George F. Richards ca. 1915

When I came across this text I laughed out loud at the anachronisms and decided I had to include it, even thought it is perhaps just a variation on the General Conference theme of caution over what we read. But then, as far as literary criticism goes, this is the subject most Mormons hear most about—so much so that today it seems to define the LDS market.

The author, George F. Richards, was a fixture in the Quorum of the Twelve for the first half of the 20th century. Called as an apostle on the same day in 1906 as Orson F. Whitney and David O. McKay, Richards was ordained first and eventually was the president of the Quorum on his death in 1950. The son of an Apostle (Franklin D. Richards) and the father of another (LeGrand Richards), he was also the only person to serve concurrently as an Apostle and as Patriarch to the Church (acting).

As far as I can tell, Richards wasn’t a particularly literary man. Aside from his conference talks, I haven’t found many published works by him—a couple of documents about the Temple (apparently written while he was president of the Salt Lake Temple) and a handful of articles in Church magazines. However, he did speak regularly in conference, essentially twice a year for more than 40 years. The following short excerpt comes from one of  them:

.

Evil effects of reading pernicious literature

by George F. Richards

…

A danger which confronts the children of the Latter-day Saints, I am impressed, is that of reading dime novels and literature of that caliber. I read, from a Salt Lake daily paper, a few days ago, an account of a band of boys, ranging from fifteen to seventeen years, who had been misled in this way. When they were discovered, and the place of their rendezvous was disclosed, it was found that the interior of the place was lined with arms and furnished with a library of dime novels. It was learned, by confession of these young boys, that they had broken into stores and residences on numerous occasions, that they had stolen from their neighbors. One young boy admitted that they had contemplated robbing his mother, and when the question was asked, “What would you have done had she resisted?” the ready response was, “We would have killed her.” This, I take it, is largely the result of reading such literature as was found in the dugout which they frequented. We are told in proverbs, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” James Allen, treating this subject, tells us that “character is the entire sum of our thoughts.” I desire to read one or two of his sentiments along this line; he says:

“As the plant springs from and could not be without the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called spontaneous and unpremeditated, as to those which are deliberately executed. Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits. Thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry. A noble and godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the fruit of long cherished association with godlike thoughts.”

…

Conference Report, April 1910

.

The article Richards refers to is apparently an article in the Salt Lake Herald of 26 March 1910 titled “Murder Plot Told by Five Bad Boys” and the story it tells is basically what Richards describes. It is also not at all unusual for the time. The Deseret News of 24 August 1910 includes an article titled “Youthful Scamps” which reports on a “band” of teenage criminals in New York City known as the “Savage Scamps” who also had a bunch of dime novels in their loot when arrested. Looking over the New York Times archive, I found many more such stories, along with a lot of hand wringing about dime novels, stretching back at least to the 1880s. Most of these stories attribute influence toward crime to these works and often report that the criminals had dime novels in their possession.

The idea that criminals are avid readers of novels is what made me laugh—it didn’t exactly jive with my mental stereotype of what hardened violent criminals do all day. I can see it now, the gang roost adorned with makeshift bookshelves under a sign that reads “The Jets Gang Library. Members only!”

Of course, that doesn’t mean that novels, even dime novels, have no influence. Allen’s book, As a Man Thinketh (1902), is among the most successful early self-help books, preceding Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) and Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich by decades. In the book Allen argues that the way to mold your own character is by controlling what you allow to influence that character and influence the way you think, because, “as a man thinketh, so is he.”

Indeed, few authors really want their books to have no influence whatsoever, so it may be hard to argue against Allen’s views. What isn’t clear to me is the details of how this works. While it is all fine and good to argue against “pernicious” literature, what exactly that is can be difficult to say at times. In most dime novels, for example, the “good guys” win in the end.

What seems to make the difference, though, isn’t whether or not the “good guys” win in the end, but the amount, type, intensity, descriptiveness and attractiveness of the portrayals of evil in a work, especially when compared to what the audience has experienced before. Perhaps by this view Allen, and Elder Richards, would claim that reading, and especially obsessive reading, of most dime novels isn’t good. And with the caveat that most of us still maintain our free will—that all the arts can do is influence, not control—I guess I have to agree.

Today the preaching against “dime novels” in Mormon venues has largely been substituted with preaching against R rated films and violent music and video games. Like with “dime novels,” the preaching is generally in absolute terms—never read any “dime novel” or play any violent video game or see any R rated film. I don’t know if the absolute terms make sense to me, but I certainly can see how the overall influence of repeated exposures isn’t desirable. The problem is how to figure out when an individual is too close to too much.

The two plays included in the volume are both about the struggles people have to find, or keep, faith. Swallow the Sun is about author C.S. Lewis, the creator of The Chronicles of Narnia and other popular books. Known as a valiant defender of Christianity, it is less known that C.S. Lewis was once an entrenched atheist. “Swallow the Sun is a story of a struggle against God,” said Stewart. “Lewis loved mythology and that sort of thing, so in a way there is a part of him that would have liked to believe. But he refused to be ‘taken in.’ However, along his path there were people like his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote Lord of the Rings, that showed him that there were thinking people, intellectuals, who believed this stuff. At first he fought them tooth and nail but, bit by bit, he started to see their reasons.”

The other play included in the volume, The Fading Flower, also addresses the struggle for faith, but from a different context. It tells the story of the family of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, years after he was murdered. The story focuses most on Emma and her little known son David Hyrum Smith, “We hear a lot about Joseph Smith III, because he tried to carry on his father’s legacy by accepting leadership in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in opposition to the LDS faith led by Brigham Young in Utah,” said Stewart. “But I think David’s story is even more interesting. He went west as a missionary for the RLDS faith, to convert us Mormons over here. But the information he found out about his father from the Utah Mormons knocked him for a loop. He started to realize that not everything his mother and brother had led him to believe may be accurate. He then set out on a search for the truth that led to him some very uncomfortable places, personally.”

The publisher supporting this volume of plays, Zarahemla Books, publishes “provocative, unconventional, yet ultimately faith-affirming stories that yield new insights into Mormon culture and humanity.” Christopher Bigelow, the publisher behind Zarahemla Books, is thrilled to have brought two of Stewart’s plays into their repertoire, “Ever since Zarahemla Books started in 2006, I’ve wanted to include Mormon drama in our offerings,” said publisher Christopher Bigelow. “Mahonri Stewart is Mormonism’s preeminent young, emerging playwright, and Zarahemla is honored to publish his work. We know readers will enjoy experiencing these plays in book form, and we hope this volume also helps pave the way for future productions of the plays.”

