From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #374 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, June 27 2001 Volume 01 : Number 374 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 20:57:43 -0600 From: "Sharlee Glenn" Subject: Re: [AML] Humor-Themed _Irreantum_ Chris Bigelow wrote: > With a special emphasis on Mormon humor, the spring 2001 issue of IRREANTUM, > the literary quarterly published by the Association for Mormon Letters > (AML), is now available > POETRY: > Missionary's Lament, Richard Johnson > Untitled, Tony A. Markham > Don't Say It, Beth Hatch > A Father's Love, Paul W. Sexton > Resurrected Spring, Linda P. Adams > Wrong Way, Katie Parker > An Argument, Katie Parker > Educated Woman, Laraine Wilkins > Mimesis Upended: A Reluctant Nod to Mr. Wilde, Sharlee Mullins Glenn > Raison D'Etre, Sharlee Mullins Glenn Oh dear. My poems are not meant to be *funny.* I hope no one tries to read them that way or they'll think my attempts at humor are pretty pitiful! Sharlee Glenn glennsj@inet-1.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 04:02:44 -0500 From: Rosemary Pollock (by way of Ronn Blankenship ) Subject: [AML] MN The Life of Groundbreaking Film Maker Richard Dutcher: Deseret News 17Jun01 US UT Prov A2 From Mormon-News: See footer for instructions on joining and leaving this list. Do you have an opinion on this news item? Send your comment to letters.to.editor@MormonsToday.com The Life of Groundbreaking Film Maker Richard Dutcher PROVO, UTAH -- Looking back at his life, film writer,director and producer Richard Dutcher, 37, can say it has been like a movie. Telling the story of a young boy who fills his long hours alone at home by writing his own novels, working long days in hot oil fields, holding multiple jobs in pizza joints and nursing homes, coupled with a father who chased women and worked in bars and a step father who ultimately found himself behind bars, Dutcher had only had to reflect on his life for stories he has put on the screen. Best known for "God's Army" and "Brigham City," Dutcher, a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints isn't afraid to talk about his religion. "There were four new gay-themed films opening in L.A.," Dutcher said. "I was so frustrated. Why do they get to make movies, and I don't? Why can't Mormons do the same thing? Each film doesn't have to be for the whole world." "I drew on my own experiences. I took two years and condensed them. They tell you to write about what you know. I knew this was absolutely right." "God's Army" was largely a husband-wife production. Gwen, who is a talented sculptor in her own right and mother to their four children was a line producer for "Girl Crazy," Dutcher's first film that he calls 90 minutes of fluff that took five years to make. She helped with costumes, marketing, sets and publicity for "God's Army." "She would use her maiden name so we wouldn't sound like a mom-and-pop outfit," Dutcher said. "It was just Gwen and I until a couple of weeks before the movie actually opened. I was working constantly. We were in over our heads." Ultimately, "God's Army" has played in 240 different cities nationwide, grossing $2.6 million at the box office before being sold to video. This paved the way for "Brigham City," another of Dutcher's films that went mainstream, but was not as successful as "God's Army." Dutcher has used the difficult experiences of his youth to portray parts of his life and various characters in "God's Army." The missionary with the pedophile father is Dutcher with his stepfather. The missionary who had the emotional religious-conversion experience is Dutcher again. "I've had some dark, ugly kinds of experiences I'd rather not experience again," he says. "He has succeeded through an incredible force of will," say wife Gwen. "Like pushing a huge boulder up a hill." "He's so free of baggage for someone who went through what he went through. It astounds me. He's got confidence. He had to be independent at an early age. At 14, if he wanted clothes he bought them, and if he wanted meals he cooked them. I admire him for how he was able to come out of it without resentment and with a positive outlook on what he can achieve." Dutcher has aspired to make movies since he was a young teen in Mount Vernon, Illinois but the new mix of Mormonism and movies has proved touchy. "There are tons of Mormon filmmakers who are telling Mormon stories and then take Mormonism out of it. It's cowardly and greedy. They do it because they think they'll make more money at it, but they're doing a disservice to their own people." "I never considered doing anything else," Dutcher said. "It would be either films or novels." At the age of 13, Dutcher was profoundly moved by an article he read in the Ensign, a Church published magazine, in which church President Spencer W. Kimball urged LDS artists to tell the Mormon story. It wasn't until he was 14 that Dutcher said he was truly converted. "I had read the Book of Mormon a couple of times, as well as the Bible, and I had been very active, but I never felt that experience