From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #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 Monday, February 19 2001 Volume 01 : Number 261 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 14:59:16 -0500 From: Edward Hogan Subject: RE: [AML] Request for Help: Road Show Does the church still do road shows? We haven't had them in our stake in years, well over a decade I think? How widely are they done now? Ned - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 14:41:02 -0600 From: Linda Adams Subject: Re: [AML] (Writer's Angle) The Journey of _Prodigal Journey_ At 10:42 AM 2/15/01, you wrote: >But I'm not convinced that giving up the gifts we've received is a >universal requirement of discipleship. Losing ourselves is. Setting aside >ambition is. Laying it all on the altar is. But sometimes what we place on >the altar is consecrated and entrusted back to us. Tyler, thank you for expressing this so eloquently. This is what happened to me, but I didn't say it nearly so well. This is still different than what happened to Mr. Holland in _Opus,_ though. >The gifts we've received are placed in our hands and hearts to serve Him >who gave them, and if we throw them away in a pious attempt to produce an >"acceptable sacrifice" we may find that we have discarded the very stones >that were to line our personal path of discipleship. Again, thank you. Exactly. Which is why I have little patience with people who could do amazing things with their talent but don't. Or demonstrate a sort of "Aw, shucks (blush)" attitude about the gifts God blessed them with. Just give the glory back to God, who gave the gift in the first place. Don't apologize for *having* it, or for being aware that you do. The trick is in discovering why you've got it and what God wants you to do with it. All this doesn't, however, always ease the guilt or any feelings of weirdness if your "talent" isn't an everyday garden-variety thing... Linda Adams adamszoo@sprintmail.com http://home.sprintmail.com/~adamszoo - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 14:36:58 -0700 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: Re: [AML] A Mormon Criticism On Thu, Feb 15, 2001 at 03:21:53PM -0700, Travis Manning wrote: > General question: > Is there a Mormon criticism? Yes and no. > Let me qualify my question by asking, Is there a Mormon critical > perspective, such as is comparable in academic rigor to a New Historicism, > Psychoanalysis, Moral/Ethical, Reader Response, Deconstruction, Textual > Criticism, Humanism, Genre, Archetypal, Formal, New Criticism, these and > others, and variations of the same? You mention these schools of thought as if they present codified rules for examining a text. For example, to conduct a Freudian analysis of a text, do the following: 1. Examine the text for any long, cylindrical objects: tall glasses, pencils, submarines. 2. Each object found represents the male phallus. Describe how these phalluses demonstrate the main character's sexual frustration (or lack thereof). Some of the biggest literary arguments come from individuals, usually experts in the same school of thought, who disagree about the interpretation of a text. Although all Freudian critics would look for phallic symbols in the text, each critic would probably have a unique perspective on the meanings imbued by those symbols. A critical perspective based on a religion functions quite differently from academic critical schools. The schools you list all have a worldview that reflect a general set of social or academic values. Scholars who align themselves with a school can freely accept some or all of the basic tenets of the school's worldview. The self-named humanist scholars can then battle about whether or not Ayn Rand created the ultimate humanist text with _Atlas Shrugged,_ but no-one can definitively categorize a text as humanist because that would first require scholars to agree on a definition of humanist. On the other hand, religions already have an accepted canon. The governing body of a church -- not a congress of literary scholars -- establishes that church's official worldview. Mormon criticism then comes down to judging how well a text presents the worldview established by the accepted canon of the church. Granted, you can have lengthy arguments about the missionary value of Orson Scott Card's _Lost Boys,_ but who really wants to read about how a particular text lines up with the three missions of the church. > If "we" (those that are critiquing various forms and genres of text, and > subtext -- from a "Mormon" critical perspective) are, is there a Mormon > "critical" text out there that would seem to symbolize "a" Mormon criticism? > I am not personally aware of such an all-inclusive text and would be > interested in knowing of one if it exists. Now, I know the D&C advises > members of the Church to seek learning out