The Fading Flower and Swallow the Sun can be purchased at Zarahemla’s website www.zarahemlabooks.com and will also soon be available through Amazon and other booksellers.

Outside of Mormon sources, the only references I’ve found to this word are names—primarily Arabic, but also Swedish and perhaps Chinese. But it is also close to words in other languages. In Mormon Doctrine, McConkie connects this word with the name of the Egyptian God Amon and even with the interrogative, which by custom we use to close our prayers, Amen, which originates in the Hebrew verb aman, meaning to strengthen, confirm, which was used adverbally as an expression of affirmation or consent (according to the OED).

The clearest Mormon documentation for the meaning of Ahman is best known from a talk by Orson Pratt, given February 18, 1855 on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. He explained the term this way:

There is one revelation that this people are not generally acquainted with. I think it has never been published, but probably it will be in the Church History. It is given in questions and answers. The first question is, “What is the name of God in the pure language?” The answer says, “Ahman.” “What is the name of the Son of God?” Answer, “Son Ahman—the greatest of all the parts of God excepting Ahman.” “What is the name of men?” “Sons Ahman,” is the answer. “What is the name of angels in the pure language?” “Anglo-man.”

This revelation goes on to say that Sons Ahman are the greatest of all the parts of God excepting Son Ahman and Ahman, and that Anglo-man are the greatest of all the parts of God excepting Sons Ahman, Son Ahman, and Ahman, showing that the angels are a little lower than man. What is the conclusion to be drawn from this? It is, that these intelligent beings are all parts of God, and that those who have the most of the parts of God are the greatest, or next to God, and those who have the next greatest portions of the parts of God, are the next greatest, or nearest to the fulness of God; and so we might go on to trace the scale of intelligences from the highest to the lowest, tracing the parts and portions of God so far as we are made acquainted with them. Hence we see that wherever a great amount of this intelligent Spirit exists, there is a great amount or proportion of God, which may grow and increase until there is a fulness of this Spirit, and then there is a fulness of God.

The “revelation” Pratt refers to is a document titled “A Sample of Pure Language given by Joseph the Seer as copied by Br. Johnson” which was recently published in the 1st volume of revelations of the Joseph Smith Papers in 2009. Whether it is actually a revelation or not may depend on how you distinguish revelation from other documents—unlike other documents in this handwritten revelation book it isn’t labeled either a revelation or commandment. No doubt Pratt called it a revelation because he saw it in the book with the other revelations (most of which are now in the Doctrine and Covenants). The historical note that appears with this document on the Joseph Smith Papers website points out that Ahman was originally spelled Awmen and later changed to Awman. It also appears elsewhere as Aw-man and Ah man.

McConkie connects the “Pure Language” with the “language of Adam” spoken of in Moses 6:57 and concludes that Ahman means “Man of Holiness” and refers to Heavenly Father in the same way that Savior, meaning one who saves, refers to Christ. Regardless of whether that meaning existed in the minds of Joseph Smith, early Church leaders and Mormons up to Mormon Doctrine, it is likely that, to the extent that the meaning of Ahman is known at all, Mormons since that time have defined it as Man of Holiness.

Of course, I think more research is needed, since I haven’t looked at enough of the uses of the word to get a sense for how it has been used. I do know that it hasn’t been used frequently at all. The General Conference Corpus shows 10 uses in the 1855 Orson Pratt speech excerpted above and a total of six uses between 1942 and 1973 by 5 different speakers. Ahman has appeared more frequently outside of General Conference, both in books about doctrine and Mormonism, and even in fiction, where the 1855 Pratt speech has been quoted on occasion. But the use of the word remains rare. Still, I suspect this meaning is the most plausible, along with a general meaning as a name for God.

It is possible that the meaning of Ahman may change somewhat in the future because of non-LDS use. Recently, FLDS leader Warren Jeffs used the phrase Son Ahman in the documents he sent to media and libraries in the U.S., which may make this term more familiar. I have also seen it used by other groups, including one man who has adopted Ahman as part of his own name.

But perhaps the most intriguing issue remaining with the word Ahman is its grammar. The original “Sample of Pure Language” document says that the name of the Son of God isn’t Son of Ahman, but Son Ahman. Man isn’t Sons of Ahman, but Sons Ahman. And Angels are Ahman Angls-men. I still need to puzzle out exactly what is going on with these terms. Are they entirely new terms? Or some specialized gramatical form that is used with Ahman?

As always, I welcome your thoughts. An intriguing word, isn’t it?

Zarahemla Books hits the sweet spot again with its latest book offering, Luisa Perkins’ Dispirited. The supernatural thriller/YA dark fantasy is a worthy addition to Zarahemla’s quality library of Mormon literature, and continues to showcase the diversity Zarahemla displays on its shelf. Zarahemla is as much of a home for genre fiction, as it is high brow literary novels, as it is for personal essays, as it is for short stories, as it is now for Mormon drama (full disclosure: Zarahemla Books will be publishing a book of two of my plays in the next few weeks, as well as an anthology of Mormon Drama which I helped pull together later this Summer… but I was a big fan of ZB’s approach long before those projects). Dispirited continues Zarahemla’s big tent tradition with its blend of dark, magical realism and young adult sensibility (with a dash of the bizarre just to throw you off kilter).

Dispirited jumps right into the conflict in its first chapter when a young boy named Blake is grieving for his dead mother and so stumbles upon the ability to separate his spirit from his body (astral projection). Thus he travels to the astral plane in search for his mother. However, Blake is in for a rude awakening (or unawakening) when he tries to get back into his body, as he discovers that it has been possessed by a powerful evil spirit who has no intention of giving the poor child his body back. In the next chapter we are introduced to Cathy, years after the inciting incident. Cathy is the step sister of “Blake,” and becomes our main protagonist. The real Blake, now an exiled spirit out of his body, enlists Cathy in the battle over the possession and right to his body.  And then we’re off to the races, plot wise.