of having personal revelation that it was true," he said. "I was at a crossroads, if I was going to keep going. I was sitting in the Carthage jail where Joseph Smith was martyred, and I bowed my head and asked if it was real. I began sobbing and I couldn't stop. Everybody was looking at me and wondering what was happening. It was powerful and wonderful. I was just filled with light. It didn't come from within, it came from without. I was just a participant. It is still something I draw on and go back to," Dutcher explained, not knowing this experience would prove to be the main thrust of one of his movies. Dutcher's high school senior year found him living in his car, being active in the student body and editor of the school newspaper. After high-school, Dutcher spent a year at BYU and then took a series of jobs to pay for his mission. During this time he never stopped writing stories and sending them off to publishers. "I thought the only way to get one of those jobs was to publish a book or sell a script," he said. After his mission, Dutcher returned to BYU and began to audition for locally produced movies. After his 1988 graduation, he and wife Gwen moved to Los Angeles. "We certainly got to see what it was like to struggle financially, but they were incredibly happy years," Gwen said. " "We lived paycheck-to-paycheck occasionally. The worst it got was when we maxed all our credit cards. All we had was our gas card, so we'd get our groceries at the gas station." Waiting for the big break that never came, Dutcher decided to make his own movie. "That's where I learned how to make films," he said. "That was my graduate school." It took five years to complete and Dutcher sold the movie to HBO, but didn't make enough to cover his costs. He was told that he must add nudity every seven or eight minutes. "It was at that moment that I wondered what am I doing here," he said. "I knew I wasn't going to do that. I walked out really in despair. I thought there is no way I can be LDS and be a successful filmmaker. It was a real turning point." "I was lying in bed one night and saw where I was heading and it wasn't a good place. I was really going down the wrong path." It was at this time that Dutcher considered leaving the business and going into teaching. While barbecuing hamburgers in his backyard, Dutcher's eye fell on the L.A. Times movie section and he was disgusted with what he saw. It was then that he decided to be a voice for the Mormon story. Currently, Dutcher has put his energy into another Mormon-movie project: "The Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith Jr." It will be his biggest financial undertaking so far at $10 million. It will use "recognizable actors" and this time he will play only a minor role in the film. "I feel peaceful about it," he says. "There's something very fitting, going back to that experience in the Carthage jail. It feels right. I'm surprised nobody has beaten me to it." "Most of us don't really know that much about Joseph Smith. I found that out myself." "If the Lord can use flawed people to do his work, there's hope for all of us," Dutcher concluded. Source: Richard Dutcher, Mormon moviemaker Deseret News 17Jun01 A2 http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,280007247,00.html By Doug Robinson: Deseret News senior writer >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/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 19:44:06 From: "Eric D. Snider" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Mag for Kids >I don't want to start a war, but Seagull Book and Tape, like >Signature, is thought of in some quarters as not "true blue." Would >the name Seagull in a fiction magazine help sales, or would it foster >a pre-prejudice against the publication? > >Roy Schmidt > Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I live right here in Happy Valley and hear very little about Seagull Book & Tape. I mean, I know they're here, and they have several locations in the valley, but I don't have an "image" of them one way or the other. I don't hear a lot about them, either. I don't think they're well-known enough to make people think of them when they hear of a magazine called "Seagull," especially considering the seagull's place in Mormon folklore. I would just assume "Seagull" had to do with Mormons, and I doubt I'd make the connection to the chain of bookstores. By the way, for what it's worth, I would whole-heartedly support an all- (or even mostly-) LDS fiction magazine. It's a brilliant idea. Someone with some money (i.e., not me) should start one. Eric D. Snider _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 13:52:53 -0600 From: "ROY SCHMIDT" Subject: Re: [AML] GAs in Church Pubs Sharlee asks: Surely you're talking here about the _Ensign_. But what about the _New Era_ and the _Friend_? Do you really think kids are going to be interested in a whole magazine full of "doctrinal works"? Roy responds: Well, yes. When my children were little they loved to have me read what Presidents Kimball and Benson had to say. When those prophets had something