From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V2 #261 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 Thursday, February 12 2004 Volume 02 : Number 261 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 23:50:51 -0600 From: owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com Subject: [AML] Re: Orthography 101: capitalised definite article in Church's= name? Jason Covell: ... what _gives_ with the practice of always capitalising the article ("The") preceding the Church's name, ... _______________ The word "The" is a part of the official name of the Church. Those who do not know that, or who do not like it, leave the word in lowercase, as would be proper usage if it were not a part of the official name. The other common error is "Latter-day," shown here correctly with the hyphen and lowercase letter "d". It is often confused with others, including the RLDS, who do not use a hyphen and capitalize the word "Day." Larry Jackson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 06:59:47 -0500 From: Rose Green Subject: Re: [AML] Young and Gray Margaret, your books are touching white people, too. Just yesterday I was talking with my mom on the phone, and she got all excited and started telling me about these fascinating black pioneers and early church members she had read about. (She had forgotten that I had actually given her the book some time ago:). ) It really made an impression on her, and she was proud to have Abels, and the Flakes, and the Mannings' pioneer sacrifices as a part of her own Mormon heritage. Rose Green - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 07:51:34 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Angels in America Nan P. McCulloch wrote: > Thanks so much for sharing this. I have more respect for this review= than > any thus far. I didn't see the film, but I saw the play in Houston and= in > SLC. The most unsettling part about the play for me was when Hannah, the > very strong Mormon mother of Joe Pitt, *sees the light* in the end and > appears to forsake her former beliefs. This didn't ring true for me. = Was > any reference made in the review about this? Did anyone else read it= this > way. That doesn't seem to have made it into the television adaptation. Her standing with her beliefs were left vague at the end. She had obviously "grown" but forsaking her beliefs was not shown. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Visit the new website of The Genesis Group at: http://ldsgenesisgroup.org Genesis is an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that supports Black members of the church =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 07:07:26 -0700 From: Tammy Daybell Subject: Re: [AML] 2003 Mormon Literature bibliography Carol Thayne's real name is Carol Warburton, but she is a different Carol Warburton than the author of "Before the Dawn." That is why Covenant had her publish as Carol Thayne. Tammy Daybell > Warburton, Carol. Before the Dawn. Covenant, Feb. Romance/adventure. > Farmer woman loses her husband, finds new man. > ----, (As Carol Thayne). A Question of Trust. Covenant, July. > Romance/mystery. > Hirschi: "equal parts sweet romance, chilling intrigue and mystery . . .= an=3D > interesting and worthwhile read." > - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 07:59:14 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Angels in America Sam Brown wrote: > It seems to me that Kushner's story is about homosexuals in America, > not Mormons. We ought not to push too hard to make this a Mormon > story. I just don't see where this excuses Kushner. So what if his intent was to focus on homosexuals, not Mormons? Why does that excuse him from getting his main characters right? - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Visit the new website of The Genesis Group at: http://ldsgenesisgroup.org Genesis is an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that supports Black members of the church =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 08:17:13 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Marketing you work Thom Duncan wrote: > We talk on this subject as if our culture is monolithic. I just do not > believe this is so. As I sit and type this, I can think of the > following kinds of people who self-identify as active Mormon and yet who > also live lifestyles and have philosophies and political ideas that are > as "non-Mormon" as you might think. This is true in reality, but doesn't cross over into storytelling. Kushner was writing about an unfamiliar subculture to an audience who knew little or nothing about it. Under those circumstances, it's artistically wrong to write about the more fringe members of the subculture. They should be fairly stereotypical members to represent the culture. It's as if Tolkien had made Legolas and Gimli, not the stereotypical elf and dwarf to represent their respective races, but fringe members of their races who acted very differently. Just wouldn't have worked. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Visit the new website of The Genesis Group at: http://ldsgenesisgroup.org Genesis is an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that supports Black members of the church =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 08:18:54 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Angels in America Jonathan Langford wrote: > Kushner may undercut his characters, but > he never doubts his own attitudes--which is a flaw if you're looking > for non-doctrinaire answers, whether the person giving those answers > is a middle-class white politically conservative Mormon or a New York > liberal secular jewish gay. Ah, there it is! Kushner is the Weyland and Lund of politically correct, liberal, gay theater. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Visit the new website of The Genesis Group at: http://ldsgenesisgroup.org Genesis is an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that supports Black members of the church =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 08:13:19 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Marketing our work (was: YOUNG & GRAY) Annette Lyon wrote: > This is a perfectly valid way of writing, and if you are your only=3D > audience, > more power to you--tell anyone you want to go to hell. But once you do=3D > that, > you've lost your right to throw a fit when no one wants to publish your > work. Like it or not, audience is a crucial element. Publishers have to=3D > make > money or they go bust, and they can't make money on something that has a > microscopic audience, no matter how well it's done. > > That's reality. I'm banking on the notion that I'm not all that unique in the universe, that if I like something, others will too. One thing I never banked on was expecing Deseret Book or Covenant to publish my book, or their core customers to buy it. That doesn't mean there isn't a market out there for it though. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Visit the new website of The Genesis Group at: http://ldsgenesisgroup.org Genesis is an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that supports Black members of the church =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 09:26:18 -0700 From: Marny Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] Orthography 101: capitalised definite article in Church's= name? Jason Covell wrote: >OK, I don't know if it's just me, or if I missed the memo (could be), or= if >it's an Australian thing, but what _gives_ with the practice of always >capitalising the article ("The") preceding the Church's name, as in this >recent snippet from a Church mailing list: "...part of a larger group of=3D > 160 >missionaries who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day= Saints" > >When did the mandated use of a capitalised article come about? I don't=3D > have >page references to all the relevant style guides, but I work in a >professional writing/editorial (and spin-doctoring) capacity and I'm= pretty >sure this doesn't click with generally accepted contemporary usage. I=3D > would >have said that the article would not be capitalised unless it actually=3D > began >a sentence: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today >announced that..." At all other times, orthography would dictate that a >lower-case "the" would be used. No, it isn't standard usage. I don't know why they do it, but it is part of the Church's own style guide: "7.27 In textual matter, lowercase the word _the_ preceding the name of an organization, even when it is part of the official title. . . . The only exception is the full name of the Church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." I don't think they ask anyone outside the Church to follow this style, and publishing houses that choose to follow the Church style guide can also choose which sections they conform to. It's also the way the name of the Church is given in D&C 115:4, but that may have been edited to follow Church style. :) Anyone have an early edition? It may be the way it's been done since 1838, not just 1972, when the first Church style guide was published. Marny Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 09:45:13 -0700 From: Margaret Blair Young Subject: Re: [AML] The Weyland Path (was Young and Gray) Absolutely right, Steve! Jack Weyland has an important place in LDS= literature. There is simply no question about it. It would be foolish and arrogant for= any of us to suggest that his path was somehow "wrong." He has made truly= great contributions. And as for Gerald Lund, I've said before that my= sister-in-law (who never reads anything) has read his entire series and felt a new= commitment to her faith because of that series. I think the point is exactly what I= tell my students: Each of you has a unique story and a unique voice. Find it. [Margaret Young] > On Feb 5, 2004, at 10:05 PM, D. Michael Martindale wrote: > > >> When I quit trying to follow the