I found the initial premise fascinating, partly because I felt it was plausible. I have known people (including a personal friend of mine, as well as a Wiccan who I baptized on my mission) who had claimed to have accomplished this feat of “astral planing,” where they could separate themselves from their bodies, travel in a different plane of existence, and then return to their body (although my friend from my mission claimed that she had difficulty getting back into her body, so she never attempted the experience again). As a believer in this kind of supernatural possibility, having had a few difficult to explain supernatural scenarios in my own life, Perkins had me at the get go with this initial conflict. The central premise seemed real and organic, especially from a Mormon worldview. Sometimes magical realism, from the perspective of a Mormon, simply becomes realism.

Which leads me to an interesting aspect to this novel. There is no reason this book had to be published by Zarahemla Books rather than a national publisher. Despite it fitting well into Mormon theology and cosmology, the novel has no identifiable Mormon characters (apart from some subtle possibilities due to Cathy’s family going to Church at one point and saying a blessing over their meal, but that could identify them as members of any general Christian religion, really). The novel says nothing about Mormonism beyond the subtext of the world it inhabits. In this way, it reminded me a great deal of what Orson Scott Card, or maybe even Stephen King, might write for the national market. More than once I thought of Card’s Lost Boys as a possible comparison

But back to the dark “magical realism” the novel employs. As the story progresses, the supernatural elements become more wild and bizarre, even far fetched. I had no real problems with this, as Perkins’ skill in creating these elements still created a great deal of interest in these parts of the novel. A VERY supernatural house (inspired by the photo on the cover), a sprite-like child spirit guide, magical talismans, bizarre landscapes– these all led the novel away from its initial magical realism into outright fantasy. Again, this was still good, for Perkins still made these dimensions of the novel compelling. But some of the edge was taken off in consequence. Where I felt some legitimate suspense and tension at the novel’s outset due to the plausibility (at least in my mind) of the conflict introduced, a lot of that subsided as Perkins led me into a wild (alebit fascinating) world that became less connected to the one at the beginning of the novel that I felt like was just on the borders  of my own experiences.

Apart from that, however, I found very little to nitpick about the novel. Dispirited‘s transparent prose was engaging, its characters very well developed (especially a very strong and believable female protagonist in Cathy), and its plot full of twists and turns that kept you guessing. There was more than one point where I felt I had the novel figured out, only to have Perkins throw me a curveball and get me wondering all over again. The novel’s antagonist is blatantly malevolent and outright sinister (he IS an evil spirit, after all), but even with that he still seemed like a nuanced, complex character with very clear motivations. The novel had a genuinely sweet romance as a subplot, with a unique and interesting love interest for Cathy.

Dispirited was one of the best reads I’ve had all year. It upholds Zarahemla’s high standard, while being a solid piece of genre fiction in its own right, comparable to the higher end works you’d find in the national market. It’s a legitimate page turner that hooked me in the first chapter and never let go.

This post assumes three things, which I think are warranted for much of the AMV readership:

1. You don’t have an academic budget to pay for some of these things.
2. You actually want to own the works so that you can spend time with them and produce literary criticism/get deep knowledge of the field (which means relying heavily on the local library isn’t an option).
3. You don’t live within commute distance of the Wasatch Front.

The Minimum:

Irreantum Subscription/AML membership: $25

Dialogue E-Subscription: $25

Every Title That Zarahemla Books Published This Year: $50 (three titles at around $16 each*)

One Major Anthology (likely from Peculiar Pages): $25

One Other Major Mormon-Themed Work: $15

One Major Mormon-Themed Work of Nonfiction (People of Paradox, for example): $20

Subtotal = $140

* If you can go with e-editions of these then that drops to $10.

Expanded Version:

Segullah Subscription: $12

BYU Studies E-Subscription: $24

Sunstone Subscription: $45

Exponent II Subscription: $28

5 Novels Likely to Be Whitney Finalists/Winners: $80 (these could be Mormon-themed or not, but I think in order to really work in the field, you should be aware of at least, say, the Mistborn series or Shannon Hale’s latest work, etc. This number could, obviously, go much higher.)

Filling Out Your Library: $30 (three titles at around $10 each with things like Salvador or Benediction and other stories, etc. [unless you live near an awesome DI])

The Best American Short Stories: $15 (or a similar title so you have some comparison to what’s happening with the Mormon short story)

Total = $374

Total + AML Conference Attendance (flight/gas money + hotel/meals — assume very modest budget of $500 total): $874

Finally, of course, there’s the cost in time to read all that, synthesize it, and write about it. And if you go to a Sunstone conference or the Rocky Mountain MLA meeting, etc., your costs will rise fairly dramatically.

Emmeline B. Wells

What does it cost to develop a writer? Do readers bear part of that cost? If readers refuse to read anything but the best works, will authors still be able to develop? And what is the role of criticism for a developing author? While these questions are perhaps more about education than strict criticism, when they have such a large potential impact on the quality of literature its hard to see how literary criticism can ignore them entirely.

And Emmeline B. Wells did weigh in on this issue, chiefly in response to a series of complaints about there being too many books, and too few books that are worthy of careful reading. We hear these complaints today, but these complaints ignore Wells’ question in response: how do authors develop if only works of literary genius are read?

I wish I had read carefully and internalized Wells’ essay years ago, before I joined A Motley Vision. I believe it would have informed both my views of Mormon literature as well as what I’ve written. There is sound advice here for readers and authors, and, I think, an important corollary to what I wrote a while ago in What Bad Mormon Literature Do We Need?

I tried to excerpt some portion of this article, instead of running the whole thing, but I could find only one paragraph that I could eliminate from the article. So here is Emmeline’s views on Young Writers.

.

Young Writers

by Amethyst (Emmeline B. Wells)

“He that writes,

Or makes a feast, more certainly invites

His judges than his friends; there’s not a guest

But will find something wanting, or ill-drest,”

There is perhaps not a class of people in the world who are more severely criticized than writers… We hear remarks occasionally like these: “There are too many books;” “There are too many scribblers who fancy they can write, who push their works upon the public;” “The world is full of them, we don’t want so much rhyming and scribbling, we want real poetry and prose, worth careful reading;” “We want depth of thought and sentiment, and eloquent and brilliant expression; not so many common place writers.” All this is very discouraging to the young, to the beginner, who must first try his skill and strength in the path of literature; I know some will say one should keep the first efforts to themselves, but the writer is not a good critic, he cannot possibly judge, without prejudice in favor of his own work; of course he should revise, correct and re-write, but some one else must be the judge.