to say to young children, they wrote on a level the children could understand. If the brethren write on that level, the kids will enjoy it, I think. Even though my oldest is 39, I have a son still at home who will turn 17 next week. Getting him to read anything is tough, and the first place he turns when the New Era arrives is to the jokes and to the Mormon poster. The next stop is to read what the brethren have to say, particularly if it is President Hinckley, Monson or Packer. Again, these leaders address the youth in language they understand. I do, however, believe, that publications featuring good fiction, articles, jokes, etc. aimed towards youth and children is needed, but I do not necessarily believe the Church needs to publish such periodicals. Roy Schmidt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 13:23:51 -0700 (PDT) From: William Morris Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher - --- Christopher Bigelow wrote: > It sounds like what you're talking about > related to a new publishing company, D. Michael, is > someone to take a place on the spectrum between > Covenant (or maybe Cornerstone, with their 2-3 > fiction offerings to date) and Signature. It seems > like that should be doable, but the people you > really have to convince are the retailers in the LDS > Booksellers Association, since they are the > gatekeepers to the LDS audience. Otherwise you will > just have to hit the independent > Signature/Sunstone/Dialogue crowd, who don't number > more than 5,000 people and who are already having > their needs met. There's got to be some way to > "trick" the LDSBA retailers into accepting an edgier > publisher who is still "faithful." What I find fascinating about the Mormon publishing scene is the fact that this 'spectrum' exists. I don't know that it is necessarily a unique phenomenon. My guess is that any 'movement' that has a decent sized buying public ends up with publishing houses that fit the attitudes of various members---for example, envirommentalism, feminism, the anarchist/socialist crowd, or any right wing counterparts (I can't think of any at the moment). I wonder how the 'mid-stream' example from these movements fares. What lies between the Sierra Club and Earth First!? As I try to wrap my mind around this idea (and I try because it's an idea I'd love to see come to fruition), I see a few major obstacles---I'm sure we all do. But let me also express some optimism. I think a potential readership is out there. My sense of things is that the kind of Mormons who might be attracted to works offered by a mid-stream publishing house doesn't read much Mormon literature. These are folks who generally buy doctrinal titles from the LDS booksellers---people who may go and see _God's Army_ and may just read _The Work and the Glory_, but on the whole read 'gentile' fiction---either li-fi lite (Ann Tyler, Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis, John Irving) and/or quality genre stuff (Stephen King, Michael Crichton?). In other words, they are only going to get interested in a work of Mormon art if it is of sufficient quality and enough of an event in the Mormon world that it hits their radar screen. The question is how to reach this readership. I don't know many folks who buy fiction at the LDS bookstore, and yet I know that a lot of them read novels. Is there a mythical untapped market out there? If so, how can it be reached? And if it can be reached, will it be able to handle the kind of work D. Michael suggests, or at least will enough folks be able to handle it that they can then educate other more 'orthodox' readers, or at the very least get them to try it? ~~William Morris __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 14:48:56 -0600 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: Re: [AML] Literary LCD D. Michael: > I declared that the LDS publishers are trying to do just what > Margaret decries above: publishing to the lowest common > denominator so any LDS can walk into a Deseret Book store > and pick up anything and, without knowing fact one about it, > feel "safe" letting it sit out in their living room where the kids > have access to it. (In other words, let Deseret Book make his > moral decisions for him.) [snip] > Is there a market out there for books that are faithful to the > Gospel, but depict the gamut of human degradation? > Specifically, books that show acts of sex (not gratuitously, > but when necessary and with as much detail as necessary) > that may not be moral sex, but which does not glorify immoral > sex or show that it has no consequences? (In addition to any > other questionable acts besides sexual ones.) [snip] > Would it work? No. I mentioned this some time back, but I will mention it again: I polled my wife's reading group on this very thing. Not incerdibly scientific, nor was the scope very broad or deep in the market, but within this one group the scope was broad enough I think. They had recently read "Remembering Blue" by Something, Something Fowler, one of those Oprah-type books. It had the type of "content" you're talking