin =20 *** =20 TRANSLATION WINNER: GEOFFREY BROCK * Disaffections: Complete Poems 1930-1950 by Cesare = Pavese=20 (Copper Canyon Press) =20 FINALISTS: James Brook * The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette (City Lights = Books) Nadia Christensen * Tales of Protection by Erik Fosnes Hansen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Mary Crow * Engravings Torn From Insomnia by Olga Orozco (BOA Editions, Ltd.) Stanley Lombardo * Sappho: Poems and Fragments (Hackett Publishing = Company, Inc.) =20 JUDGES: Colette LaBouff Atkinson, John Felstiner, Marian Schwartz=20 ***=20 PEN is an international association of professional writers created in = 1921 to foster understanding among men and women of letters in all countries = and to protect the rights of writers. Founded in 1943, PEN USA is the third largest of the 130 centers worldwide and one of two centers in the = United States. With more than 1,300 professional writers as members, it is an influential presence in protecting freedom of expression around the = world and in fostering a vital literary culture in the West. In addition to = the annual literary awards program, PEN USA showcases contemporary = literature through numerous public events and readings, sends culturally diverse authors to work with high school students, provides mentors for emerging writers of promise from underserved communities, and participates in international human rights campaigns on behalf of censored and = imprisoned writers. =20 For further information, please contact PEN USA at (213) 365-8500. =20 - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 18:06:09 -0700 (PDT) From: "R.W. Rasband" Subject: Re: [AML] LDS-Themed Feature Film at GLBT Film Fest On last weekend's re-run of "Saturday Night Live" Rachel Dratch portrayed in a sketch "The Girl Without Gaydar" who was unsuspectingly approached by a lesbian (played by guest host Brittany Murphy.) "I'd like to take you to Salt Lake City," purred Murphy, thus confirming that SLC has a lesbian underground famous enough to attract the notice of late-night comedy writers from New York City. ===== R.W. Rasband Heber City, UT rrasband@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 18:31:26 -0600 From: "Nan P. McCulloch" Subject: Re: [AML] FW: DENTON, _American Massacre_ (SL Tribune) I would really like to hear a response by Levi Peterson, the author of the splendid biography _Juanita Brooks_. Nan McCulloch - ----- Original Message ----- From: "gtaggart" To: Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 10:13 PM Subject: RE: [AML] FW: DENTON, _American Massacre_ (SL Tribune) > R.W. Rasband, wrote, > > "In an excerpt from this book published in "American Heritage" magazine > October 2001, Denton made the highly dubious claim that Juanita Brooks > destroyed crucial evidence implicating Brigham Young and others in the > massacre. (We discussed this at length on the list at the time.) I > sent > the magazine a letter disputing this but never received a reply. It > would > be interesting to know if Denton continues to slander Brooks in the > completed book." - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 20:38:19 -0600 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: [AML] Quote of the Day My guess is that at least a handful of you are subscribers to AWAD (A Word A Day). For those of you who are not, I pass along this tidbit that came with today's word (conurbation): A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. -Thomas Mann, novelist, Nobel laureate (1875-1955) scott - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 08:22:25 -0700 From: "Susan Malmrose" Subject: Re: [AML] LDS-Themed Feature Film at GLBT Film Fest OK. This is really bothering me. Gay Lesbian B.... T....? Susan M > LDS-themed feature film opens East Coast's largest GLBT film fest - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 00:07:22 -0700 From: Harlow S Clark Subject: Re: [AML] Dealing with Our Past On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 10:46:57 -0600 "Brown" writes: > Thank you, both Lisa Tait and Margaret Young, for filling in the name > of the Tippetts and Newell book, which I had forgotten. (If one is > lazy on the list, just put out a question, get an answer?) I remember > how well how the Mormon audience did not take easily to the > historical material in that volume. Actually, the Mormon audience mostly ignored it. I would suspect its total readership is a smaller number of people, by an order of magnitude or two, than the number of LDS along the Wasatch Front who watched the Seinfeld episode on channel 13 at 10:30. > Margaret asks "What is wrong with us?" and I guess I just have to > say that when all is said and done most of our members focus