Literature in a Mormon Context

If you choose to read pretty much anything beyond the Boxcar Children and the Babysitter's Club, you're guaranteed to run into some unpleasant stuff. I've had so many experiences with friends who, after seeing a book I'm reading or hearing me describe a book I like, ask how I can justify reading that sort of thing because of its language or violence or sex or whatever else. Especially at BYU, where almost all of the students and professors are Mormon, you start to wonder about the things you're assigned to read . . . is it really okay to read some of this stuff? If I read something with vivid violence or sex because it was assigned for a class, does that mean it's okay because I'm at a "church school"? Even if a book has redeeming characteristics, should you still read it if it has blatant sex or violence or whatever other quality? And if I happen to love a book that gets made into an R-rated movie (since Mormons are instructed not to watch movies with that rating), does that mean the book has equal content and I shouldn't read it? I know this is a rather troubling topic for a lot of English majors at BYU (and any Mormon who appreciates literature, really) because if you want to read good literature, you're going to read things that aren't quite up to your standards. It's especially awkward when people ask for recommendations . . . all the books I love come with some sort of disclaimer: "Well, it's great except for this one part," or "You'll love it, you'll just want to skip a couple pages here . . . "

Since I wonder about this sort of thing pretty often, I was excited to run into this article from a Church magazine that addresses this very issue. It was written by the former Dean of the College of Humanities at BYU when he was confronted about stories that were being published in student magazines. Some people wanted him to be more strict about what could be published in the magazine, while others wanted him to include whatever the writer felt was appropriate. The whole article is quite long, but there were some sections that I thought were really interesting. It's addressed more to writers, but I think it definitely applies to readers as well.

"Hypocrisy, bigotry, superficiality, sentimentality, pomposity, apathy—wherever such attitudes are found they should be exposed. It is not only a writer’s privilege but also his duty to expose them, and you can’t expose evil or solve problems by turning your back on them or pretending they don’t exist. Moreover, a writer’s realm is the whole of reality, and it is his privilege to explore whatever aspect of it he desires. However, it is also a writer’s privilege to be discriminating and selective, and it is his responsibility not only to reflect the world honestly but also to reflect himself honestly."

"A writer must face problems squarely and describe them honestly, but in doing so there should be no question where the author’s values are."

"I also want it clearly understood that this essay is not to be interpreted as an attack on modern literature. All my life I have studied and for a quarter century have taught modern poetry, the modern short story, and the modern novel; and I have found in them brilliance, excellence, and power of a quality to match the greatness of the past. I am criticizing not modern literature, nor
literature of any particular time, but instead the flotsam and jetsam of literature which surfaces junkily in any and every age—the kind of writing which features crudeness, violence, ensationalism, and clever flippancy for their own sake and which intentionally mocks, ridicules, and negates spiritual values and human dignity."

I guess you can take from that article whatever you'd like, but I take it to mean that there are a few kinds of literature out there . . . there is great literature that contains material that Mormons will probably find below their standards, yet still remains great literature because the overall message to be taken from it is a good, worthwhile one that improves you as a person; there is also literature that is degrading, negative, and base with nothing very uplifting about it at all. I think it's fine to read literature that contains language or sexuality or violence as long as it is, in the end, not lowering you as a person. You can learn from the things that you read, even if what you are learning is, “Wow, that guy made nothing but bad choices, and look where he ended up." But I'll definitely be avoiding literature that is full of such material just for the sake of shock value or "exposing" horrible ways of life or titillation.

Just my thoughts.

Great book website!

I am UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED about this website I found on Saturday. It's called Bookmooch.com, and it's awesome! You put books that you own but don't want anymore on it and are given a tenth of a point for each one you add. If someone wants one of your books, you just pay to ship it to them, and you are awarded 1 point. Every book on the site costs 1 point, so you basically just trade your books for someone else's! You get 1 point for each book you send to someone else and for every 10 books you put on, you get another point. AMAZING!!! I've already had requests for 4 of my books and I've requested 3 books to be sent to me. I'll let you know if this site's really as good as it seems once I get my books! I can't wait to get them . . . I've asked for Empire Falls by Richard Russo, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, and The Known World by Edward P. Jones.

Possession

I recently finished reading Possession by A.S. Byatt. I think Byatt is a great writer and I liked the book more than I wish I had, given that one of the main characters was kind of a weasel who I was almost convinced to approve of. One thing that I found really interesting in the book was the view of history it presented. It really made me think about history's place in society and in my personal life. It follows two English scholars as they research the lives of two Victorian poets who apparently had an affair that no one had ever known about. I got really caught up in the book and was so excited while I was telling my husband what it was about. Being a science major, his response was, "So what? Who cares what these dead poets did?" Got to admit, I hadn't really thought of it that way. And even as I kept reading, eagerly waiting to find out "what happens," I did find myself wondering why it mattered. In my head, I kept going back and forth between thoughts like, "It was their personal life; who cares?" and "But it changes everything! All their poems will have different meanings than everyone thought!" back to "Buuuuuuut . . . so what? They're just poems and no one can ever really say what they mean anyway."

It made me wonder what the importance of history is . . . I mean, if any new discovery about historical "facts" is made, it could change the meaning we've placed on our lives. Like in Possession, imagine you had spent your entire adult life studying another person's life, if you thought you knew everything there was to know about this person, and in an instant it all changed. Turns out, all your studying and all your knowledge means next to nothing because there was something you didn't know that changes everything else. All the connections you've made, the interpretations you've created, and the meaning you've drawn from your work is obsolete because something new turns up that alters everything.

So maybe you would never spend time studying someone's life like that . . . but what if it had been, say, an ancestor of yours that had some dark secret in their past you didn't know about? Or a secret in our nation's history? Or even a friend who you would think about completely differently if you knew something that they are keeping from you? I think the main impact Possession had on me was to make me wonder how much is out there that I don't know about and how my life would change if some new discovery were made about the things I believe in most.

Preface.

I love to read. That's the main reason I chose to be an English major when I got to college. Throughout my college career, though, I've found that the academic approach to literature is not exactly what I was expecting it to be. I love to read because I like to hear a good story that is written well that makes me view things in a different way and think about how I think about things and expose myself to issues and points of view that I might not normally encounter. This isn't exactly what my classes are teaching me that literature is about, though. More than anything else, I'm learning to dislike literature. I don't like most of the things I have to read, I don't like having to analyze the crap out of any written word I come across, I don't like having to argue and justify and rationalize my opinions to other people in my classes, I don't like feeling stupid if I disagree with someone else's interpretation or opinions or if I don't see the obscure symbolisms that they might find in a book. In my opinion, the purpose of reading should be entertainment and enlightenment. You should read because you like to see what happens in the story and it makes you think and grow and become a better person. That's why I read.

I guess that's the purpose of this site--to bring the love of reading back into my cold, cold heart. I want to keep track of what I read, write about what I think, express my opinions without feeling stupid for what I think or having to defend myself. If anyone else ever reads this, I hope you'll see it as a place to find good books to read, to prompt your own thinking, to express your opinions about what you read, and to come to love literature more. And I don't want anyone (including myself) to ever feel stupid or looked-down-on for what they think. That doesn't feel so good . . . I know. I've had one too many English majors scoff when hearing me express my burning love for Harry Potter. There's nothing wrong with liking--nay, loving--Harry Potter.