The following untitled song appears in the 1960 edition of History of Kane County. It is listed as being “composed by ‘Roughnecks’ of former days.”
A — is for Nate Adams, who lived by the store,
B — is for Brig Riggs, who rode the range o’er.
C — is for John Cram as long as a rope,
D [...]

As a fellow pr professional, I give Covenant’s marketing team major props for this article on the increasing quality and quantity of Mormon fiction that appears in today’s Deseret News. I don’t know if Covenant’s people pitched the story idea or not, but I’d say that Covenant beats out Deseret Book in the article in [...]

I decided to track down the lecture by Richard Bushman that Nate Oman referenced in his June 1 post on Mormon Orientalism over at Times & Seasons because I wanted to see what Bushman had to say specifically about literature since the lecture was given at an AML annual meeting. The answer: not a whole [...]

“Your Entertainment. Your Standards.” is the tagline of the recently-launched (late April) group blog LDS Review. It’s an interesting discursive move on the part of the creators of the site. They are clearly targeting a specific audience — the orthodox, active LDS audience — and a specific market — products that show up on the [...]

Most of the “Napoleon Dynamite” reviews I have read mentioned that the film doesn’t have a strong plot. So I wasn’t surprised when I saw the capsule headline for Carla Meyer’s San Francisco Chronicle review: “There’s no cohesive story.”
However, when I read the full review, I did find it interesting that Meyer accuses Jared and [...]

Writing about Neal Chandler’s “The Last Nephite” reminded me that I have a Three Nephites/John the Beloved story to tell. It’s a story that was told to me on my mission in Romania. I have changed the name of the person involved for reasons that will soon become obvious. The story goes like this:
During my [...]

In part II, I discussed the magic realism of García Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” noting that the supernatural element of story — the old man with wings — was a baffling presence that challenged the religious conventions of the community he appears in. Neal Chandler’s “The Third Nephite,” which appears in [...]

In part I of my discussion of the possibilities of magic realism as a fruitful mode for Mormon fiction writers, I brought up two complications that, at least for me, muddied the project. First, the fuzziness of the label “magic realism,” especially when transferred from the group of Latin American writers and particular mid-20th century [...]

I lived in Kanab, Utah, for most of my childhood. My maternal grandparents also lived in town and from time to time we’d pile into their big Plymouth sedan and drive about four to five miles south of Kanab to Fredonia, Arizonia, to eat at Nedra’s Café. I liked to order the Navajo tacos and [...]

Damon Linker’s post over at Times & Seasons on PoMo Mormon Enchantment has drawn a lot of great comments including one by Rob on the possibility of Mormon literature written in the on magic realist mode. This idea of magic realism being a natural mode of literature for Mormonism comes up from time to time. [...]

So how come all the aspiring and/or established LDS filmmakers hit up Larry Miller for financing? Seriously, first there was Richard Dutcher, then Scott Swofford, [and then Richard Dutcher again], and now Tyler Ford.
What, you haven’t heard of Tyler Ford? Well, neither has Miller, so to rectify that situation Ford, an aspiring London-based LDS filmmaker, [...]

So about that Orson F. Whitney quote…
No, not this one. Not the one that crops up almost everywhere.
This quote — the one that appears near the bottom of the right sidebar:
“Our literature must live and breathe for itself.”
The quote comes from the same source as the Shakespeares and Miltons one. It’s part of the section [...]

The June 6 edition of Newsday features my favorite article so far on “Napoleon Dynamite,” the film from LDS director Jared Hess that was a hit at the Sundance Festival.
Here’s why:
1. Hess reveals for the first time (that I’ve read) that the character of Napoleon Dynamite is loosely (very loosely) based on a man [...]

Hip, liberal NYC Mormons looking for the next post-Matthew Barney thrill may be interested in a rare opportunity to see a screening of Lino Brocka’s “Manila: in the Claws of Neon.” The GLBT publication The Empty Closet reports that the film will be shown June 30 at the Dryden Theater.
As LDS film has reported, Brocka [...]

The latest issue of Salt Lake City Weekly features a cover story on Jay’s Journal, a sensationalist cautionary tale that Motley Vision readers, or at least those that spent their teenage years somewhere along the Wasatch Front, may be familiar with. The article itself is your standard alt-weekly piece. So don’t take this as a [...]

A recent Daily Herald article reported on “Whisperings,” a romance novel published by Covenant that tells the story of a grown woman trying to overcome the effects of childhood abuse. The author Cherrann Bailey drew on her experiences growing up in an abusive home to write the novel which features a female therapist who is [...]

Now that the introductory material is out of the way, on to the business of blogging…
There are two questions wrapped up in the post title.
The first: What works and authers count as Mormon literature?
The answer to this question varies by audience, obviously. The tendency in Mormon letters has been to take a broad approach, [...]

My college coursework was in literary studies; I work in the field of public relations. This blog reflects both backgrounds. Thus, my interest in Mormon literature ranges from the content of the texts themselves to how they are created, edited, marketed, distributed, read, reviewed and, finally, canonized, taught, referenced or forgotten.
The subhead mentions film, theater, [...]

A Motley Vision takes its name from “Love and the Light: An Idyll of the Westland” a rather didactic verse epic written by Orson F. Whitney. Published in 1918, the work was intended to combat the secularism and “Higher Criticism” which Whitney felt was creeping into Utah society. At one point the hero of the [...]

Although this blog heavily reflects my major interests in literary fiction, criticism and speculative fiction (sci-fi/fantasy/horror), I hope to make this a genre friendly place. Indeed, any person who is serious about Mormon literature needs to pay attention to the genres that dominant the field — romance, historical fiction, Young Adult fiction and (to a [...]

Motley Vision readers are welcome, of course, to comment on individual posts by clicking on the ‘comments’ link at the bottom of each post. But there may also be times when you have something that deserves its own submission. Feel free to e-mail if you want to submit something or have a post idea, but [...]

Obligatory switch to third person:
William Morris lives in Oakland, CA, with his wife and daughter. He is a Web editor, Elder’s Quorum instructor*, casual carpool rider, fair weather Giants fan and champion binky wrangler. He considers himself a “gentleman scholar,” which means that he’s too proud of his degrees in English lit and comparative lit [...]