on > "What is right with us?" Are you sure about that? I sure hear an awful lot about low percentages of home teaching and other statistical measures of our failure. > Having been censored myself, I reacted by trying to correct the > undesirable, hoping for forgiveness and trying to cozy up to the > "right." What I wrote in my "censored" work may have been > TRUE. But no one wanted to FACE that detail. Marilyn, define _no one_. > And I can think of a thousand things in my life that I "forget" to > face, though they are true. Yes, they are all TRUE occurrences, but > it seems they do not really build anybody's faith to know them. How do you know that? How do you know it doesn't build people's faith to know truth, even unsavory truth? I much prefer the portents of impending tragedy in D&C 122 to the drivel I heard in my last job about how you can accomplish anything as long as you set your mind to it. ("How would you like to write yourself a raise?" and "you are in charge of your advancement" turned out to mean, "We're not going to give you any help, or regular reviews, in advancement. You'll have to prove you deserve a raise without any statistical tools to help you prove it.") Even though I live below the poverty level (sort of, kind of, for the past 20 years) I'm still a priveleged pampered rich American, and it does help me, and build faith (and repentance and hope and charity--I hope) to see acknowledgment that much of the world doesn't live in priveleged poverty. You can take that last sentence to refer to either physical or spiritual conditions. > In fact, they may destroy the faith of some. I am midway through my second reading of Luther's translation "Evangelium des Markus." Markus is unsparing in his portrait of Jesus's companions as a bunch of uncomprehending dolts. So is Johannes. Indeed, Reynolds Price, in the preface to his translations of the same two works, _Three Gospels_, says the books' unsparing quality suggests they must have had apostolic protection because otherwise a young church struggling to survive persecution would not have preserved them, since the unsavory details about the leaders of the church might destroy the faith of some new converts. > The church is about building faith and the > atonement. Literature is more about telling the truth. As I suggested in my AML paper, riffing on a comment by Justin Halverson, literature also wants to be part of the atonement. Not to sound crotchety, but Marilyn, please stop apologizing for writing the scene of sexual awakening in _Ghosts of the Oquirrhs_. It's a fine novel about an engaging group of people, and the main character is worth reading about. The scene where she discovers her breasts is shocking, but only as shocking as jumping into a cold river. To discover, suddenly, that you're a sexual being is a shock, and the novel handles it briefly and nicely. (My 11 year old is just on the verge of making the same discovery. Oy gewalt!) The scene is much less graphic than other sexual awakening scenes I've read, particularly the scene in M. Scott Peck's _A Bed By the Window_ where the quadriplegic patient Stephen Solaris (flying toward the Sun/Son not away like Stephen Daedalus) decides to awaken sexually, a scene which involves masturbation and oral sex. I suspect a lot more Mormons have read that and not been offended by it than have read _Ghosts of the Oquirrhs_, and that readers of _Ghosts_ were mostly unoffended. You said in a letter to Eerie Ant Hums that you had offended your beloved people, but I'm part of your people, part of your audience and you didn't offend me. True, I can't afford to buy new many (hardly any) of the books by people I admire, so I'm not part of your paying audience, but I write about what I read, and I'm eloquent, and well written criticism can prolong the life of a book even when no copies are extant. Think of all the Greek writers we know of and have passages from only because Hairy Stottle and Sew Crates and Play Dough and others quoted them. Of course, even passionate invective, well-written or not, can prolong the memory of a work. Think of Jeremy Collier's 1698 porn classic, _A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage_, which is now a very handy guide to what Monty Python might call the naughty bits of a theatre, or at least a handy collection of the naughty bits of a whole bunch of plays Collier was inveighing against. There's more at stake here than whether you offended your culture. By taking the offense of a very small number of readers who were looking to be offended as the reaction of the whole culture you remove from those readers the sponsitility for their actions. We've discussed this before, but readers tend to accept things in non-Mormon writers they