The world is not made up of geniuses, in fact they are very few, and those few are often in need of a balance. If only literary geniuses produced books and writings, the world would be scantily provided with literature; great writers are about as scarce as great singers, and what should we do in all our little villages, in all our homes, our schools, and our churches, if people refused to sing because some one had succeeded in achieving a great musical triumph, and possessed a voice like a nightingale, and had set the world in a furore; if such were the case the world would not be so full of music as it is, and many a sad heart would lack the sweet consolation and healing balm that comes through the soothing influence of song; it is a blessed thing, to be able to sing, or play on a musical instrument. It gives relief to the feelings, and voice and expression to the holiest emotions of the soul; then let us encourage all that which elevates and purifies; and whatever opens up avenues for the exalted emotions of the human soul, tends to fuller development of the inner life and promotes that higher culture, which is a step in advancement towards the exaltation, we all desire to attain.

Instead of discouraging those who have a desire to write, even though their efforts are poor, rather stimulate them to greater diligence, and more persistent effort, in cultivating the talent with which they have been endowed, or in pouring forth the song which is welling up in the soul. We have not too many writers, nor too many books in my humble opinion. We had far better pay out more money for books and reading matter, and less for many other things not so useful or pleasant in a home. I hope to see the day when in every home in the land, there will be a library of choice books and papers, suited to different tastes, and also musical instruments, and other attractions for a home that will elevate the minds of the inmates and produce a higher mental and spiritual atmosphere, and make mankind more godlike in intelligence, which is said to be the glory of God, Himself.

How foolish it would be when one has a song upon his lips not to pour it forth, because some who are learned and able will criticize him severely or unjustly; such a one is unjust to himself, and is not making use of the talent committed to his keeping, and will one day be held accountable for hiding it. Such a one lacks fortitude, and needs encouragement from those who are stronger or braver. St. Paul says, let those who are strong bear the burdens of those who are weak, and if we truly loved one another we would be more willing to do this; but instead of such being the case, many are ready to pull down and discourage those who are using their best endeavors to benefit the world of mankind, and often crush the one who is struggling against difficulties, when they might reach out and help him; a little influence to support one when making an earnest effort to develop one’s gifts is most welcome, and the gratitude of the receiver is ample recompense, for it is always more blessed to give than to receive.

I know it is said true genius will surmount every difficulty and rise triumphant in the greatest emergency, but unless the genius has an indomitable will, or destiny has given him a particular mission to fill, such will not of necessity be the case; most geniuses have had patrons, men or women of influence,who have brought them forward, for true merit is modest and retiring; besides, geniuses are rare—they are like precious diamonds—but there are a quantity of other gems, and people with one talent or two are much more common in this world than those gifted with ten.

Every human soul wants some development mentally, and one day we shall become more fully alive to this truth. In the Gospel there is full scope for this development if it were understood. There are many superior advantages for the Latter-day Saints that will, when comprehended, more fully satisfy the yearnings of the human soul.

But I am anticipating, to come back to the question under consideration in regard to writing and writers, we would say, never shrink from a duty because there is another who can perform it better, let not your heart fail you from writing a few lines because you are not equal to Thackeray, or Carlyle, or George Eliot, or George Sand, or Harriet Beecher Stowe, but write in your own simple, unaffected, unpretentious style, and who knows but many people may be better pleased and more edified than with some heavy article from the pen of a great writer. We want variety, and originality is always more acceptable than affectation.

Should a star refuse to shine because some other more brilliant casts a shadow over it—it may be even the more lovely? What if the sparrow were to decline to sing because the robin’s song was more admired. Each one may shine in his own way, it is not noble to refuse to do what one has the ability and talent to perform; but it is very ignoble to discourage another in any pursuit or profession; we may advise, if we think one has mistaken his calling, and so be helpful to a friend.

“Mormonism” is rich in themes for the production of literature, and one may find subject for rhyme, for poetry, for a variety of prose works, for the drama, and for the most profound writings; and though our home writers may not be very highly esteemed at present, and their works not so meritorious, yet those who desire to see Utah take an honorable place in the nation should encourage the author, and help sustain literary labor. “Despise not the day of small things,” when we see the blossom it is significant of fruit; but the garden of literature wants great attention, careful culling, weeding and pruning. Our young people should try to do their literary work well, and not be offended if they are not successful in being recognized at first.

…

The humble daisy blossoming by the wayside cheers the weary traveler, and has as many admirers as the gayest flower that blooms in the garden; so it ‘ often is with the homely writer, he blesses the lowly and the humble; they comprehend and appreciate him, his simple language is music” to them and they laugh at the critics, who deem his efforts a failure. I rejoice to see progress in this direction and I feel sure there might be much more were some encouragement held out to stimulate young writers. If those who have means and influence would become patrons of literature, and draw out some of the talent that at present is buried in obscurity, the community might be enriched, for there must from natural consequences be a mine of wealth in the hearts and minds of the young people born and reared amidst these mountain vales.

From The Contributor (2) August 1881, p. 348.

.

I love almost everything that Wells says here, despite its rather dated language. The complaints she cites in the first paragraph sound like those I hear today. She is right that there is a role for authors who are not literary geniuses (although I have to question what seems like the norm in the Mormon market to exclude whatever pretends to literary genius an only carry the rest!) It is also easy to agree with statements like “We had far better pay out more money for books and reading matter, and less for many other things not so useful or pleasant in a home.” or “How foolish it would be when one has a song upon his lips not to pour it forth, because some who are learned and able will criticize him severely or unjustly.”

Wells’ criticism of the idea that “true genius will surmount every difficulty” might be stronger given that we don’t really know if or to what extent “true genius” may have not surmounted difficulties because what hasn’t surmounted difficulties is long forgotten and likely lost. I also like the intriguing phrase “Despise not the day of small things” (which refers to Zechariah 4:10)—and its easy to see her day as a “day of small things;” but I suspect we today have a hard time seeing our day as a “day of small things,” whether it is or is not.

I suspect that today we are in both a “day of small things,” and a day of greater things. For those who are beginning the development of their talents in whatever art they have chosen, it is a day of small things, even if great things are happening. What is important in a day of small things is that we have in place the elements needed and maintained for a day of greater things.

.

The LDS mailing catalog Books & Things has announced a May “LDS Author/Artist Contest” in which visitors to their Facebook page can “vote” for their favorite author. The favorite author will then win a 1/4 page ad in the Fall issue of their catalog.