Weyland=3D3D > > path. > > > I'm glad you found the Margaret path, Margaret, but I sort of hate to > see the Weyland path disparaged -- finding the Weyland path may have > been just the ticket for Weyland. > > :-) > > Steve P. > > > > -- > skperry@mac.com > > - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 09:12:39 -0800 From: Jeff Needle Subject: Re: [AML] THAYER, _The Conversion of Jeff Williams_ Melissa Proffitt wrote: > I would buy it if only I could find it in a store somewhere! Barnes &=3D > Noble > told me it was "unavailable for ordering," which to them usually means= it's > out of print. Amazon.com says it takes 1-2 months to ship. Sam Weller's > online inventory says its status is "special order," which could mean > anything. Deseret Book says it's not in their catalog at all and can't= be > ordered by them. The BYU BOOKSTORE doesn't even have it and he teaches= at > BYU! As far as I can tell, I can order it from Signature, and that's= all. > Considering the praise the book has received, I'm very surprised at this. > > Melissa Proffitt > > I'm a third of the way through it -- it's really good. Jeff Needle - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 18:44:11 +0000 From: "Dennis Warr" Subject: [AML] AML Conference Inquiry I've heard snippets that the AML Conference will be March 5th and 6th. The= locations have been announced. However, what are the times and which session will the awards be given? Also, is this casual dress or more of a formal affair? Thanks. Dennis [Warryur] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 10:57:45 -0800 From: "Kathy Tyner" Subject: Re: [AML] Reviews of _Latter Days_ Thom Duncan said: > I have queer former LDS friends who, how shall I say it?, HATE the Church,=3D > all it stands for, and most of the people in it. And THEY tell me the=3D > movie stinks aesthetically. I'm inclined to believe them since, if I=3D > understand them correctly, they would be ecstatic is a film could=3D > successfully diss the church. To piggyback on Thom's comments, I ran across a review of Latter Days in my local paper, the Orange County Register. The link is www.ocregister.com in the entertainment section, dated January 30th. There was also a print ad in the show section of the paper that day. The review starts out by saying that the theater banning this movie because of lack of artistic quality is a laugh. And then goes on to take a swipe at Mormon cinema in general lumping "God's Army" in with "The Singles Ward", saying this movie is better made. From a previous article posted on the whole flap, I took it to understand that Salt Lake movie house is known for showing things artsy and avant garde that can and does criticize the Church. I guess my first question to this reviewer would have been to ask how hard would it have been to look into the movie theater's rep for such things before making his assertion. That did bother me. He does however, have some pointed criticisms of the movie and encapsulates it in this sidebar summary: "Part morality play, part seduction fantasy, this gimmicky gay love story about a West Hollywood party boy who romances a conflicted Mormon missionary has all the expected dictums about tolerance and unity, but is chiefly fixated on the salicious glorys of conquest." He also points out that he thinks the movie, "...serves up enough catty, knowing dialogue for 10 seasons of Will and Grace." He feels that even after falling in love, but then finding out about his paramour's "crass wager" the young man's reaction is given short shrift and their reunion is made sugary by a pop song the reviewer calls "cheesy" and written by the director himself. The reviewer notes that some Mormons have objected to a scene depicting an execommunication, but surmises it's the scences of gay sex involving a Mormon missionary that really irks LDS folks. I'd venture that's probably correct, but why can't he acknowledge it just might be both? But I agree with him that this will put off more people than just Mormons. He feels this is all to the negative, as he praises the film as one of the best depictions of missionary culture than he's ever seen. In proffering this opinion and elsewhere in the review he notes that C. Jay Cox, the director, is a lapsed Mormon, and he Craig Outhier, the reviewer is an ex-Mormon. An admission I appreciated him making, as it certainly can reflect on the review itself. He notes= at the end, because Cox focused so much on the erotica, he will drive away a lot of potential audience who might've given the film a look. I'd also like to comment on the print ad that was in the same Show section. It shows the West Hollywood character and the Mormon Missionary. I have to say they got the look of a clean-cut, sweet- faced, wholesome Idaho missionary down very well. He looks very friendly, naive' and innocent-the perfect mark. What really threw me for a loop was the review comments praising the film. The Los Angeles Times, The Advocate and Out Magazine called the film a love story, a sweet romance and for anyone who has ever fallen in love. (I don't use quotation marks as I don't have the paper handy to get them exact, but I'm darn close, if not exact). I was a little stunned by this as I didn't see this as some sort of gay version of "Ten Things I Hate About You", but compare this movie to "Dangerous Liasons", "Valmont" and "Cruel Intentions". These movies were not marketed as love stories, but rather about the seduction and manipulation of the innocent. I see this film the same way, imho. Others may see it differently. Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:10:44 -0700 From: "Eric Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] (The Onion A.V. Club) Review of _Latter Days_ Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't read anywhere that Jay Cox has cried censorship. As best I can make out, he felt he had a distribution deal which was reneged upon, in large measure because of pressure from the community, or at least, perceived pressure from the community. =3D20 I haven't seen the film, and so won't comment on it. But. . . . A few years ago, I was at the American College Theatre Festival. I was in a workshop on how we, as professors, can respond to works in performance, and so I had to see absolutely everything. And one of the shows I was supposed to see and respond to was a hit Broadway musical in which a married man comes out of the closet, leaves his wife and children, and moves in with a younger lover, who eventually dies of AIDS. I hadn't seen or heard of this musical before, which was my bad; I should stay more current than I do, but if there's an area where I'm likely to not be current, it's musicals. I don't really dislike musicals--I like some, I don't like others--but they're not my favorite dramatic form. =3D20 Anyway, I was in an audience that clearly loved the show, and that clearly knew it well. I could see audience members mouthing song lyrics quietly to themselves, exactly the way I was doing when I saw Tommy on Broadway. They knew this show like I know the Who. People were laughing, crying; it got a huge standing O. =3D20 Me, I thought it was mediocre. The story was not developed at all plausibly, and the music didn't compel. The audience sympathies were clearly with the main character, who I found contemptible. Not because he was gay, but because he treated his wife and children abominably, without regret of any kind, and without the script in any way acknowledging their pain. I thought the actor playing this character was very good; a powerful nuanced performance, and one that in many ways played against the script. Plus, he had a fine voice, and some real presence. The actress who played his wife, on the other hand, made only the most obvious acting choices, and she couldn't hit the high notes. =3D20 So when I got together with the other teachers in the workshop--college theatre professors from across the country, none of them LDS--I said all that. And they agreed. We had a nice discussion of the piece, its few strengths and many weaknesses.=3D20 But our assessment of this piece was clearly incompatible with the rest of the audience's assessment of it. Whenever I'd talk to kids from other schools, they'd mention this musical, and how great it was, and how moving it was, and how much better it was than anything else at the festival. So some of the other BYU kids went to see it, and came back and we had a nice chat, because they didn't get it either. They thought the same as me. Audience. This was a piece that clearly spoke to one audience, and just as clearly didn't speak to other audiences. =3D20 So, and this is, finally, my point: LDS oriented work is, in its deliberate appeal to a certain, circumscribed audience, remarkably, amazingly similar to gay oriented work. Read the IMDB comments from viewers of Latter-days; for a number of gay people, this film is a masterpiece. It confirms everything they believe, and it treats characters they admire as heroic. It's almost the exact response that LDS folks I know have to The Book of Mormon Movie. I thought that movie was pretty dismal, too, just like I thought that musical was dismal. But true believers in both camps thought the works were brilliant. Eric Samuelsen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:47:44 -0700 From: "Eric Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] Young and Gray There is something I've wanted to say about these books for a very long time, which I must say very carefully indeed. I must preface these comments by saying, first, I consider Margaret Young a close and valued friend. I admire Darius Gray as much as any man I have ever known. I believe with all my heart that the Lord directed their writing project. At the same time, looking at the books as works of Mormon literature, apart from their impact on Mormon culture, I do not think that represent the best writing in our culture, nor are they, in my opinion, as well-written as the