of the best books, so could a > Mormon criticism text -- if it exists -- be considered one of these "best > books?" Would a standardized Mormon criticism have value? In a sense we already have a standardized Mormon criticism. Since a Mormon critical perspective would basically apply the canon of the church to the text, the canon of the church becomes the urtext by which all other texts must achieve their value. For the church to canonize a work then becomes the ultimate compliment in the Mormon criticism. > Second question: If "we" (those that critique texts and subtexts at various > critical levels) do not have such a foundation, would it behoove it us to > establish one, to perhaps compile essays, articles, statements, chapters of > relevant books, and sort of "foundationalize" a Mormon criticism? Or > perhaps "we" could commission a Mormon scholar(s) to produce such a text, as > their version of a Mormon criticism? Scholars who also maintain membership in the Mormon church have many publications in all sorts of fields. But in many articles, these scholars use a worldview borrowed from one of the established critical schools to tout the value of Mormon literature. They seem to want the literature accepted not by a unique standard of Mormon criticism, but by some worldly value established outside the church. Here we run into one of the problems that we often discuss on the list: what do we want to achieve with Mormon literature? To consider Mormon literature successful, do we want acceptance from the "gentile" critics, or do we need to establish our own literary tradition that has value only for Mormons. And how do you judge the success of Mormon literature? By popularity? By the number of general authority endorsements? At this point, a collection of the published works of LDS scholars would not define a coherent set of values that others could use as a basis for further criticism. The members of the list cannot even agree on a definition of "Mormon literature." > Third and final question: Is there value and merit to even establishing a > Mormon criticism text or texts -- I mean, is there going to be some greater > good that would come from "formalizing" a Mormon, critical, literary > perspective that would assist with a greater good, you know, "out there in > the world" somewhere? You cannot make a movement out of just a few individuals. I don't think we have a body of quality Mormon literature large enough to justify a unique school of Mormon critical thought. You could argue that we don't need works produced by Mormons to create such a school, that we can just find all the "best book" and subsume them into Mormon literature. Say Hemingway: "Although we can praise Robert Jordan in _For Whom the Bell Tolls_ for his honorable self sacrifice on the battlefield, we must hope that these good works will lead him to accept a vicarious baptism, since he was not able to live long enough to meet the post-war missionaries." For me, the texts come before the criticism. We develop criticism to discuss why literature works and has value. If the literature doesn't exist then we cannot develop a criticism to describe that literature. So to answer your original question, I think we do have an established canon by which we will have to use as a basis for our literary criticism, but we do not yet have a substantial body of quality literature that demonstrate a class of values and topics that we can extrapolate into a unified Mormon criticism. - -- Terry L Jeffress AML Webmaster and AML-List Review Archivist - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 17:15:04 -0500 From: "Tracie Laulusa" Subject: RE: [AML] Request for Help: Road Show There hasn't been one in the Columbus, OH tri-stake area for at least the 11 years we've been here. From what we've heard, we were in Morristown NJ for the next to the last round of road shows and dance festivals just before that. Tracie - -----Original Message----- Does the church still do road shows? We haven't had them in our stake in years, well over a decade I think? How widely are they done now? Ned - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 17:21:17 -0500 From: Richard Johnson Subject: RE: [AML] Request for Help: Road Show At 02:59 PM 2/16/2001 -0500, you wrote: >Does the church still do road shows? We haven't had them in our stake in >years, well over a decade I think? How widely are they done now? > >Ned We did them in our Stake last year. They were a little strange. The competition was eliminated and everyone got participation certificates. As a result, one went about twenty minutes overtime, but the quality was, overall, pretty good. Richard B. Johnson Husband, Father, Grandfather, Puppeteer, Playwright, Writer, Director, Actor, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important http://www2.gasou.edu/commarts/puppet/ Georgia Southern University Puppet