What would happen if the winner was someone that they don’t normally carry in their catalog? Someone that they don’t think is “right” for their audience?

Anyone want to play a little mischief?

Here is the text of their facebook post:

LDS AUTHOR/ARTIST CONTEST

May

.

So far the contest has drawn only 42 comments — it should be easy to get enough votes to overwhelm the others. And since the Facebook page only has 255 likes total, they may not attract that many votes in total. The only requirement for this to work is that everyone trying to do this must “like” the same author.

Off the top of my head I suggest Doug Thayer. He’s different enough that Books & Thinks wouldn’t consider him right for their audience, but very acceptable and fairly popular. He is a BYU professor, and probably would fit the “appropriate” criteria of most Mormons.

The contest is located here — https://www.facebook.com/ldsbooksandthings/timeline/story?ut=32&wstart=1335855600&wend=1338533999&hash=166714840122525&pagefilter=3&ustart=1

Of course, you’re welcome to suggest someone else for this honor. We just have to get everyone to agree.

I’d love to see how Books & Things would react if someone like Thayer won! Would they follow through? Would they acquire his books?

Of course, I must admit that this is just a tongue-in-cheek suggestion, a way of poking fun at the traditional, closed part of the LDS market…

…or should it be?

For our readers who weren’t aware of this project, tell us briefly about how you came to be teaching a unit on Mormon literature and how it fits into the overall context of the class.

About a year ago I submitted a proposal to the English department for me to teach a 200-level Topics in Literature class called “American Religious Landscapes.” The basic idea behind the class was to look at fiction that explores the ways religion attaches itself to landscapes both concrete and abstract. I had just finished an independent study on Mormon fiction for credit toward my degree, so I was looking for an excuse to try out some of my ideas about Mormon literature on a captive audience.

At the time, a lot of my ideas focused on how Mormon fiction often suggests ways to reimagine the boundaries Mormons set around themselves. So, I found myself thinking a lot about Mormonism and its literature as a landscape or network of landscapes, which seemed appropriate considering how Mormons from the very beginning have tried to establish a strong physical presence with planned cities and temples. I also found myself looking at the way other religious groups do much the same thing. I figured that while Mormons are a peculiar people, they’re not that peculiar in their desire to stake their claim on the land.

As a PhD student, I’m normally consigned to teaching bottom-level composition courses, which aren’t really my thing. Every academic year, though, doctoral students are given the opportunity to propose a 200-level literature course and teach it as long as the proposal gets accepted. So, I submitted the proposal for “American Religious Landscapes,” indicating that the class would look at literature by or about Christians, Muslims, Mormons, Jews, and other religious groups in America. I didn’t hear back from the department for several months, but I eventually got word that it had been accepted and scheduled for the Spring quarter 2012.

Throughout the whole process, I kept my blog updated on matters such as story selection. My readers always provided great feedback and support. They even influenced some of my decisions.

Before we dive into the class reactions, I want ask this: what were you hoping for? How were you going to define for yourself whether or not the Mormon fiction unit was a success?

From the beginning, I wanted to show that Mormon fiction could stand on equal footing with the fiction of Joyce Carol Oates, Bobbie Ann Mason, John Updike, and other established American writers who are also on the course reading list. I was pretty sure going into the course that Mormon fiction could hold its own, but I also knew that my love for the stuff made me a little biased. So, in a sense, I wanted to prove to myself—and especially to any naysayers out there—that Mormon literature is not only on par with the best of contemporary American fiction, but also sophisticated enough for the college classroom.

Interestingly, several months ago, I was teaching the Book of Psalms to my Early Morning Seminary class, and I thought it would be a good idea to bring in Fire in the Pasture and read a few contemporary Mormon poems to my students. So, I read them a few poems by Susan Elizabeth Howe and others—good poems by good poets—but my students refused to take them seriously. In fact, after I finished reading, one student even made the comment that she didn’t think the poems were good enough to be published anywhere but in a book of Mormon poets—as if “Mormon” were somehow synonymous with “mediocre.”

Now, I understand that my seminary students—all of whom are very smart—are no experts in contemporary American poetry. I also understand that this happened at 5:30 in the morning, a time when the aesthetic judgments of most people are significantly impaired. Still, I think their response to Fire in the Pasture is fairly typical of that of many Latter-day Saints who refuse to believe that Mormon artistic output can be anything but mediocre. It’s a critical trap that even well-read Mormons fall into. I don’t want to generalize, of course, but I think we need more people walking the walk and less people talking the talk, so to speak. Too often, the well-read Mormons who are criticizing Mormon literature are often not very well-read in Mormon literature. One should read at least one (maybe two) Mormon novels, short stories, or poems published in the last five years before he or she says or writes anything about Mormon literature. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable thing to ask.

So, getting back to the question, success was always about proving to myself that Mormon fiction could pass as legitimate literature. As a teacher, I wanted to see a seamless transition between Updike and Levi Peterson—and I think that’s what I got. When it came to discussing and analyzing Mormon stories, my students didn’t have to do any critical stretching. The stories were rich enough on their own.

You’ve written several posts about the process of selecting works for the class to read (and even got help from some of us in the Mo-lit community). Both in that process as well as in how the course went were there any obvious gaps that came up? Moments where you thought, I really wish I had a story that dealt with that aspect of Mormonism or an essay that addressed a particular issue related to Mormonism? Where are we thin with Mormon narrative art?

There are gaps in Mormon fiction, of course, but I think its in good shape considering how young it is. Still, we don’t have a whole lot of stories from non-white or non-American perspectives. We also don’t have many stories—not in Dispensation, at least, which is the textbook we used—that deal with Mormon interactions with non-Mormons. What we have a lot of, I think, are stories about the tensions within Mormon communities—Mormon vs. Mormon stories. As a teacher of non-Mormon students, I wish we had a few that looked more at the tensions between Mormons and their neighbors—especially as they exist outside of Utah. If I were to teach this unit again, I might seek out more stories about Mormon/non-Mormon tensions and relations. Dispensation has a few stories that come close to exploring this tension—stories like Paul Rawlins’ “The Garden” and Coke Newell’s “Trusting Lily”—but not any that I found really satisfying. What I’d like is something like Mahonri Stewart’s play A Roof Overhead in short fiction form, twenty pages or less. I’d love to see how my students would respond to a work like that one, which I had a chance to see when I was in Utah for the AML conference. I can’t say for sure, but I imagine their responses to that kind of story would draw upon their own experience as observers of Mormonism, maybe bring out more their ideas on Mormonism’s relevance to the broader, pluralistic community.