rest of Margaret's work. I think that they share the same flaws as Gerald Lund's work, without sharing the principle reasons for the success of the Lund books. When I read Margaret's other work, I see flawed human characters trying to find some measure of peace or understanding or truth or empathy or purpose in a world that is contradictory, difficult, fallen. If Levi Peterson is our Garcia Marquez, then Margaret is our George Eliot. Her work has Eliot's compassion, Eliot's deep humanity. =3D20 In the Standing on the Promises series, however, the characters seem flatter to me. They surely struggle against the most horrific sorts of persecution and difficulty, and they are surely also flawed. But the writing feels less nuanced, less subtle. Jane Manning James and Elijah Abel do not emerge, for me, as richly or as carefully drawn as the characters in her other novels and stories. Jane Manning James and, say, Merry in Heresies of Nature are both victims, atrociously treated by life, through no fault of their own. Forgive me when I say that I find Merry more completely and compellingly written. Margaret believes, and I believe, that the Standing on the Promises series was written as a kind of calling. But what that may have done is drive Margaret to write less well than she's capable of. That's a very harsh judgment, and I apologize for it. I don't mean to imply that she deliberately wrote down for a mass audience. The stories of Elijah Abel and Jane James are tremendously powerful ones. I believe that, possibly, Margaret found herself unwilling to interrogate them as ruthlessly as she would other characters in other works. =3D20 Gerald Lund, in writing the Work and the Glory series, I believe, faced the same dilemma. He personally seems to have found the story of the Restoration so powerful that he was unwilling to turn that story into literature. Instead, he wrote popular fiction, works that work primarily to confirm the prejudices and inclinations of his target audience. The characters are defined as heroic primarily through the physical obstacles with which they contend, including terrain, but also including villainy. =3D20 Standing by the Promises plugs into the same mythology, of course. But they don't make white LDS people feel good afterwards. For white audiences, reading about heroic black pioneers, doesn't lead to the same warm fuzzy feelings that reading about white pioneers does, precisely because white pioneers are part of the problem. The works invite a complicated response; we empathize with victims of racism, of course, but people we've been conditioned to see as wholly heroic were also the ones practicing racism. The books seem to me Lundian in approach, but they're anything but Lundian in impact. =3D20 All of this is not in any way intended to disparage Margaret and Darius' achievement. The books do serve an essential function in our culture. It's a function that I applaud. I think one of our best writers took several years out of her life to tell a story that absolutely had to be told, in a format that will make people feel uncomfortable in valuable and productive and repentant ways. I think the books represent a moral achievement of the highest possible order. I think that they are simultaneously less than, and also more than, works of literature. =3D20 Eric Samuelsen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 12:50:37 -0700 From: Barbara Hume Subject: Re: [AML] Capitalised definite article in Church's name? At 11:56 AM 2/10/04 +1100, you wrote: >OK, I don't know if it's just me, or if I missed the memo (could be), or= if >it's an Australian thing, but what _gives_ with the practice of always >capitalising the article ("The") preceding the Church's name, No big deal--it's just that "The" is part of the name. We are "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," not "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Barbara R. Hume Provo, Utah - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 17:48:01 -0800 (PST) From: William Morris Subject: RE: [AML] Apropos LDS Film Lisa Tait wrote: >But while we're on the subject, I don't necessarily accept Gene >England's >classification of historical "periods" in the development of Mormon >literature. The fact is that the home literature tradition has never >died >out or diminished since its inception in the late 19th century Lisa makes a great point here and in the rest of her post. I wrote a somewhat over-reaching essay for a class on "Nation, Memory and Diaspora" that asserted that the division of Mormon literature into these four periods served a specific ideological purpose. Lisa frames it correctly, I think, here: >Gene and the others who have written about the "development" of Mormon >literature (Richard Cracroft, Ed Geary) were looking for the >development of >a certain KIND of "Mormon Literature"--novels and the like that would >find >widespread acceptance in the mainstream literary culture or, at least, >that >would adhere to