about; swearing, sex and stuff like that. These ladies all really, really liked it. It was terribly "romantic." I asked them if they would buy the same type of book if it were by and about Mormons. Absolutely not. Why not? It took me awhile to get them to boil it down to a single reason, but what it turns out to be is: We expect more from Mormons. We don't want them to be like the rest of the world. So, you're telling me that it's okay for you to identify with non-mormon sinners, but not mormon sinners? That's not what we're saying. It was what they were saying, but they couldn't see it. They don't see the hypocrisy in their thinking, so there is no way to get around it. This wasn't the attitude of all the women in the group, just the most vocal women in the group. And that's the way things go out in the market. The most vocal minority gets their way. So, D. Mike, I like your idea, but I don't think it will work ... yet. J. Scott Bronson Member of Playwrights Circle "An Organization of Professionals" www.playwrightscircle.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 16:24:48 -0700 From: Jerry Tyner Subject: RE: [AML] DUTCHER, _Brigham City_ >> BTW, I didn't think about this until later, but. . . .aren't bishops >> required to be married? You know, so they can identify with anguish and >> pain? The answer to that is a definite yes but I had the distinct impression he had not been a widower for that long and was still in the grieving process. I'm sure he could fully relate to the anguish and pain of his flock. Jerry Tyner - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 16:47:08 -0700 From: Jerry Tyner Subject: RE: [AML] GAs in Church Pubs Sharlee Glen wrote: >> The real need here is for a literary magazine geared toward LDS *kids.* >> That's what I'm interested in. The _Ensign_ hasn't published fiction for >> some time now anyway, and there are already several good alternative venues >> for adult short fiction (specifically _Sunstone_ and now, of course, >> _Irreantum_). But the kids need something. So do the teenagers, but I'll >> leave that to some other enterprising soul. I really have to agree with this. Youth tend to be taught through parables and stories with interpretations. Especially at the _Friend_ level. Even teenagers need to have you come to their level and make sure they are listening to you and you are listening to them. Let's all hope and pray that if this is an experiment and it doesn't work at all levels that some changes will be made and not just an attitude of _they will get used to it_ happens. Jerry Tyner - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 14:42:28 -0500 From: inthenews (by way of Ronn Blankenship ) Subject: [AML] Court Sides With Writers On Electronic Reuse of Work The following roundup of science stories appearing each day in the general media is compiled by the Media Resource Service, Sigma Xi's referral service for journalists in need of sources of scientific expertise. [MOD: Forwarded, of possible interest to AML-List members:] For accurate instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe to the listserv, follow this link: If you experience any problems with the URLs (page not found, page expired, etc.), we suggest you proceed to the home page of "Science In the News" which mirrors the daily e-mail update. IN THE NEWS Today's Headlines - June 26, 2001 COURT SIDES WITH WRITERS ON ELECTRONIC REUSE OF WORK from The Boston Globe Not necessarily science-related, but possibly of interest to readers of "Science In the News": WASHINGTON - Siding with the nation's independent writers, artists, and photographers, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that freelancers have a right to be paid extra when publishers reissue their work on electronic databases or Web sites. In a case targeting several publications, including The New York Times, the justices ruled 7-2 that a newspaper or magazine publisher's initial right to an article, drawing, or photo does not carry with it the right to re-publish those works in a digital version without getting permission from and compensating the individual who created it. The court stressed that publishers remain free to try to persuade freelancers to waive their rights before their work is purchased - a move that many publishers already have begun to make. The decision heralds sweeping changes in the world of publishing and the contest over the ownership of creative works. With publishers having to negotiate separate payment for works available in electronic form, Web sites may face challenges in assembling content, and print media may face financial challenges to stay competitive in an online, global market. Please follow these links for more information about Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society: Sigma Xi Homepage http://www.sigmaxi.org Media Resource Service http://www.mediaresource.org American Scientist magazine http://www.americanscientist.org For feedback on In the News, mailto:inthenews@sigmaxi.org - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 20:55:44 -0400 From: Merlyn