Comments on: How to make Mormon literature great

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:47:46 +0000

#53: You have been added to my list of great people who have helped me this morning, (You are #86).
I still say this is a good read for those who followed this post. A lot of these works can be found used for 2 or 3 bucks. I use Albis Books, they have a lot of used Mormon books.

By: Kent Larsen

Kent Larsen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:05:30 +0000

Bob (52), it looks like Texas Christian University Press removed those files from its website for some reason.

The text is a chapter by Kenneth B. Hunsaker from the book “A Literary History of the American West.”

I found it here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080412040740/www2.tcu.edu/depts/prs/amwest/html/wl0849.html

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:53:18 +0000

Http://www2.TCU.edu/depts/prs/amwest/w10849.html
Here is a link of a multi-page paper at TCU, with write ups on all the old Mormon Novel and Novel writers. A very good read.
I took it from the bottom of my printout, but could not get it to work(?)
Maybe someone can make a workable link?

By: Seldom

Seldom — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:53:45 +0000

We’re never going to make Mormon literature great when some of our best is so easily dismissed from within because it deals with adultery, mentions coffee, or has a setting near St. George. No one should be allowed to lament our lack of great literature until they read authors such as Maureen Whipple, Virginia Sorensen, and Levi Peterson.

By: Rose Green

Rose Green — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:00:29 +0000

Make that link to the Ally Condie article here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6710139.html%29.html

By: Rose Green

Rose Green — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:57:50 +0000

I think people have different things in mind when they say, “WHERE oh WHERE is all the Great Mormon Literature??” 1) We want literary acclaim! We want the literary gods of New York to give us their Seal of Literary Approval! or 2) We want lots and lots of books about Mormons and Mormon culture, or 3) We want Mormons authors to be well-known and well-purchased on the national market, or 4) some combination of the above.

With #1, sometimes it’s the exit novels that get that. But, exit novel or not–if you have #1, I don’t know how likely you are to get say, #3. And I don’t think it has anything to do with your religion. Extremely high-end literary works often *don’t* sell a lot of copies. Obviously there are exceptions, but there’s a reason agents and editors view themselves as either more literary or more commercial. However, there are always exceptions, such as Martine Leavitt’s Keturah and the Lord Death, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 2006 and which people seem to enjoy reading just for fun as well.

As to #2, you are looking at a niche market, sort of like regional books. I think that as this market has grown (or more importantly, the number of people writing for this market has grown), it’s produced a rise in quality (more writers competing). DB’s sorta monopoly is a problematic stick in that river in some ways. Are there Great Books that fit within this framework? Sure. Is the general public going to flock to buy them? Maybe not. But they may have staying power within the LDS reader community.

As to #3, there is ample evidence of this going on, at least in the MG/YA range. LDS authors published by both Shadow Mountain AND major NY houses are doing very well in sales. (And, I might add, professional reviews.) Fablehaven isn’t a fluke. I don’t think you need to view DB as some sort of starter house, but I do think that if you have several sales under your belt already to a place like DB, people might take you more seriously. Um, for example, Ally Condie (see http://www.publishersweekly.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=6635839&articleid=CA6710139). Or James Dashner, who went from Shadow Mountain to Delacorte with The Maze Runner. As far as I know, Ann Dee Ellis hasn’t done the DB->national market route, but her novels with Little, Brown have starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and VOYA. And Brandon Sanderson seems to be doing quite well in both adult and MG fantasy (which has the Urim and Thummim in it, despite being published by Scholastic…). There are many others.

I realize the original post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but in all seriousness, I think that success in any of these categories is a good thing for LDS literature/books by LDS authors. It’s easy to get bogged down in one’s own corner of the literary universe and feel that that’s the only part that matters, but I think that strides are being made in all areas, and I’m glad!

By: annegb

annegb — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:58:15 +0000

Angela, I was thinking of you as I read this! And the authors you cite, as well. Deseret Book would have destroyed your book.

By: Kent Larsen

Kent Larsen — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:08:50 +0000

J. Langford (45), I think you are right. But it makes it quite difficult for those of us who want to identify LDS literature that isn’t “safe” the way an LDS bookstore is “safe.”

We loose the affiliation for safety.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:55:07 +0000

#42: Or_ put the good writers to work writing the Sunday School Manuels. Wallace Stegner wrote Sunday School Manuels for the Church, along with two books on Mormon life. I also have Stegner’s book ” The American Novel”. All good reads.

By: Jonathan Langford

Jonathan Langford — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:35:09 +0000

In response to Kent (44):

LDS bookstores, I’m increasingly convinced, are aimed at a demographic that is dissatisfied with the national market, or at the very least wants to do part of their book shopping in an environment that’s sheltered from some of the more problematic elements of nationally published fiction (e.g., language, behavior not consistent with LDS values, “Why does Brionne have two mommies?”). For example, I suspect a lot of people shop in LDS bookstores for books that will be “safe” to give to grandkids, etc. This means they don’t go there to buy books, for the most part, that they *could* find in national bookstores. They go to the national bookstore chains or Amazon.com for that.

A lot of Scott Card’s fiction doesn’t fit that “safe” category. And he doesn’t need it to, because it’s selling perfectly well in the national markets. LDS readers who like mainstream sf&f will find Card there.

And frankly, if I were Card, I would be perfectly happy with that. Having readers who know him from LDS venues and then went on to read some of his less “filtered” work could actually backfire on him. He may not even want a substantial “crossover” readership.