the standards of Good Literature that seemed readily >definable at the time. But I would add further that the development model served a specific purpose of creating space for the authors who were considering or currently writing in that "Good Literature" mode. The idea, I think, is one of restoration. Home literature was too didactic; The Lost Generation literature was too one-dimensional in its reaction against Mormon society and theology. But faithful realism was going to restore vitality to Mormon letters (restore a vitality and breadth of vision that was part of the "Foundations" period -- not in fiction, but in journals, hymns, sermons, scripture, etc.) by avoiding the pitfalls/extremes of Home Lit and the Lost Generation. Mormon writers don't have the burden of struggling against the towering literary giants of the past [or at least struggle with direct forbearers], but rather they were free to usher in a new dispensation of vital Mormon literature. To craft a new literary movement. Or to put it more simply -- the previous two literary movements didn't get it quite right so it's up to us to fulfill Whitney's prophecy about Miltons and Shakespeares of our own. This is a very inspiring way to look at things -- to cast things in terms of progression. But as Lisa points out: >I think what has really happened is that so-called "Mormon" literature >has >developed along two different trajectories--the Home Literature >tradition, >which has certainly taken on some levels of depth and realism that the >earlier forms lacked; and the so-called "Lost Generation" tradition of >Mormon writers who are in some degree alienated from their >culture/religion >but use it as a theme or motif or even obsession in their work--and >whose >goal is to write "serious" literature, i.e. literature for a >mainstream >audience or a more intellectual Mormon audience. Their intention may >be just as faith-promoting as the home literature authors' but because >of their >themes or techniques their work does not find acceptance in the >mainstream >Mormon culture. While there has been true development (in terms of >improvement) along both trajectories, I would argue that they are and >will >remain essentially separate. My only quibble is that I'm not convinced that England (and certainly not Cracroft) saw "faithful realism" as being an outgrowth of the "Lost Generation" tradition. As I mention above, they saw it as more of a corrective. Here is England's description of it: "Faithful Realism, 1960-present (overlapping somewhat with the previous period). A slow growth and then flowering from the 1960s to the present of good work in all genres, combining the best qualities and avoiding the limitations of most past work, so that it is both faithful and critical, appreciated by a growing Mormon audience and also increasingly published and honored nationally." [see: http://mldb.byu.edu/progress.htm ] And this is how he casts the Lost Generation: "The Lost Generation, 1930-70. A period of reaction, by third- and fourth-generation Mormons, usually well educated for their time, to what they saw as the loss of the heroic pioneer vision and a decline into provincial materialism, which impelled an outpouring of excellent but generally critical works, published and praised nationally but largely rejected by or unknown to Mormons. Most of them wrote from "exile"--out of Utah, hence the comparison with American literature's "lost" generation of Hemingway, Stein, and other expatriates." Of course, what this 4-part movement effaces, somewhat, as Lisa points out above is that there has been development along all trajectories. And to be fair to England, in this same essay he does mention that the "Home Literature" continues today and that some critics (Cracroft to be exact) see progress and development in it. Finally: all the best to you Lisa. I look forward to reading more about your work on "Home Literature." I think that it is something that needs to be looked at in more depth -- and especially in making linkages of Home Lit production of the last 3 decades with that of the Whitney/Emmeline Wells era. ~~William Morris - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 05:30:50 +0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] 2003 Mormon Drama bibliography Plays (loosely annotated) Adams, Leanne Hill. Archipelago. BYU, March-April. A group of imprisoned Russians put on a play mocking Stalin. Adams finished her MA, is now in California trying to be a screenwriter. Arrington, James. Hope as a Leak. UVSC, March. Part of Arrington=92s "Short Attention-Span Theater," UVSC's fourth- annual festival of original 10-minute plays. - ----, The Farley Family Reunion. Provo Theatre Company, May-June. - ----, Here's Brother Brigham. American Heritage School (SLC), Oct. (Staring Arrington) - ----, J. Golden. American Heritage School (SLC), Oct. (Staring Payne) Bennet, Alan. The Wind and the Willows. BYU, May-June. Bennet adapted the novel. Original music by Murry