Theatre - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 15:39:18 -0700 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: Re: [AML] (On Stage) BYU at ACTF On Fri, Feb 16, 2001 at 11:12:18AM -0700, Marianne Hales Harding wrote: > While I agree with your point, I have to say that _The Straight Story_ isn't > a movie I would cite to bolster that point. I was bored to tears by the > Straight Story. How many completely silent 15 minute shots of an old man on > a lawn mower can you have in one movie? I was rooting for a semi to take > him out. Let me second Mairanne's opinion. Profanity, or just about anything else, would have improved _The Straight Story_. At one point Mr. Staight watches a lady hit a deer with her car. She gets hysterical and claims that she hits a deer several times each week. I kept hoping for her to return and take out Alvin, his John Deere lawnmower, and maybe the music editor for his infinite repetiton of the 15-second travel ditty. Imagine a pioneer movie made the same way as _The Straight Story._ THE YOUNG STORY by Anonymous EXT. WINTER QUARTERS - DAY Young children gather water from a stream in a wooden bucket. We follow them back to a camp of white canvas tents. They pass a gathering of men. ON BRIGHAM Brigham Young adresses the croud. He holds a Book of Mormon to his breast and makes his speach. BRIGHAM Gentlemen. The Lord has spoken. We will make our journey west. EXT. WINTER QUARTERS - AERIAL - DAY The saints quickly break camp and form a wagon train. EXT. THE OREGON TRAIL - MISSOURI - DAY The wagons roll along. EXT. THE OREGON TRAIL - MISSOURI - NIGHT The saints sleep after a long day on the trail. Some fires still burn and make the canvas on the wagons look pale orange. EXT. THE OREGON TRAIL - MISSOURI - SUNRISE The wagons roll along. FADE TO: EXT. THE OREGON TRAIL - NEBRASKA - DAY The wagons roll along. CUT TO: EXT. THE OREGON TRAIL - NEBRASKA - DAY The wagons roll along. FADE TO: EXT. THE OREGON TRAIL - WYOMING - DAY The wagons roll along. CUT TO: EXT. THE OREGON TRAIL - WYOMING - DAY The wagons roll along. FADE TO: EXT. THE OREGON TRAIL - UTAH - DAY The wagons roll along. EXT. BRIGHAM'S WAGON - UTAH - DAY BRIGHAM This is the place. FADE OUT Maybe I can get Richard Dutcher to direct. Then again, maybe it needs some authentic profanity. - -- Terry L Jeffress AML Webmaster and AML-List Review Archivist - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 16:20:29 -0700 From: "Annette Lyon" Subject: Re: [AML] Marilyn Brown Novel Award Out of curiosity, how many entries has the contest had in the past? Annette Lyon - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 19:01:08 -0600 From: Jonathan Langford Subject: Re: [AML] A Mormon Criticism Travis, This general set of questions interests me a lot. It's come up before on the List, in one form or another. I'm by no means an expert on it, but I think I may be one of few currently active List participants who was involved in the discussion at that time, so I'll take a whack at talking some about what the discussion has been like here. A few years back, Mike Austin wrote an essay--I can't remember the title of it, but it was something straightforward like "Toward a Mormo-American Criticism"--delivered at a conference of some sort, which I think won an award from AML that same year. He was arguing, essentially, that Mormon ethnicity provides a perspective that ought to be just as respectable as a basis for writing as any of the other ethnic identities that has received critical attention in recent years. Mike, who was an active participant on AML-List for a while, did a series of columns (I think in 1996) essentially looking at several different contemporary critical approaches, summarizing them for the non-expert (that is, most of us), and speculating about ways those approaches could be harnessed by Mormons. Unfortunately, those items are buried in the AML-List Archives... (That would be a fun project, by the way, if anyone ever had a great deal of spare time: to pull all the AML-List columns and put them on the Web site as articles, similar to the AML-List Reviews Archive.) Going further back, I know there was a famous exchange between Richard Cracroft and Bruce Jorgensen on the sophic and the mantic in Mormon literature. And Marden Clark talks some about a Mormon-based criticism in his collection of essays, _Liberating Form_. I'm sure there's been a lot of other stuff written along the lines of Mormon literary criticism. Most of these approaches, however, seem to be looking at Mormon criticism in terms of developing or adapting critical categories and tools for using in analyzing Mormon literature. Frankly, as a project that interests me less than the question of a universal literary criticism influenced by Mormon beliefs. What purpose does literature have in the cosmos as seen in Mormon eyes? That's a question that interests