Th. (2), what surprised me about the term “Home Literature” is that it was used to refer to ALL the materials produced by Church members — including non-fiction like history and doctrine. I had originally assumed that the term referred just to fiction.

Th. (3) I didn’t know that.

Church magazines carried fiction until 1974.

They continued to carry fiction after the change in magazines. The Ensign stopped first, but The New Era and Friend kept it up until at least the mid90s.

I had forgotten that “Home Literature” was a term they selected for themselves and not invented by Eugene England. Adds a bit of resonance to the term.

About didactic novels and Nephi Anderson, I’ve only read two of his books, but even Added Upon isn’t didactic in the strictest sense. (Although it’s didactic. Let’s not pretend otherwise.) Dorian however, is much more complex. I’m not sure it would meet DB/Covt’s current bleached publishing standards.

I wonder if short and serial fiction remained dominant not only because the periodicals were the major publishers and short fiction is cheaper to print, but also because didactic fiction is easier to take in short story form. Novels, perhaps, demand conflict and nuance in a way that short stories don’t (speaking strictly about the length and general form and not about different schools of through related to them).