Talking About Mormon Lit

I'm a Mormon. And I like fiction, and literature in general. And I like talking with people who share my interests. It should hardly be surprising, then, that I like talking about Mormon literature — and Mormon perspectives on literature — with people who share my interests.

Back about 15 years ago, if my memory serves me, I got involved with the AML-List, an email discussion group sponsored by the Association for Mormon Letters. It's probably not a coincidence that this was about the time I gave up on my PhD program in English: I'd seen the writing on the wall with respect to my becoming a literature professor, but still felt the need to engage in talking about storytelling from perspectives that felt important to me. Not to mention the fact that it was a darn good conversation back then, featuring a lot of bright and interesting people.

Since then, I've been involved in Mormon lit in a variety of ways. I put in a couple years' stint as the moderator for AML-List. I've published some reviews. I've even written a Mormon-themed novel, based on an idea that was sparked by my involvement with AML-List. And now I'm at it again, volunteering to act as coordinator of the AML blog (which has now largely taken the place of AML-List). For this post, I want to talk about things I've read recently that help illustrate why it is that I think Mormon lit is such an interesting sandbox to play in.

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I'll start with the AML blog itself, Dawning of a Brighter Day, which most notably (from my point of view) over the last several weeks has been host to a discussion on authenticity in Mormon literature (based on a good original post by Irreantum co-editor Jack Harrell which led to a vigorous conversation in the comments section); another lengthy discussion in the comments section for a post by LDS novelist (and current or incoming AML president) Margaret Young that wound up talking about a host of other things, many of them also related to artistic authenticity in a Mormon context; and an appreciation of baptism stories as a genre of Mormon literature, veering into a discussion in the comments about the tightrope involved in writing and talking about sacred experiences. Not to mention my own call for suggestions about new ideas for the AML blog, a call for contributions to the AML review archive, and a discussion of baseball and baseball stories by LDS playwright Eric Samuelsen. All good stuff.

And then there's A Motley Vision: Mormon Arts and Culture blog, run by my good friend William Morris (someone I originally met through the AML-List), to which I also sometimes contribute (following no regular schedule). I particularly enjoyed the discussion arising out of a post by William titled "Why the inherent subjectivity of art is a good thing." There was also an excellent piece titled "Writing the Hard History" by LDS playwright Mahonri Stewart a little over a week ago, talking about writing Mormon art based on challenging topics. And there have also been a couple of good Mormon author interviews in the past week, though I haven't had the mental bandwidth to do them justice. And I have to tip my hat to the post a couple of weeks ago about a publication titled "La Piedra Ente La Ñeve," which may be the most obscure work of Mormon literature published to date: a book of poetry written in Asturian, described by the reviewer as "a language spoken principally in portions of Spain and Portugal by some 125,000 people," and printed (as best I can tell) in the old Deseret Alphabet, a phonetic alphabet with its own symbols created in the 1860s in an attempt to help Mormon immigrants learn English more easily.

Finally, there's a three-part essay titled "LDS Fiction: A View from the Fringe" written by Pam Williams at her blog, The Write Stuff. (Follow these links to get to Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.) It's a combination of observations and personal manifesto from the perspective of a reader and writer of Mormon literature, including thoughts about what it means to write Mormon literature of value.

All good stuff. And all reasons why you should join in the conversation, if any of this sounds interesting. We are, I think, in the beginning stages of an explosion of what LDS literary scholar Gideon Burton refers to as "citizen criticism." Get in at the ground floor!