What was the biggest surprise you experienced in teaching Mormon literature to non-LDS students?

Aside from the shock of walking into class on the first day of the unit and seeing everyone with copies of Dispensation on their desks, the first big surprise I had was seeing how seriously everyone took the unit. Part of me, after all, was really worried that they would be somewhat suspicious of Mormon fiction and even fail to see how it was relevant to the course and question why we were reading it. But that never seemed to be the case. On the whole, they treated Mormon fiction like any other kind of fiction–which is exactly what I wanted them to do.

I guess what surprised me was how many of them really took the time to learn enough about Mormonism to be able to articulate how the Mormon elements in the work contributed to the story as a whole. One of the most common questions that came up in class discussions was “How is this a Mormon story?” My students, in other words, often made the point that one could easily switch around a few details, substitute elements from other religions for the Mormon elements, and still have essentially the same story. And, to a certain extent, they were right: there’s nothing uniquely Mormon about the family conflict in a story like Angela Hallstrom’s “Thanksgiving.” I mean, family conflict is as much a part of Thanksgiving as turkey and pumpkin pie.

Still, whenever this question came up, I would always ask a question of my own: “What do these Mormon elements bring to the story?” Basically, I wanted to get my students to investigate the Mormon aspects of the story as something more than local color or window dressing. My biggest surprise, therefore, came during our discussion of “Thanksgiving.” We were talking about the relationship between the mother and bipolar son-in-law in the story, and I asked the class if the story had an antagonist or a “bad guy.” One student proposed that Kyle, the son-in-law, was the story’s antagonist, and when I asked the class if they agreed with her, another student raised her hand and pointed out that Alicia, the mother, was more of an antagonist for the way she turned her back on Kyle. “As I understand it,” she said, “when Kyle was sealed to Alicia’s daughter, he was basically sealed to Alicia too. That would mean Alicia was turning her back on her own son.” The comment floored me! Here was a student who was trying hard to see how the Mormon landscape functioned in and contributed to the story. I was very impressed.

If you were to teach a unit on the Mormon experience again, what changes might you make in terms of which works you select?

I had good experiences with each of the stories I taught, although I think I would have prepared students better for a story like Levi Peterson’s “Brothers,” which was the first story they read. Although I don’t think the story is densely Mormon, I did sense a little confusion around the meaning of temple sealings in Mormon culture, which is a major aspect of the story. Once I explained it to them, though, they seemed fine. In fact, that explanation made it much easier to teach other stories later on, like “Thanksgiving” and Lisa Torcasso Downing’s “Clothing Esther.” In fact, I think “Clothing Esther” would have been almost impossible to teach if we had not had the discussions that came out of stories like “Brothers” and even Todd Robert Petersen’s “Quietly.”

I think the students liked “Quietly,” but I felt I did too much of the talking during our discussion of it. I had just returned from presenting a paper on “Quietly” at the AML conference, so I had a lot to say about the story. Looking back on the class, I wish I had let them take the discussion more to where they wanted to take it rather than where I wanted to take it. On the last day of the unit, I decided to offer my opinion less, which turned out to be a good thing. That was the day we discussed “Thanksgiving” and “Clothing Esther,” and the students brought a lot of good ideas to the table. They even ended up teaching me some things about the stories.

Of the six stories we used in class, my favorite was Darrell Spencer’s “Blood Work,” which I would use again. Based on student responses, I’d also reuse “Thanksgiving”—which seemed to be their overall favorite—and Douglas Thayer’s “Wolves.” As I mentioned earlier, though, I might look around and try to incorporate more stories about Mormon interactions with non-Mormons—something that could get students thinking about Mormons as a community within a community. I’d like to use Todd Robert Petersen’s “Redeeming the Dead,” for example, or really anything from Long After Dark. Maybe that’s the book I’ll use for my next attempt at teaching Mormon fiction.

Finally what tips do you have for anyone who might be teaching a Mormon literature unit or workshop or course in the future? (Or someone who simply wanted to introduce Mormon literature to non-member friends or family members)

If you’re thinking about incorporating Mormon literature into your class, and have a good reason for doing so, do it. In many ways, I designed my current course around my desire to teach Mormon literature, and I was surprised by how easy that was to do. As my students kept pointing out during our Mormon unit, Mormon literature is not that different from other kinds of religious or minority literatures. Even a story like “Clothing Esther,” with its heavy Mormon elements, is not inaccessible for non-Mormon readers who take the time to learn enough of the language of Mormonism to get by. When it comes down to it, Mormons and non-Mormons are pretty much interested in the same kinds of ideas and themes. I think teaching Mormon works alongside non-Mormon works helps to bring that out.

Other tips: Teach good, well-crafted stories. Begin with stories that help teach the language of Mormonism to non-Mormon readers (Darrell Spencer’s “Blood Work” is a good example) and move on, if you choose, to more densely Mormon stories. Find a way to make it relevant to the course and, if possible, to your students’ experiences. Let the students discover the stories on their own and allow their questions to guide your discussions. Don’t try to drown them with Mormonism. Give them what little they need to navigate the Mormon landscape and turn them loose. They’ll surprise you with what they find.

Also, ignore the haters. Mormon literature is a valid field of study for Mormons and non-Mormons alike. It can hold its own in the classroom. Don’t let anyone lead you to think otherwise.

Thanks, Scott!

Last year Tyler called my attention to several poets I’d missed, mainly because I’d skipped web pages where previously published books were available to read (principally in Signature Books’ Online Library). After a lot of thought about including these items, I’ve decided to add them to the list.

But I must admit that I still have reservations. While I can’t justify it, I want to draw the line at what readers can download and put on their own devices—something that web pages aren’t quite designed to do (although they certainly can do it).  Nor can I justify it given that the main provider of the books in question, Signature Books, takes advantage of authors, and by posting books to its online library instead of returning the rights to the authors, could be depriving them of the opportunity to make additional money from their work. But, that doesn’t mean that someone else couldn’t also post books on web pages and be much more friendly to authors.

