Comments on: Calling all ex-mormons: the Great Mormon Novel?

By: Literary Philistines and Great Mormon Novels « Irresistible (Dis)Grace

Literary Philistines and Great Mormon Novels « Irresistible (Dis)Grace — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:00:28 +0000

[...] Literary Philistines and Great Mormon Novels May 19, 2010 — Andrew As certain as the summer is every year, so is the discussion of the Great Mormon Novel (and its absence.) Every time people bring up this topic again, I spend varying amounts of time looking over it. The reactions from believers. The reactions from non and ex-believers. I even dabbled in writing about it once upon a time. [...]

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By: Therese

Therese — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:01:39 +0000

I was really interested in this post and all the links (and thanks for the reference to The Backslider, I will have to check it out!). I’m working on a novel (about two-thirds of the way done now) that is intended to be a literary take on having grown up Mormon and then leaving the church for philosophical reasons. And I’m really curious how many other “literary” (ex)Mormon novels are already out there and what they look like. I hadn’t found any models for the type of book I wanted to write (other than The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but then who can really model herself on James Joyce?!)

I’m hoping my book will be The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance meets The Magic Mountain, with a dollop of Faust on top. Stay tuned!

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By: Benji Smith

Benji Smith — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:08:50 +0000

BTW, hi chanson remember me?

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By: Benji Smith

Benji Smith — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:07:20 +0000

Look no further:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1560850035

I read “The Backslider” as an exmormon, while attending BYU, and I loved every page of it. Incidentally, my ex-wife (a Mormon through and through) also loved it.

The book is told from the perspective of a teenage kid (not too bright and not too righteous, but neither dumb nor villainous) and his struggles with religion, family, poverty, mental illness of a family member, etc. There’s lots of interesting conflict and sexuality. Throughout the book, the kid constantly wrestles with his beliefs, and it doesn’t have a nice, pat ending. Which is especially satisfying.

Anyhoo, it’s a real page-turner, and I’d recommend it to anyone. In my opinion, it’s the ultimate example of the Great Mormon Novel.

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By: Hellmut

Hellmut — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:02:41 +0000

There is a multitude of great Catholic novels because Catholics are comfortable with sin.

The short version of the Catholic creed:

‘A sin is a sin. Human beings sin. Catholics are human beings. Therefore Catholics sin.

‘It’s bad because a sin is a sin but, deal with it, sinning is what makes us human.’

That’s why Catholics can write great novels.

By contrast, Mormons believe in being a poster board of their faith. General conference is so one dimensional, it’s a caricature of the human condition.

There are Mormons who have a great relationships with sin. Neil LaBute’s prose is as that of any Catholic. Of course, the moment he penned the first line about Mormons, he was threatened with excommunication.

It could have been a great thing.

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By: Holly

Holly — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:17:26 +0000

I just read a really good Mormon novel–perhaps not THE GREAT Mormon novel, but an excellent book nonetheless. It’s “The Chosen One” by Carol Lynch Williams, and she has all sorts of ties to BYU, so the correlation committee might even approve of her. Yes, it’s a young adult novel and I finished it in two hours. But it was interesting and believable and really well written. My only concern with it was how someone who could portray polygamy that way could believe that Joseph Smith was anything but a philandering dog.

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By: Andrew S

Andrew S — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:53:39 +0000

but you don’t get that from faithful members, Seth. They are too conscious to be dogmatic.

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By: Seth R.

Seth R. — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:14:55 +0000

Are you kidding?

Dogmatism and intolerance often makes for great reading.

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By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:55:00 +0000

How Orson Scott Card must feel as he reads all this fretting and nay-saying. There are no “great x novels” where x doesn’t equal “human” and that is the crux of it in my opinion. As long as we strive for the so-called “great Mormon novel” we will never find it. When Mormonism becomes sufficiently liberal that a large number attempt to express the human without taint of dogmatic idealism then a Mormon might actually write what humanity could consider great. In the mean time it’s up to the ever-increasing apostate horde.

As usual, those who call themselves Mormon fail to deal with the depth of human experience and sympathy for Mo and NoMo alike that only the apostate can know.

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By: chanson

chanson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:15:09 +0000

William — Sorry about the “fretting” line. I wrote my comment quickly, and that’s probably not the right way of putting it. You’re right, though, that it’s so difficult to judge that it’s unlikely we’ll ever be able to tell whether it has happened or not.

It’s an amusing topic, but I think it’s not one where we can hope to come up with a canonical answer or even any kind of consensus. As you say, the discussion says more about the commentators (me included, of course) than anything else. And, yet, I think that’s half of why the topic is so fun!

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