J Clarke Subject: Re: [AML] Relief Society Magazine At 04:54 PM 6/21/01 -0600, you wrote: > > >I love that magazine (The Relief Society Magazine). I acquired a bunch >of them in weird ways and I've been considering actively collecting >them. The magazine started in 1914 and I have issues as late as 1958. >I'm not sure how or why or when it folded. > >Jacob Proffitt =============================== It didn't fold. It was simply discontinued...about the same time the GAs also took away the RS's checkbook. I had an uncle who became a millionaire printing wedding invitations for LDS woman who saw his ads in the Relief Society Magazine. Merlyn Clarke - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 20:59:49 -0400 From: Merlyn J Clarke Subject: RE: [AML] GAs in Church Pubs What if a GA or two took to writing fiction? Think they'd get published? After all, a few GAs have written hymns. Merlyn Clarke - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 18:21:16 -0700 From: Jerry Tyner Subject: RE: [AML] Relief Society Magazine Richard Johnson wrote: >>They exact year leaves me, but the _Era_ became the Ensign_, the _Era for Youth_ became >>what is and the _Children's Friend_ became the _Friend_ and the _Relief Society >>Magazine_ and the _Instructor_ went to the scrap heap. If I remember correctly the date of the name changes was sometime in the early 70's (71 or 72). When I served my mission in Montana and Wyoming in the mid-70s there were still some people upset about the name changes. Makes you wonder sometimes if the Lord inspires odd change just to shake the trees and bushes and see what may fall out (or away). Jerry Tyner - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 17:26:06 -0700 From: "Jeff Needle" Subject: Re: [AML] Jennie HANSEN, _Macady_ (Review) Agreed. She is very good. Thanks for the good note! - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barbara Hume" To: Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 2:13 PM Subject: Re: [AML] Jennie HANSEN, _Macady_ (Review) > At 08:21 PM 6/23/01 -0700, you wrote: > >Review > >====== > > > >Jennie Hansen, "Macady" > >1995, Covenant Communications, Inc. > >Paperback, 235 pages, $10.95 > > > >Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle > > > I consider Jennie Hansen one of the best fiction writers in the LDS > market. She certainly knows how to use the techniques that were under > discussion on this list not too long ago. I like her characterization, her > sense of scene, and her storytelling ability. > > barbara hume - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 21:13:25 -0700 (PDT) From: William Morris Subject: Re: [AML] LDS and World Religions - --- Rose Green wrote: This isn't a direct answer to Steve's question, but German members are very interested in LDS literature and the members in my ward were always getting books in German from somewhere--I got the idea that there was some sort of outlet for LDS materials in German (other than ordering standard church stuff from the distribution, I mean).  And of course, there are lots of LDS-related books that are published in Spanish (not just the standard works and books by James E. Talmage). - ---------- This isn't a direct response to Rose's indirect answer to Steve's original post, but here it is: When I was in Romania as a missionary, I met a man who collected books. He wasn't that interested in the Church (although he did politely allow us to present the 1st discussion), but when he found out that not only was I Mormon, but I also knew German, he scurried off, dug around in a few stacks of books and then presented me with a German language book that was about Mormons. I tried to refuse to take it, but that's not how things work in Romania, so I brought it back with me to the states. I had no idea what it was, but now that I look at it, it turns out that it is a translation of Vardis Fisher's _Children of God_. In German it's called _In der Wueste ein Reich_ (_In the Desert, a Kingdom_ ). I had never looked at the title page, so it hadn't clicked until just now. Plus I had never heard of Vardis Fisher until a year or two ago. So that's one piece of Mormon lit. that's available in German. ~~William Morris __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 22:49:35 -0700 From: harlowclark@juno.com Subject: Re: [AML] Manipulative Endings On 30 May 2001 Anna Wight (WEYLAND, _Ashley and Jen_ (Review)) said, > Emotion on the other hand is honest. On 04 Jun 2001 the recently affianced Jim Picht (congrats Jim. Very good.) replied, > Sometimes I've been manipulated into feeling them. Sometimes emotion > blinds us to the truth, which is why we shouldn't often make important > decisions in the heat of strong emotion. On 05 Jun 2001 ([AML] Emotional Honesty) Anna replied: > Isn't that what writers do? We manipulate emotion. We put sad scenes in > stories to make people cry, we put funny scenes in to make them laugh. We > put exciting scenes in to make them feel adventurous, or romantic scenes in > so that they fall in love. If you cry over a novel, that's because the > writer wanted