The remaining question I have about this is about when books do go out-of-print. I realize that current technologies make it technically not necessary for books to go out-of-print, but from the author’s perspective, you do want the rights returned if the publisher isn’t putting any effort into promoting the title. If the book doesn’t have to go out-of-print ever, how large will this list grow? And if an author’s work never goes out-of-print, then will he ever get the rights to his work back? And if these titles are just being maintained so that the publisher can keep the rights, do we really want to keep them on a list like this, even if they are technically “in print?” I await your comments on this.

Like last year, I’ve separated out the titles that were published since the last compilation. I’ve also added an asterisk (*) before titles that I’ve discovered or was told about this year, but that weren’t published this past year.

2011 was another good year for Mormon poetry, with 15 new titles, one more than last year. Eleven of those were self-published, defined as the publisher listed as either one of the author service providers (authorhouse, Lulu, xlibris, etc.) or a publisher name that is the same as the author’s. In contrast, just 12 of the previously available titles were self-published. Of course, at least some of the others were also self-published, but the author used a publisher name that wasn’t the same as his own name.

As in previous years I tried to be thorough. I’ve compared the authors on this list to those in appearing in Dialogue, Irreantum, Tyler Chadwick’s Fire in the Pasture anthology, and last year’s posts and comments about poetry here on A Motley Vision. Of course, it is possible, if not likely, that I have missed something. Please let me know.

Poetry in Print:

New this year:

• Allen, Kathleen. Poetry As Seen Thru The Eyes Of Kathleen In A Mormon Sort Of Way
• Byrne, John. Nine Poems
• Chadwick, Tyler (ed.) Fire in the Pasture: 21st Century Mormon Poets
• Christmas, R. A. One Foot in the Grave
• Collings, Michael R. Deep Music: A Selection of L.D.S. Musical Readings
• Collings, Michael R. Tales Through Time
• Coupé, Jessica. Life Abundant and Other Poems
• Earley, Deja Anne. We Become Delicate Boats: Poems and essays.
• Grigg, Dick. Scriptural Poems and Plays and Powerful Stories of Faith
• Moore, Jean R. Bread and Butter: Poems of Life
• Veibell, Andrew. The Blade of His Word – Collection of 10 Poems
• Veibell, Andrew. Expect No Less – Collection of 10 Poems
• Veibell, Andrew. A Myriad of Thoughts
• White, Don. 90 Hymn Stories of Love
• Wright, Gloria O. Heaven’s Heartprints: Volume II (Volume 2)

Available Previously:

• Absher, J. S. The Burial of Anyce Shepherd
• Absher, J. S. Night Weather
• Aitken, Neil. The Lost Country of Sight
• Anderson, Susan Noyes. His Children
• Beeson, Sam. Santa’s First Flight (for children)
• Bennion, Mark D. Psalm & Selah: A Poetic Journey Through The Book of Mormon
• *Bickmore, Lisa Orme. Haste
• Bushman-Carlton, Marilyn. Her Side of It: Poems
• Bushman-Carlton, Marilyn. On Keeping Things Small: Poems
• Caldiero, Alex. I Am Not Only: only Bruce Conner did not say this
• Caldiero, Alex. Poetry is Wanted Here
• *Caldiero, Alex. Various Atmospheres
• Caldiero, Alex. With Voice Mixed
• Carabine, Sue. A Missionary’s Night Before Christmas (gift book — she has done a whole series of so-and-so’s Night Before Christmas books)
• Christmas, R. A. A Long Spoon
• Christmas, R. A. Driving on the Lake Bed
• Christmas, R. A. Housebroken
• Christmas, R. A. Hungry Sunday
• Christmas, R. A. The Kingdom of God–or Nothing!
• Christmas, R. A. When it Snowed in Pasadena
• Collings, Michael R. All Calm, All Bright: Christmas Offerings
• Collings, Michael R. BlueRose: XXIII Poems
• Collings, Michael R. Cryptic Armature: Verses in the Manner of….
• Collings, Michael R. Dark Transformations: Deadly Visions of Change
• Collings, Michael R. Going on a Picnic: Poetry Especially for Children
• Collings, Michael R. In the Void: Poems of Science Fiction, Myth and Fantasy, & Horror
• Collings, Michael R. Matrix: Echoes of Growing Up West: Autobiographical Poems
• Collings, Michael R. Naked to the Sun: Dark Visions of Apocalypse
• Collings, Michael R. The Nephiad: An Epic Poem in XII Books
• Collings, Michael R. A Quizzical Verse: Limericks Comic and Not
• Collings, Michael R. Shorts: Terse Verse
• Collings, Michael R. Som Certaine Sonets, Revised and Enlarged Edition
• Collings, Michael R. Tissue Promises: 151 Haiku
• *Evans, Kathy. Imagination Comes to Breakfast
• Hamblin, Laura. The Eyes of a Flounder: Poems
• Hardy, Nicole. This Blonde
• Harris, John Serling. Second Crop: Poems
• Hatch, Warren. Mapping the Bones of the World
• Hindmarsh, Ted C. Campfire Verses (for children)
• Howe, Susan Elizabeth and Sheree Maxwell Bench. Discoveries: Two Centuries of Poems by Mormon Women
• Jepson, Eric W. et al. Plain and Precious Parts from The Fob Bible
• Jepson, Eric W. et al. The Fob Bible
• Johnson, Kimberly. Leviathan with a Hook
• Johnson, Kimberly. A Metaphorical God: Poems
• Kelsay, Karen. Buttercup Garden (ebook for children)
• Kelsay, Karen. Karen Kelsay Collected Poems
• Kelsay, Karen. Dove on a Church Bench
• Kelsay, Karen. A Fist of Roots
• Kelsay, Karen. In Spite of Her
• Kelsay, Karen. Song of the Bluebell Fairy
• Laínez, Josep Carles. La Piedra Ente La Ñeve [Asturian, Deseret Alphabet]
• Larsen, Lance. Backyard Alchemy: Poems
• Larsen, Lance. Erasable Walls
• Larsen, Lance. In All Their Animal Brilliance: Poems
• Liu, Timothy. Bending the Mind Around the Dream’s Blown Fuse
• Liu, Timothy. Burnt Offerings
• Liu, Timothy. For Dust Thou Art
• *Liu, Timothy. Hard Evidence
• Liu, Timothy. Of Thee I Sing
• Liu, Timothy. Polytheogamy (Poet/Artist Collaboration)
• Liu, Timothy. Say Goodnight
• Liu, Timothy. Vox Angelica
• *Mitchell, Alan Rex. The Road to Carthage: Readers Theater Presentation for Wards and Stakes
• *Mormon Artists Group (ed.) Song Cycles: Mormon Artists Group
• Pearson, Carol Lynn. Beginnings and Beyond
• Pearson, Carol Lynn. In Love Again and Always
• Pearson, Carol Lynn. The Sweet, Still Waters of Home: Inspiration for Mothers from the 23rd Psalm
• *Sillitoe, Linda. Crazy for Living
• *Snell, N. Colwell. Hand Me My Shadow
• Snow, Eliza R. (edited by Jill Mulvay Derr and Karen Lynn Davidson) Eliza R Snow: The Complete Poetry
• Swenson, May. Centaur, The (for children)
• Swenson, May. The Complete Love Poems of May Swenson
• Swenson, May. Dear Elizabeth: Five Poems & Three Letters to Elizabeth Bishop
• Swenson, May. May Out West
• Swenson, May. Nature: Poems Old and New
• Swenson, Paul. Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake: And Other Poems
• Talbot, John. The Well-Tempered Tantrum
• Tanner, Javen, Curses For Your Sake
• *Thayne, Emma Lou. With Love, Mother
• White, Philip. The Clearing

