Author Archives: Scott Hales

Nephi Anderson at the Annual SASS Conference

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Scott Hales

Next week, the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies will be holding its annual conference in San Francisco. For this year’s conference, a few of us have put together a panel on Nephi Anderson that focuses on his Scandinavian … Continue reading →

Posted in Mormon LitCrit | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Five Nephi Anderson Novels You Should Read Before You Die

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Scott Hales

This week I plan to finish my dissertation chapter on Nephi Anderson’s novels. As the current draft climbs to around 65 pages, I realize that trying to encapsulate Anderson’s contribution to Mormon letters in one chapter is a fool’s errand. … Continue reading →

Posted in Mormon LitCrit | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Creating New Historical Narratives; or, Why We Should Be Writing More Mormon Historical Fiction

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Scott Hales

Mormons have a long history with the historical novel. Early in the twentieth century, for example, writers like Susa Young Gates and Nephi Anderson used the historical novel to create a romanticized version of the Mormon past for post-Manifesto readers … Continue reading →

Posted in Mormon LitCrit | Tagged , , , | 58 Comments

Read This Book: A Review of Theric Jepson’s Byuck

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Scott Hales

How do you review a book that can’t hold still? This has been my dilemma this morning. I’ve already tried four or five times to write this review, and each time I’ve written about two hundred words before the inkwells … Continue reading →

Posted in Funny Stuff | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Fifty Shades of (Mormon) Gray: A Review of Moriah Jovan’s “Magdalene”

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Scott Hales

My experience is limited when it comes to romance novels. I remember as a kid always seeing them on the shelves at grocery stores. Their covers were fairly standard: massive pectorals, cleavage, and yards of lush fabric and flowing hair. … Continue reading →

Posted in Stuff of Romance | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Mormon LitCrit: From Imitation to Innovation; or, Why Mormon Writers Should Move Out of the Basement

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Scott Hales

Cultural texts do not exist independent of one another, but in an interdependent relationship we call the tradition. New texts rely on the tradition of older texts, and older texts depend on new texts to keep the tradition vibrant and relevant. … Continue reading →

Posted in Mormon LitCrit | Tagged , , , , | 111 Comments

Mormon Literature and the Anxiety of “Passing”

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Scott Hales

In literature, a character’s ability to move unnoticed from one social group to another, often more privileged group is called “passing.” In Disney’s Mulan, for example, the title character “passes” for a man so that she can take her aging … Continue reading →

Posted in Mormon LitCrit, Storytelling and Community | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Literature and the Challenge of The Mormon People

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Scott Hales

Matthew Bowman’s The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith, published earlier this year by Random House, is possibly the best overview of Mormon history that I’ve read. Written for scholars and general readers alike, the book situates Mormonism … Continue reading →

Posted in Mormon LitCrit | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Novelist Nephi; or Why We Still Need the “Author of ‘Added Upon’”

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Scott Hales

In less than a week I will be traveling to Salt Lake City to spend a week in the Church History Library with the Nephi Anderson papers. To prepare, I have been reading Anderson’s novels and short stories and making … Continue reading →

Posted in Storytelling and Community | Tagged , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Agency, Influence, Accountability, and the Mormon Artist

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Scott Hales

Since last Friday’s mass-shooting at a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, fingers have pointed in many directions. In a New York Times op-ed, for example, film critic Roger Ebert joins others in blaming the gun lobby and “paranoid … Continue reading →

Posted in Mormon LitCrit, The Writer's Desk | Tagged , , | 80 Comments