you to. If the writer didn't manipulate emotion, then the > writing would most likely be dry and dull. It's tempting to just say, No, I don't manipulate emotion. I testify, and what I want to read is testimony, but such brevity would be out of character--I have to say something so harlowicient that even Hollow Cluck can't figure out what I'm trying to say. Ten years ago I decided it was time to start presenting papers at the AML Symposium, so I rewrote a grad scull (if you've seen Lake Union in the early morning you know) paper comparing Terry Eagleton's marxist theories of value with Marden Clark's Mormon theories of value, and threw in an intriguing comment from Lionel Trilling. >>>>> I do not know how other teachers deal with this extravagant personal force of modern literature, but for me it makes difficulty. Nowadays the teaching of literature inclines to a considerable technicality, but when the teacher has said all that can be said about formal matters, about verse-patterns, metrics, prose conventions, irony, tension, etc., he must confront the necessity of bearing personal testimony. He must use whatever authority he may possess to say whether or not a work is true, and if not, why not; and if so, why so. He can do this only at considerable cost to his privacy. ("On the Teaching of Modern Literature," in Beyond Culture: Essays on Literature and Learning, New York, Viking Press, 1965, p. 9) <<<<< What Trilling doesn't say, but surely implies, is that if the reader must bear personal testimony, so must the writer. So here's a question. Would you say that when the bishop stands up every third month and starts off testimony meeting with his testimony he's manipulating the congregation, the warmup act working the audience so they'll be more receptive to the manipulation of the other ward members? That's a provocative sentence, and I hope it provokes somebody. I hope I'm not the only person offended by the suggestion that a testimony meeting is a manipulation-fest. Of course, given on-going discussions in the missionary threads, what I hoped to accomplish by the sentence doesn't matter--I'm dead. (Hmm, this turned out short. I was hoping for mind-numbing length. Have to save that for another post.) Harlow S. Clark - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 22:02:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Darlene Young Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher Chris, I absolutely agree with everything you said about the kind of publisher we need. I especially agreed with your words about John Bennion's book. I feel so strongly about the need for such a publisher and for these kinds of books. Why don't you do it? Irreantum Books sounds great. How can I help you? I'd do it myself if I knew anything about publishing. I don't. But the very thought makes my pulse quicken--this is exciting. Why couldn't it be done? We've got enough knowledge and desire among us in this AML group. There's got to be someone ready and willing to step in and create such a thing. Anyone? ===== Darlene Young __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 22:58:54 -0700 From: owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com Subject: Re: [AML] Temple in Fiction The temple, as others have said, is a sensitive, problematic issue, problematic because though we covenant not to say much about it we don't covenant to say nothing. I don't know what missionaries show now, but in the late 70s we showed a filmstrip called "The House of the Lord," with pictures of various rooms in various temples, particularly the murals, and a bit of comment on the dramatic content of the ceremony. One reason people want to write about temple experience is that it's an important rite of passage. Armand Mauss said once that within Mormon culture those who attend the temple are a kind of elite--which is why any Christian bookstore with a half-decent anti- section has at least one book whose cover proclaims, "Written by a former temple Mormon." But we're never told exactly what we can or cannot say, which makes it difficult when a writer wants to explore what the temple means to a character. My parents' one time bishop and twenty-year neighbor (till he and Bea built a new house at the mouth of Rock Canyon) Edward Kimball wrote a letter to Sunstone or Dialogue once about leaders in the church and what they felt comfortable saying. He said that some leaders, people he respected, felt comfortable saying a lot more than he felt comfortable saying. Other leaders, people he respected, felt comfortable saying a lot less than he felt comfortable saying. The standard I use in deciding if I'm comfortable reading about the temple is Brigham Young's statement in Journal of Discourses 2:19: "Let me give you a brief definition. Your _endowment_ is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels . . . and gain your exaltation in spite of earth and hell." Elder John A Widtsoe felt comfortable enough with the statement that he included the whole statement in Discourses of Brigham Young (416), but I suspect a lot of people would not