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This Saturday at Claremont Graduate University, Sunstone West, a small tidier Sunstone Symposium, will feature panels about two Peculiar Pages book. (Note that times and participants are subject to clarification.)

The first, Monsters & Mormons, accomplished with the help of A Motley Vision and the most fun currently available in print. Participating authors Erik Peterson (”Bichos”) [...]

If we define literary criticism as any discussion of literature or its role, then LDS General Authorities have frequently been literary critics, from the beginning of Mormon publishing. Yesterday I came across the following description from Orson F. Whitney, buried, of all places, in his pamphlet/short book, The strength of the “Mormon” position.

I just submitted this proposal for next year’s AML Conference. The theme: ”Going Forth Into All the World: Mormon Literature in an International Church.” I hope it tastes international enough for the organizers’ palate.
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“Situating Sonosophy: De/constructing Alex Caldiero’s ‘Poetarium.’”
Contemporary Utah poet Alex Caldiero‘s performative mode of poetry and poetics, which he calls sonosophy, critiques conventional notions [...]

In August, Scott Hales suggested (and he is not the first) that popularizing Mormon Literature might come from flooding the bloggernacle with posts. I like the idea.
But I think there are many hurdles to this idea–principally because even those writing about Mormon literature don’t really know much of the literature. We talk about a few [...]

Looking at early Mormon poetry through the Mormon trek, I realized this week that just a few poets wrote a large portion (perhaps even a majority) of the poetry published in Mormon periodicals. Most LDS Church members recognize three of these poets: Eliza R. Snow, Parley P. Pratt, and William Wines Phelps. The other two, [...]

In my searches through early Mormon literature, I recently came across a somewhat unusual item: a  2-canto poem from 1841, titled The Latter-day Saints by “Omer, author of Eliza or the Broken Vow.” The unusual part is not the poem or its title, but rather the reference to the earlier work, which could, if found, [...]

Some quick, subjective reactions to the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of Irreantum…
Favorite review: “Modern Mormon Family: Angela Hallstrom’s Bound on Earth” by Scott Hales. I find Scott’s writing style quite winning and charming in this review.
Favorite essay*: “Wrestling with God: Invoking Scriptural Mythos and Language in LDS Literary Works” by James Goldberg. His other essay is [...]

(No, not that Sister Meyer. This Sister Meyer)
I’ve just finished reading “Would that All God’s Children Were Poets” by Casualene Meyer (follow the link and scroll down to p. 173), poetry editor for BYU Studies. In this short article she reflects on her responsibility for choosing what poems to publish in the journal and which [...]