Boren. Directed by Char Nelson. Fairly good review in the DN. Bennett, Alex. Flippin', Oh My Heck, and Dang: A Utah Musical Comedy Review. Murray Theatre, Nov. New comedy review with 15 songs Bennett has written over the years about his move from New Jersey to Utah 10 years ago, and his conversion to Mormonism. DN: Respectful to the LDS religion. Bennett, Michael Jesse. Are We There Yet. This is the Place Heritage Park Old Social Hall, July-Aug. A compilation of humorous vignettes from the Mormon Pioneer trek. Blake, Jeff. Accident, West Virginia. BYU-Idaho, Feb. Student produced play, by an undergraduate. Comedy, set in an inn, with lots of oddball characters. Borgenicht, Nancy and Allen Nevins. Saturday=92s Voyeur. SLAC, Summer. Main Street Plaza, etc. DN: More crude then funny, but definitely funny in places. Bronson, Scott. Stones. Center Street Theater, March-April. Nauvoo Theatrical Society. Premiered in 2001, 2001 AML prize. Strong reviews from AML-list people. Some shows canceled for sick actors and no audience. The company's last play at the Orem location. Brown, Bill. Rockrollers and Pancakes. Little Brown, August. Premiered in 1998. Set in the 1950s, a large Provo family has to live in tents in Provo Canyon after the father is injured. Based on Brown's own experience. Butler, Erin. Missionary Position. University of Wyoming, 2003. Will also play at the American College Theater Festival regionals in Moscow, Idaho in February 2004. By a UW student, about a young woman whose car is hit by a pair of Mormon missionaries. She takes the opportunity to use the missionaries in a plot to fool her fiance's family. Cazier, Tawnya. So Much in Love. BYU Theater Dept sitcom project, filmed in February, screened at Final Cut and aired on KBYU. She was the producer and head writer. Duncan, Thom. The Preposterous Parley P.! Sunstone, August. A reader's theater version of his one-man play, which he originally wrote and performed in the 80s. Narration performed by Marvin Payne. Fales, Steven. X'd, Confessions of a Mormon Boy. Miami, Coconut Grove Playhouse March-May. Las Vegas, Camelot Theatre, Nov. Portland, Hollywood Theatre, Nov. NYC, Acorn Theatre (Off- Broadway), September--postponed. Not sure when it will happen. NY actor Fales' show about his struggle and eventual acceptance of his same-sex attraction, resulting in his excommunication. Monologue, comedy, sings, dances. Twice in SLC in 2001. 2002: New version including more about his life in NYC, when for a time he worked as a prostitute. Directed by Tony-award winner Jack Hofsiss. June in NYC, then a three city tour in September: San Francisco, Las Vegas, and SLC back at the Rose Wagner Center. Sunstone, December 2003. - ------, CULT!. Wiseguys Comedy Cafe, SLC, Aug. 31. A stand-up/music/monologue comedy show, about how people need cults to tell them what to do. Ferguson, Afton. Yes. BYU (Nelke), March. Senior project. Poetry, drama, dance, telling her own story. Fisher, Jeremy. Utopia. September, Provo City Arts Building. Part of the Provo Fringe Theater Project. Political satire by a film student. Some foul language. Frazier, Marion. The Second Time Around. The Five Star Playhouse, July- August. First play for the group that took over the Center Street Theater. Written by Frazier, along with Holly Danneman and Tom Cantrell, members of the Five Star creative team. About a Mormon widow who moves from Texas to Utah. Bombed. Garrett, Annemarie Hintze. The Trials of Joe. BYU Varsity Theatre, August. Garrett is a recent BYU grad. Was workshopped at the 2002 writers/directors workshop. Based on Job, with a focus on Joe's wife Helen as well. Gunn, Tony. Smart Single Guys. BYU, November. Margetts. Satire about BYU males and romance. Directed by Samuelsen. Had a live band. Sold out before it started, extended a week. Gunn is working on turning it into a movie. Gunn a BYU undergrad, founded the Provo Fringe Theater Project, for good plays that did not fit into the BYU system. Gunn, Leslie Hart. A Raven in My View. BYU WDA, Oct. Will appear in the Provo Fringe Theater Project in March 2004, directed by Tony Gunn, her husband. Samuelsen says she is an excellent young writer. Hale, Nathan and Ruth. Love is for the Byrds. HCT-Orem, July-Aug. Family comedy. Handcart Ensemble. Genesis. June. By Matthew Freeman. Adaptation of 5 medieval plays based on Genesis texts (the fall of Lucifer, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, The Flood, and Abraham and Isaac). New play, Freeman is doing it together with the HE. Freeman is not LDS. LaBute, Neil. Merge. Miami, July. One-act, in the University of Miami Summer Shorts Festival. About a young couple in an emotional showdown over a sexual incident. Sex, love, and alcohol. - ----, bash: latter-day plays. Mercury Players, Madison WI, Feb-March. Plan B Theater Company, SLC, Sept. Paris (in French), March. Good review from Lincoln in the DN and Bannon at the Tribune, but a poor one from Renshaw at the Salt Lake Weekly. Lincoln listed it