wouldn't in Mormon writers. Lynn Gardner has a wonderful shower scene in one of her novels. _Diamonds and Danger_, I think. There's implied sex, but not explicit, but, as Lynn said on AML-List (Ma and Pa Kettle should be back from the mission field by now, when's she going to sign back on?), the reader on tape didn't want to read that scene and so Covenant changed it in the book without notifying her, after she had approved the galleys. The scene was far less explicit than the bathtub scene in _Pet Sematary_, and judging from the many feet of Stephen King on the shelves of our too small library, more LDS have read and continue to read his sex scenes than have not read Lynn Gardner's. We may say to ourselves that gentiles don't know any better so we can excuse a few sex scenes (or whatever kinds of scenes offend us) for the sake of a good story, but we're going to hold our own to a higher standard. We forget, of course, to hold ourselves as readers to the high standards we impose on our writers, but not on those poor light-of-the-Gospel-less genitals. We ought to hold our culture, ourselves, responsible for our hypocrisy, rather than apologizing for wanting to explore the same subjects our readers turn to non-Mormon authors to explore. One final thing. Works of art do not interpret themselves. I've come to that banal conlcusion after having written, read at conferences and / or published dozens of critical works, both essays on literary theory and criticism of individual works. Readers make choices when they interpret a work of art. Some will choose to be offended. I've chosen to be offended many times. Occasionally I have been able to talk to a writer whose work I've taken offense at, or heard such a writer comment on the work I didn't like, and their comments don't indicate any desire to offend. In which case I have the sponsitility either to maintain my offense, or acknowledge the writer's intent, that is, to accept responsibility for how I read and react to someone else's offering, and not to fob off my response-ability onto someone who cannot possibly respond for me. To recap. I am a reader. I am part of your culture, part of your audience. Please don't reject my offering of affection for your work by apologizing for it. I hope that doesn't sound pompous and cranky. If it does, forgive me. I'm not going to try and rework it now. My drafts folder is full of almost-finished posts that I saved for just another bit of polishing or just a little more reflection, or just a little more sleep before I finish this, and I already consigned this to the drafts folder last night so I could write my son the SF writer turned Michigan Harry (sounds like a pool player) in Argentina who only checks his e-mail on Wednesday mornings. So I'm sending this out, even if it is pompous and windy and ill-thought out, and if I need to clarify, I will. Harlow S. Clark (Who finally found the George Hyrum Soderborg family in the 1930 census--it was, as my cousin said, keyed in as Soderberg, even though the enumerator clearly wrote Soderborg--even putting umlauts over the first o - -- I thought I was the only one who did that.) > However, I love the truth. I know that my reading experiences about > TRUE > indiscretions have allowed me to live a thousand lives I would not > really > live. Reading those painful experiences helps me to grow through > identifying > with someone else who makes a mistake so that I don't have to make > it. > That's why I love literature. And I'm with Margaret. I wish LDS > people would > like literature better. And even face the truth in Emma Smith's > life. > Congratulations to her on her third book (which is really quite > TRUE!)! > Hooray for the great review from Dennis Lythgoe (who wouldn't touch > mine > with a ten foot pole.) Cheers! Marilyn Brown - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 20:33:22 -0600 From: "Cherry Silver" Subject: [AML] Survey for Women [MOD: Apologies for the lateness of this. Please note that the deadline is= =20 TODAY and send the reply to the address below, NOT to AML-List.] Women members of AML-list might like to add your comments about life as an LDS woman for this research project on Church history. I told Janiece that your responses would be intelligent, witty, and show good sense. Cherry Silver - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janiece Johnson" Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 11:17 AM Subject: Sisters, I NEED YOU! Dear Sisters, This summer I have the opportunity to work as a research fellow at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History at BYU. Claudia Bushman of Columbia University is directing the research of eight fellows--of which I am a part--concentrating on the experience of