Out of Print:

• Bradford, Mary L. PURPLE: Poems by Mary Lythgoe Bradford
• Christmas, R. A. City of Roses
• Kelsay, Karen. Forever in Avalon

John A. Widtsoe

While Mormons are sometimes criticized by their opponents as ignorant or blinded in their beliefs, that claim is both not supported by data (which actually shows that Mormons are generally more educated than those of most other religions) nor by any objective review of what leaders teach members. LDS Church leaders consistently claim that members are and should be well educated, and consistently encourage members to both get an education and develop good educational habits. In the following excerpt, Elder John A. Widtsoe, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve from 1921 to 1952, encourages members to develop the habit of reading good materials (and not just Church materials) on a daily basis.

Of course, no one claims that this advice is always followed. Like it or not, Church members don’t always follow the advice of their leaders. And Widtsoe acknowledges this. Its very similar to what we already acknowledged in Junius Wells’ advocacy of writing a journal. Here’s what Widtsoe has to say about reading:

.

The Reading Habit

By John A. Widtsoe

…

FAITH INCREASES BY STUDY OF GOSPEL PRINCIPLES

Faith itself, the foundation principle of the Gospel, may be developed and maintained by use of printed words. Faith is a living thing, subject to all the laws of life. It may be begotten; it may grow; it may weaken; it may die. Therefore it must be cherished, fostered and fed. Regular, continuous Gospel study, through the printed page, is of prime importance in the maintaining and growth of certain belief.

Moreover, faith must be intelligent. Ignorance breeds superstition, the opposite of faith. Knowledge is a vital ingredient of the foundation of faith. The gaining of knowledge has ever been enjoined upon the Latter-day Saints. “Man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge” declared Joseph Smith. That means, of course, knowledge of truth, the highest expression of which is the Gospel. The position of knowledge is high in the Kingdom of God. Reading is a main avenue to knowledge.

The man who does not add knowledge to knowledge, throughout his life, may endanger his very faith. Latter-day Saints should be readers; they should cultivate the reading habit.

With all this before us, the available evidence indicates that we are not a reading people. Our reading seems to be occasional, unsystematic and fragmentary. The motion picture, the radio, and the automobile, all welcomed by Latter-day Saints, have unduly invaded our reading time. These great gifts to man should be enjoyed by all, but they should be used wisely and moderately, if our zest for them is to be keen. The best of things may be overdone.

DAILY READING HABIT URGED

The reading habit is most valuable in life. I mean by that the practice of using a little time, say half an hour a day, in the systematic reading of worthwhile literature. The mind is opened to precious fields of thought; the achievements of the ages become ours; even the future takes form. As the mind and spirit are fed by well chosen reading, comfort, peace and understanding come to the soul. Those who have not tried it, have missed a keen and easily accessible joy.

Moreover, a person who engages in such regular daily reading, if only a few minutes a day, in the course of a few years becomes a learned man. But it must be a regular, daily habit. It is a common experience in the foreign mission field that the less educated man who studies the new language without missing a day becomes a more perfect master, and that sooner, of the language, than the more highly trained elder, who studies the language by fits and starts. Some of the best educated men that I have met have never been in college but have acquired the habit of daily reading of good books for a few minutes a day. And, may I add, this applies to leaders as to the people.

WARNING AGAINST DEMORALIZING LITERATURE

Of course, reading, as everything else, may be misused. There is on our American market a mass of worthless literature, books and magazines, often sexy, unsound and demoralizing. The land is flooded with them; they are available in every village. They are poisonous offerings which too often make up the reading of young and old. It is a type of intellectual and spiritual suicide. The effects of such reading are much like those of habit-forming drugs, creating unnatural, unhealthy desires, and weakening both body and mind. Such time as we do give to reading should be devoted to carefully selected literature, high grade magazines and books, which cost no more, but build up the mind, and feed the spirit of man.

…

Elder John A. Widtsoe,
General Conference, Apiril 1939

.

I almost want to end this post by simply saying, “Amen,” but I think there are a few things that might be added. I especially like Widtsoe’s specifying good books in general in stead of just scripture; it seems to me that ideally our daily reading should include both. I can’t help but think that the ability of anyone to think about literature is improved by daily, repeated reading.

As for the final comment included, about “demoralizing” literature, they at least reflect the environment he saw. Widtsoe’s comments were made near the height of the popularity of the pulp magazine and dime novels and just before the advent of the mass market paperback that would generally improve the quality of cheap printed books. Looking at the lurid and sensationalistic nature of much of what was available, it might be hard not to agree with Widtsoe’s characterization of “a mass of worthless literature, books and magazines.” Publishing has since moved into an extended age when such works were just as expensive as anything else, meaning that such works get attention only for what they are, and not just because they are less expensive. Perhaps that is a kind of improvement.

Regardless of the issue of whether literature is “demoralizing,” Widtsoe’s suggestion that Church members should develop a habit of reading is worth re-examining. It is wonderful to hear someone suggesting that, in addition to the scriptures, members read other literature also.