as one of the 11 best dramas of the year. - ----, The Shape of Things. Madment Theater, Auckland, NZ. April-May. The movie came out in 2003, too, first at Sundance, then in general release. - ----, The Distance From Here. Premiered at the Almeida, London in May 2002. Published by Overlook Press, February 2003. - ----, The Mercy Seat. Preferred in New York City, Dec. 2002. Continued in January 2003. Published by Farber & Farber, February 2003. Dutches Theater, Berlin, Sept. Lambert, James. Frontier. Valley Center Playhouse (Lindon), June. Musical comedy, set in 1782 frontier US. A revival of his first musical, he has written several others since. McColm, Reed. Hole in the Sky. Eastern Oregon University McKenzie Theatre, Nov. 2003 AML Drama prize winner. Encore performance in January. The show was EOU=92s entry in the American College Theater Festival. It was chosen to participate in the regional competition in February in Moscow, Idaho. It could go on to the national competition in May at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. McLean, Michael and Kevin Kelly. The Ark. Village Theatre, in Issaquah and Everett WA (two different theaters, same company). March - May. Was there in 2001, too, it sold out that year, the most successful in the theater's series of new musicals. Fairly good review from the Seattle papers. Millet, Robert. Passage of Glory. Provo Tabernacle, May. A new dramatic oratorio, telling the story of Joseph Smith and the restoration. Lawrence Vincent, head of opera at BYU, sang the role of Joseph Smith. Each singer is a separate character, played semi-dramatically. Orton, Erik. Berlin. Theatre 315 (New York, Off-off-Broadway), Sept. Musical written and composed by Orton. Workshoped at BYU in 1999 and 2000. Story of the Berlin Airlift. Focus on Ernst Reuter, a German professor/politician returning from exile to help rebuild Germany after the war, also the American general in charge of the airlift logistics, a Soviet General, and a fictional story of a young German woman who was raped and impregnated by a Russia soldier, later falls in love with an American pilot. Orton works as a theatrical manager for Broadway tours. He co-authored the book for Savior of the World. Good music, especially the love songs. There is hope for an off-Broadway run. Perry, Steven Kapp. Polly. American Heritage School, Oct. Benefit. Rapier, James. A Peculiar People. Rose Wagner, August. Docu-drama about being gay and HIV Positive in Utah society. Rapier, the artistic director of Plan-B Theater Company, produced this independently. Docu-drama style, starts with the cast sitting and reading newspaper articles, editorials, letters to the editor, and histories. Then they act out some true stories. Based on "The Laramie Project", which Plan-B also did recently. Rogers, Ralph. Joseph and Mary: A Love Story. The Bountiful Performing Arts Center, Dec. Second year in a row at BPAC. Rogers died in 1996, he had managed the Pages Lane Theater, PVT, and Polynesian Culture Center. Rogers, Thomas. Huebener. Bountiful Performing Arts Center. May-June. Directed by Rogers. Ivan Lincoln listed it as one of the 11 best dramas of the year in Utah. Samuelsen, Eric. The Way We=92re Wired. Nauvoo Theatrical Society. January-March. Premiered in 1999, 1999 AML prize. - ----, Kiss. Mormon Arts Retreat, May. A short, two-person play about an active LDS couple, but the wife is a prostitute at a legal Nevada brothel. Caused a stir at the retreat. - ----, Family. BYU WDA workshop, Oct. Could go to BYU or the Nauvoo Theatrical Society for a full production later. Slover, Tim. Hancock County. The 2002 production was shown on KBYU in June. - ----, Joyful Noise. Abilene Christian University, Abilene TX, February. Stewart, Mahonri. Farewell to Eden. UVSC, Nov. Premiere by a UVSC student, guided and directed by James Arrington. Set in 1840, about the reaction of a British household to LDS missionaries. Chosen for the American College Theater Festival regional competition in San Bernardino. One-night benefit performance at the Villa in Jan. 2004. Taylor, Meredith Ryan. Abinidai. BYU, Oct. Opera, recent alumnus Taylor wrote the music and libretto. De Jong. Weyland, Jack. Jack Weyland's Home Cooking. BYU Idaho, March. A recent convert from a rich New York family tries to be like the BYU- Idaho girls in her apartment. A revised version of the 1979 BYU comedy Home Cooking on the Wasatch Range. White, Dale. Saints and Strangers. Nov., Bountiful Regional Center, North Salt Lake. Three free performances. A new musical drama about the Pilgrims' voyage on the Mayflower, co-produced by the Bountiful Performing Arts Center, Dale White Productions, the National Mayflower Society and the LDS Bountiful Utah Central Stake. Young, Margaret Blair. I am Jane. February 2003-Washington Temple Visitors Center. June 2003-Bountiful Regional Center. Directed by Thom Duncan. Andrew Hall - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V2 #261 ******************************