LDS women in the twentieth century. We all feel privileged to be working together on such an important and under-represented topic. I am focusing on the varied experience of LDS women in the Church 1960-present. Through my research, I hope to be able to generally portray the experience of LDS women in contrast to many media portrayals and outside perceptions. To do this I need the help of many faithful women willing to share their personal feelings and experiences. The more responses, the better the research. I am hopeful that you and I will be able to use our networks of sisters to disseminate these questions to as many women as possible. Please take the time to answer yourself and forward this as many women as you can--mothers, sisters, aunts, friends anyone and everyone who fits in this group. All responses will be kept anonymous--names will not be used. Unfortunately, the time is short and I need responses very quickly! The deadline is a week from Tuesday, the 8th of July. Email responses can be sent to ldswomenquestions@hotmail.com. Questions may be directed to the same email address. (Hard copy surveys are also acceptable mailed to Janiece Johnson, 1338 S 1440 E, Provo, UT 84606. Though electronic is easier and faster, I do not want to exclude those who do not use or have access to email.) Thank you in advance for your help. I appreciate your time and efforts. Thank you! Janiece Johnson The survey questions are below and are also attached in a word file to be printed as hard copies if needed. 1. On a scale of 1 to 10--10 being the most content--how do you feel about your experience as a woman in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? 2. To what main experiences or feelings would you attribute your above answer? 3. Describe your relationships with priesthood leaders. 4. What future outlook do you see for Latter-day Saint women? 5. Please include any additional comments you wish to share about your experience as a woman in the Church. 6. Age: 7. Marital status: 8. City and state of current residence: 9. Highest level of education completed: 10. In the past six months, how often do you attend Church? 11. Will you permit me to use your comments anonymously? If your time permits, we would also appreciate responses to the following questions for the research project of another Smith institute fellow. 1. What are the Church=B9s dress and grooming standards? Have they changed over time? 2. Why do you think the Church teaches modesty? THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 15:14:06 -0600 From: Melissa Sanders Subject: [AML] Ken Sanders July Book Sale [MOD: I'm not sure whether I think this is appropriate or not for AML-List. I mean, we allow book signings and such. The fact that something is commercial is not inherently a problem for AML-List, if it's also relevant to the list topic and helps to further the cause of Mormon letters. This seems like a borderline case. So in addition to reading this message, I'd appreciate a sample of opinions from people on whether you think this is appropriate for AML-List, and why or why not. Please remember, in making your comments, that Melissa has been the soul of courtesy in forwarding this to us. If you feel offended by seeing this here, the fault is entirely mine as moderator, not hers.] Hello, I wasn't certain whether it would be appropriate to post this notice of our July book sale to the AML list, but given our large inventory of historical and literary LDS material, we thought this announcement would be of interest to AML subscribers. Thank you. Ken Sanders Rare Books wishes to announce a month long sale at our book shop. Through July 31st, every item in the shop (with the exception of a handful of consignment items) will be on sale for 25% off. The sale includes rare books, used books, photography, postcards, posters, prints and ephemera. Additionally, several thousand items have been further marked down to 50% off; $5.00 a volume; and $1.00 per book. We will have a sidewalk dollar sale during the upcoming July 24th weekend where thousands of books will be sold for one dollar! Ken Sanders Rare Books is located at 268 South 200 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84111. (801) 521-3819. The sale will take place during our regular business hours, Monday-Saturday, 10 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Best wishes, Melissa Sanders Ken Sanders Rare Books 268 South 200 East Salt Lake City, UT 84111 (801) 521-3819 melissa@dreamgarden.