feel comfortable reading that part I cut, would feel the things it mentions are only to be had in the temple. (Ok, how many of us as children were fascinated by Facsimiles 1, 2, and 3?) Let me suggest, briefly and parabolically, why someone might want to mention the temple in a story, or set part of a story there. I have been turning over in my (very strange) mind for several years a story about a missionary approaching Dump Day who becomes aware that his mother and step-father very deliberately set out to destroy his relationship to his father (who he considers a first name rather than a parent). Several things happen at once. Among them, his mother calls the mission and asks to have him fly in to the airport nearest his father, the mission president tells him he has to make his peace with his father, and someone in a Gospel Doctrine class brings up an article I saw in BYU Studies, I think, with a title like "Prayer Circles in Early Christian Worship." (Memory says it's a Hugh Nibley article, but I don't see it in the bibliography in the back of _Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless.) All these things cause him to confront something he has tried to keep at arm's length (or further) his whole mission because it is so painful, a moment of intense anger he felt when he went through the temple and his (step)father gestured for his (non)father and step-(non)mother to join them in worship. He has a buried worry and guilt his whole mission that his anger and resentment offended the Spirit, and ruined that session. I don't have to say anything more about the temple than I've just said. LDS readers who have been there will understand my highly coded (to use Wm. Morris's phrase from 6/7/01) text. People unfamiliar with the temple will have some idea from the Gospel Doctrine class discussion (which ends up being of the Mass and how sacred it is to Catholics) of what it means to feel that you've violated a sacred moment through your anger. I'm more interested in people understanding the emotions the elder's sense of having violated the sacred produces, than in the specifics, but I do need my readers to understand that the incident which pains him took place in a sacred space. (I suppose I could have a memory of him and his sister reducing their father to tears because they wouldn't stop fighting, even as the family pulled into the parking lot at the Sacred Grove, but that's a different matter.) Part of the reason I want to use the temple is that the story explores the way parents violate the covenant of parenthood when they use their children to wound other people. Placing the scene in the temple suggests that destroying a child's relationship to a parent is as serious as violating temple covenants. I suspect that when when the step-father and mother invite the other parents into their worship they are trying to make peace, without understanding that you can't make all kinds of subtle and open disparagement of a parent, implying or even saying he's unworthy, for 10 or 15 years and expect a child to simply disregard that when you invite the other parents into your worship. So it's very confusing to the missionary, who can't help but wonder if his parents were lying in telling him his father was unworthy, and if they were, are they lying now, and if they weren't, did his father repent, and what does his understanding demand he do--since he's never really wanted a relationship with his father, but that's because his parents taught him not to want one. Und so weiter. (Imagine Yul Brynner saying it, dressed as the king of Siam.) I don't know how the story ends yet, just that understanding what happened redefines his relationship to his parents, and to the two parents he has been taught not to regard as parents. One other thing I just remembered. Part of what triggers his understanding is an investigator family, the Fibonaccis (ages 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and 55--I'll probably write a companion novel, _Fibonacci Numbers_ narrated by Andrea Fibonacci, the 13-year-old "and the worst part of this year was, I had a religious conversion--not like I always thought it would be when I finally gave in to God, going up to the mourners' bar, and weeping and shouting glories to Jesus and giving my life to Salvation--but it was bad enough."). Bro. Fibonacci tells the elders one night how he investigated the Church several years earlier, but his ex-wife had just joined, and he couldn't understand how Jesus could take someone like her. "I tell you, Elder, the truth will make you free. But first it will make you hurt." (Great line from Elouise Bell.) The little clock in my lower right hand corner says 10:57 pm, not too late, but I have a play to work on. "The Mass is ended. Go in peace." Harlow Soderborg ("soderborg who? I soderborg but it flew away" -- Matthew's knock knock from a few years back, but he didn't get it when his cousin (mother of the cousin he told the joke to) mentioned it a couple weeks ago) Clark - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #374 ******************************