me a lot, and one I think everyone who professes a serious interest in Mormon letters ought to tackle, at least in personal terms--and that we all ought to talk about more in Mormon literary and artistic circles. I think Mormon theology implies some possible answers that are both similar to and different from ideas that artists and critics have been throwing around from the time of Plato/Aristotle on down. However, I'm also congenitally suspicious of attempts to arrive at premature closure. I think I had an exchange with Ben Parkinson on the List on at least one occasion about this, if I recall correctly. So my prejudice is against any attempt to label something as "the" Mormon criticism, but rather toward encouraging Mormon literary scholars from every different critical school and approach to talk and write about the connection between their own critical theory and practice and Mormonism. Providing forums for this type of discussion would, I think, take us much further in Mormon letters than any attempt to arrive at a formalized "Mormon" literary scholarship. For one thing, I doubt that Mormon literary scholars would agree on any such label (there are too many, working with too many divergent approaches), and for one group to start calling itself "the Mormon criticism" would I think be taken (perhaps rightly) as an attempt to coopt a religious label for essentially political purposes. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" should not, I think, be taken to the point of "one literary criticism." It's my belief that one of Mormonism's cultural quirks, not always a positive one, is an attempt to arrive at consensus and closure in areas far removed from doctrine and religious practice; but in areas like literary criticism I think it's important to let a certain diversity flourish, in the interests of seeing what we can learn from each other. So personally I'd favor a great deal of discussion of literary criticism from Mormon perspectives, but would resist any attempt to label any particular critical approach as "the Mormon criticism." Jonathan Langford Speaking for myself, not the List jlangfor@pressenter.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 18:35:21 -0700 From: Jacob Proffitt Subject: [AML] Responsibility to Your Gifts (was: Writer's Angle) On Fri, 16 Feb 2001 14:41:02 -0600, Linda Adams wrote: >Which is why I have little patience with people=20 >who could do amazing things with their talent but don't. Why don't you have patience with people who could do amazing things with their talent and don't? Why assume that people not actively developing their talents are being negligent just because they are not improving = their most obvious or public ones? I am curious because I think I have a = talent for writing. I think I could develop that talent if I wanted to. Right now, that talent is almost exclusively reserved for the email lists I = pursue and the documents I create for clients (technical specification documents for their approval). I suspect that with a little pushing, I could do amazing things. But I don't push. I think that my reasons for not developing this talent are sufficient. I stopped feeling guilty that I'm not actively working to hone my writing. Obviously, I did not do so lightly or without contemplation and prayer. = So my question is, why the guilt trip for those of us who don't make the = same choices you (plural) do? Can you have an artistic talent and let it lie dormant while you take care of other priorities? I don't mean these as personal questions for Linda. She just happened to bring up the = questions I've been pondering for a while. Mainly, why all the pressure to = produce? Jacob Proffitt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 19:25:43 -0600 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] Re: Request for Help: Road Show Ned Hogan: Does the church still do road shows? We haven't had them in our stake in years, well over a decade I think? How widely are they done now? _______________ It's been about five years here. They are a lot of work. I would like to refute Eric D's comment about how lousy they are, however. I must admit to having seen, over the years, some outstanding and hillariously funny road shows. Trouble is, you usually have to sit through 9 or 12 others to get to the good one or two. :-> Larry Jackson ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 21:24:46 +0000 From: Jeff Needle Subject: [AML] Margaret Young Our own Margaret Young, and her writing partner Darius Gray, were in San Diego this evening (Friday) for a book signing. It was just great and we had a terrific visit. They were promoting their book, "One More River to Cross," which I've reviewed here. It was a fine time. Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - - 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 #261 ******************************