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 16:47:27 -0600 From: "Kim Madsen" Subject: RE: [AML] DENTON, _American Massacre_ (Revised Review) Jeff Needle: "Sheesh, Will Bagel..." Me: Maybe it was a subconcious Jewish stomach talking, Jeff...you'd better quit reading and go eat... Kim Madsen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2003 09:16:59 -0600 From: "Eugene Woodbury" Subject: [AML] Recommended July 4th Reading Azar Nafisi, the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, on the dangers of using religion as an ideology, and the freedoms that literature can bring: "Austen told us that a woman has the right to choose the man she wants to marry, against all authority. Nabokov taught us that people have a right to retrieve the reality that totalitarian mindsets have taken away from them. That is why works of imagination, especially fiction, have become so vital today in Iran. And I wish that Americans would understand that. Their gifts to us have been Lolita and Gatsby. Our gift to them has been reasserting those values that they now take for granted, reminding them that life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness belong to everyone." The Fiction of Life Atlantic Unbound | May 7, 2003 http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2003-05-07.htm - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 10:35:49 -0600 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (Des News) KRAKAUER, _Under the Banner of Heaven_ (Review) Author blunders over LDS history By Dennis Lythgoe Deseret Morning News UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN: A STORY OF VIOLENT FAITH, by Jon Krakauer, Doubleday, 358 pages, $26. Jon Krakauer is a respected adventure author whose books "Into the Wild" and "Into Thin Air" have won him significant popularity. Oddly, he has shifted his interests from physical adventure to "extremes of religious belief" - specifically the Mormons. Krakauer's new non-fiction book "Under the Banner of Heaven" is billed as an American story of "Taliban-like theocracies . . . controlled by renegade Mormon prophets." The major focus is the grisly double murder of Allen Lafferty's wife and baby, committed by his brothers Ron and Dan in the mid-1980s. Krakauer declares that "the underbelly" of Mormonism is revealed through the hideous Lafferty crime because the brothers believe they were "divinely inspired" to commit murder. The author then jumps from the Laffertys to polygamy and other facets of what he calls "Mormonism's violent past." For instance, he treats once more, and in great detail, the subject that has become the veritable bad dream of Mormon history, the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. So why does a successful non-Mormon writer feel compelled to dabble in Mormon history when he has no background in it? And when he does so, why does he present only a one-sided account? I can't answer the first question, but the answer to the second is that Krakauer's knowledge of Mormonism is obviously scant. He includes a reasonably balanced bibliography at the end of the book, but he seems to have used only a few of those works. He has drawn heavily from Fawn Brodie's discredited biography of Joseph Smith, "No Man Knows My History," to explain Joseph Smith's intentions and accomplishments, as well as the principle doctrinal beliefs of Mormonism. He refers to Brodie's book as "a masterpiece." Krakauer's thesis is that because religious devotion leads to extremism and violence, all religious devotion is wrong-headed and dangerous. Since he admits to being agnostic himself, he lacks the personal understanding of religious devotion necessary to deal with such a complex topic. That doesn't stop him from being tough on both Joseph Smith (whom he refers to as "a megalomaniacal tyrant" who "frequented houses of ill fame") and Brigham Young (whom he describes as "an unapologetic racist.") Krakauer also exposes the practices of "Mormon Fundamentalists," those who persist in practicing polygamy more than a century after the LDS Church abolished it, but mostly fails to differentiate between these extremists who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and mainstream Mormons who are. Krakauer makes too many small errors about Mormon history to list here. But worse than the errors of fact are the routine insinuations. He writes that Ezra Taft Benson was "a red baiter and John Birch Society supporter," then adds in a footnote that "Benson . . . eventually became president and prophet of the entire LDS Church" for nine years. The supposition is that Benson acted as "a red baiter" throughout his presidency, which is, of course, not true. One of the most offensive chapters is called "Cumorah," which deals with the LDS Church's Hill Cumorah Pageant," held each July in Palmyra, N.Y., as a celebration of the Book of Mormon. Krakauer manages to make this religious event held outdoors appear to be a circus-like "jamboree," attended by Mormon simpletons such as "Brother Richard, a wide, cheerful man with liver spots and a comb-over, who brags that he has 28 grandchildren." As for the pageant, it "has the energy of a Phish concert, but without the drunkenness, outlandish hairdos (Brother Richard's comb-over notwithstanding), or clouds of marijuana smoke . . . families sprawl on blankets along the edges of the meadow, eating fried chicken and Jell-O salad from plastic coolers." Krakauer even devotes a chapter to the recent Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case, making unjustified proclamations without attribution so that he can compare Brian Mitchell to the Laffertys. This author should stick with books about physical adventure. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 10:37:29 -0600 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (Des News) Krakauer's Book Creates LDS Flap Krakauer's book creates LDS flap By Dennis Lythgoe Deseret Morning News Something unusual happened after I had finished writing my review of Jon Krakauer's book "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith." I received a lengthy e-mail from the LDS Church Media Relations Department containing a long "review" of Krakauer's book by Richard Turley, managing director of the LDS Family and Church History Department. An official written reaction from the LDS Church to a publication criticizing the church may be a first. Turley has written a laundry list of what he considers historical errors on Krakauer's part, involving Joseph Smith, the Nauvoo period, the persecution of early Mormons, the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the Mark Hofmann forgeries. Turley believes that Krakauer's book "may appeal to gullible persons," but he suggests "serious readers who want to understand Latter-day Saints and their history need not waste their time on it." Turley says Krakauer provides "no scientific methodology for measuring extremism," asserting that "It seems to be especially prevalent among those inclined by temperament or upbringing toward religious pursuits." And he concludes that "Krakauer does violence to Mormon history in order to tell his story of violent faith." Evidently, Turley sent his opinions to a number of different news organizations around the country, because shortly after receiving this e-mail, an indignant reply from Krakauer himself arrived via e-mail. Krakauer writes that he is "saddened" that Turley, "a high-ranking church official" who speaks "for the LDS leadership . . . elected to regard my book in such a reductionist light." - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 15:17:20 -0600 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (SL Trib) Polygamy Memoir Review Polygamy, inside and out=20 =20 By Martin Naparsteck=20 Special to The Tribune=20 Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy=20 By Dorothy Allred Solomon; W.W. Norton, $24.95=20 =20 When Dorothy Allred was a teen, she was raped while on a date, and = she decided not to tell anyone. "I was already cast off in some indefinable way," she writes in Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk, "too = rebellious, too outspoken, too something to have a place in our religious group. = Perhaps I did not know that I could call on the power of Jesus Christ. . . . = Perhaps it didn't seem important enough, my virginity not worth much to = anyone."=20 She adds that she "had no reason to believe that law-enforcement officers would help," but the emphasis in her remembrance of the = incident, and the emphasis in her whole book, is how growing up in a polygamous = family shaped who she is today.=20 And part of who she is today is a woman in her 50s who has written = what is probably the best book ever written about polygamy. It is neither an apologia for polygamy nor an expos=E9. It refuses to adopt the "all = these sister wives were very happy together" defense or the "polygamy is just = an excuse for child rape" condemnation. It is a psychological study about = how polygamy shapes those trapped in it, even willingly.=20 Dorothy Allred Solomon, who refused to be a polygamist wife = herself, opens her narrative with, "I am the only daughter of my father's fourth plural wife, twenty-eight of forty-eight children -- a middle kid, you = might say, with the middle kid's propensity for identity crisis." The matter-of-fact tone tinged with a hint of humor creates trust; this is, = we know from the opening sentence, a writer we can believe.=20 Her father and mother were imprisoned for being in a polygamist marriage. The family fled to Mexico and often moved to avoid being = caught. The author does not have a birth certificate to prove she was born, = because that would be proof of her parents' illegal lifestyle. When an aunt = (sister wife) tells her her very existence must be kept secret or her father = will go back to jail, the author is overcome with a "nausea that crept through = me, the confirmation of what I'd feared, that my being alive could send my father to prison."=20 When her father is murdered by a woman who is a member of a rival polygamist clan and who is then acquitted, writes a book about the = murder and appears on a nationally televised show to promote it, Solomon has a surprise arranged: "Two minutes before the show ended, a slender man in = a tan uniform appeared from the audience. Hired by [her lawyer], he was = the constable there to serve Rena Chynoweth with a summons to answer civil charges that she had caused the wrongful death of Dr. Rulon Allred. = Clearly Sally Jessy Raphael had no idea what was happening."=20 A jury would later award the Allred family $52.5 million in = damages, but "we did not attempt to collect, not a single cent. . . . My family felt = that collecting anything from Rena would be accepting 'blood money' and they wanted none of it." The man who ordered Chynoweth to commit the murder = was convicted and a TV movie was made depicting her "as a victim of circumstances."=20 Two themes that recur in her memoirs are that while Solomon loved = both of her parents, she admired but disapproved of her father taking so = many wives, and she pitied her mother and saw her as weak.=20 She summarizes her feelings about women by cataloging the qualities = of some of the plural wives who married her father. "I didn't want the emotional pain of my mother, with its giddy highs and devastating depression. Neither did I want the peculiar need to control others that = I saw in Aunt Emma. . . . Certainly I did not want to be like Aunt Rose, = who doubted everything about herself. . . . Nor did I want to be like Aunt LaVerne, needing to be in charge all the time. I did not want to be = like them, the persecuted and the persecutor. I admired rosy-cheeked, = sharp-eyed Aunt Sally who said, 'Happiness is a do-it-yourself project.'"=20 For Solomon, Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk is part of that = project. In explaining why she wrote the book, she notes that in her earlier = writings she allowed herself to lie: "One of the lovely lies I had perpetuated = was that our family was happy, living a little Eden where lions lie down = with lambs."=20 She adds, "It is wrong not to know, for knowledge implies = responsibility - -- the ability of the individual to respond." Her response is the book. = -----=20 Martin Naparsteck's latest book is Saying Things, a collection of = short stories. Book signing=20 Dorothy Allred Solomon will read and sign her memoir, Predators, = Prey and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy, on Thursday at 7 p.m. on the patio of The King's English bookstore, 1511 S. 1500 East in Salt Lake = City. Call 484-9100.=20 - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 17:12:27 -0600 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] Sugar Beet Webmaster Wanted SUGAR BEET WEBMASTER NEEDED: Aside from the standard ability to manage the backside of relatively simple website (ftp etc. etc.), we're looking for someone who can work with HTML, CSS, ASP, and Java coding. Mid-level mastery of Photoshop and Illustrator is imperative. We are not looking for a designer, rather for someone who can assemble one web-issue a month from component electronic files using pre-existing templates. Beyond the technical skills, we need someone who is team-oriented and believes that deadlines are holy. We would probably favor someone in the Provo/Orem area, because I'd personally like to sit down with someone and learn some web skills. But it's certainly possible to work exclusively via e-mail as well. (Note: Todd Petersen is remaining with the Sugar Beet but, after 18 months, is stepping down from webmastering.) Kindly send your volunteer pitch directly to chris.bigelow@unicitynetwork.com. Please forward this message to anyone who might be qualified and interested. Chris Bigelow - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 20:57:48 -0600 From: "gtaggart" Subject: RE: [AML] LDS-Themed Feature Film at GLBT Film Fest Eric Snider wrote, " Not to pick nits, but does anyone else find the "GLBT" abbreviation off-putting and misused? . . . Using "GLBT" in those contexts almost seems overly dismissive to me, . . . I mention this here because I've noticed the same abbreviation is used (and overused) on the ldsfilm.com Web site, which means it's in danger of becoming part of how LDS artists think and write. I'm with Eric on this one. Greg Taggart - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V2 #99 *****************************