Faithful Fiction

196 DIALOGUE : A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT deed, an interesting story of the faith of findings. The discoveries of the Dame and several men who saw themselves, at the Bean parties were never publicized until prophet's request, building the kingdom by this present publication. Stott writes very seeking a new resting place. well; his lengthy narrative is readable and Search for Sanctuary is a history of a extremely well documented. It follows backwater, an eddy in the larger flow of closely the canons of historical form. But surrounding events. The course of the the meaning of the events as he describes Utah War was unaffected by the outcome them in Search for Sanctuary makes his of the White Mountain Expedition; later study as historical writing an examination the miners and ranchers who settled the of fascinating potentials which unfortu- area remembered only rumors of the earlier nately never materialized. Faithful Fiction Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon affirmative to be faithful, though almost all Short Stories, edited by Levi S. Peterson of our popular home literature, from Orson (Midvale, Utah: Orion Books, 1983); F. Whitney and Nephi Anderson in the Summer Fire, by Douglas H. Thayer (Mid- nineteenth century to Shirley Sealey and vale, Utah: Orion Books, 1983); and Jack Weyland in the twentieth, has been Zinnie Stokes, Zinnie Stokes, by Donald R. essentially devoid of genuine conflict. Marshall (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, The best Mormon fiction will avoid 1984). neither conflicts nor affirmation; it will be Reviewed by Eugene England, pro- neither self-consciously critical nor merely didactic. It will be "faithful" in the sense fessor of English at Brigham Young Uni- Richard Bushman used the term in his versity. He teaches Mormon literature and Winter 1969 DIALOGUE essay, "Faithful writes criticism, poetry, and personal essays. History." He clarified the dangers both of GOOD FICTION STRIKES ME with that same the defensive mode of "official" Mormon mysterious combination of exhilaration and history and of the uncritical secular as- grief that comes from new knowledge, from sumptions underlying the graduate training new visions that replace the dear old ones. of recent Mormon historians. After sug- Because they are good fiction, I recommend gesting some characteristically if not that you make any sacrifice necessary to uniquely Mormon approaches to the his- get all three of these books and read them tory of the world and the Church that soon. They are quite different from each could be particularly illuminating for all other, but they are all evidence that serious humankind, he ended with a brisk chal- (as opposed to popular) Mormon fiction lenge capped with a brilliant inversion of a is maturing, reaching a level of both excel- classical Mormon adage: "The enlargement lence and faithfulness that it has never en- of moral insight, spiritual commitment, and joyed before but that has been both ra- critical intelligence are all bound together. tionally and prophetically expected. A man gains knowledge no faster than he is saved" (p. 25). Mormon fiction does not need to be rebellious to be excellent, though most of President Spencer W. Kimball gave a our best fiction in the past, especially that similarly refreshing challenge in his July of the regionalists of the thirties and forties 1977 Ensign essay, "The Gospel Vision of like Vardis Fisher, Maurine Whipple, and the Arts": Virginia Sorensen, was self-consciously ex- For years I have been waiting for some- patriate. Nor does it need to be blindly one to do justice in recording . the REVIEWS 197 story of the Restoration, . the strug- problem, the pain of sin, and the greatest gles and frustrations; the apostasies and human joy, the hope of redemption. The inner revolutions and counter-revolutions main flaw is that this first novel by a bril- of those first decades; of the exodus; of the counter-reactions; of the transi- liant short fictionist is still a bit too much tions; of the persecution days; of the like a short story. It is certainly long (240 miracle man, Joseph Smith, of whom we pages) and substantial enough but lacks sing "Oh, what rapture filled his bosom, somewhat the rich diversity of characteriza- For he saw the living God" (pp. 2-5). tion and plot development of traditional This is surely a call for "faithful fic- novels. It seems at times a little too well- tion" as well as faithful history — for ex- crafted by the five years and multiple re- amination of Mormon experience without visions Thayer has given it; it lacks some of avoiding either its human frustrations or its the rough, risktaking passion and experi- godly raptures. Thayer and Marshall, in mentation with form (think of Melville's their novels, as well as most of the best Moby Dick or even "Billy Budd") char- Mormon short story writers collected in acteristic of great long fiction. But Thayer's Greening Wheat, give us precisely that. work does have the virtues of meticulous And most of these Mormon writers, espe- revision; Mormon critic Bruce Jorgensen cially Thayer and Marshall, fulfill Bush- calls him, quite accurately, a "draft-horse." man's uniquely defining characteristic for Jorgensen, who seems addicted to ... faithfulness: They are basically good hu- well, punishing Thayer, has a name for man beings who are struggling—-vulnerably Thayer's remarkably similar heroes: "Pro- and seriously (though often through hu- votagonists." And we have one in Summer mor) — with their own moral insights and Fire, a righteous and self-righteous sixteen- spiritual commitments as well as those of year-old Mormon who leaves his protective their characters. mother and grandmother and antiseptic The best and most important of these Provo home to work for the summer on a works is Summer Fire, which is not only Nevada ranch. There the ranch foreman, Thayer's first novel but the first "real" Staver (one of Thayer's most unusual and Mormon novel in nearly thirty years, that powerful fictional creations), rubs Owen's is, the first to deal seriously with Mormon face in dirt, manure, and disgrace. More characters and ideas and to use them to subtly, he attempts to initiate him (as he create versions of the central human con- does with all summer hands) into error and flicts that energize good fiction. Don Mar- sin. shall's first novel, though less substantial But Owen is no Billy Budd, fixed for- and powerful than Thayer's, is very good; ever in beautiful innocence; he begins, and it is important in a different way. It granted, as an offensive prig, but he is also is the first "real" novel to be published by touchingly reflective and determined as a the official Mormon press and seems to be moral being — much as I suspect Thayer selling well enough that Deseret and Book- himself and most Mormon young people craft may finally be persuaded (if not by are or want to be. He learns not only to be the prophets then perhaps by the profits) less naive and more tolerant but, more im- to publish more of such faithful fiction. portantly, he discovers that he is capable Greening Wheat is the first anthology of of terrible sin — he comes to the point of Mormon short fiction ever; and it provides, very nearly killing Staver —• and must be despite the unfortunate omission of Thayer, able to accept Christ's atonement and for- Herbert Harker, Helen Walker Jones, and give himself as well as others. Dian Saderup, a nearly complete sampling By the same token, Staver is no Clag- of our best contemporary writers of fiction. gart, fixed forever in a mysterious, yearning Thayer's novel, like all good and faith- love/hate for goodness and a compulsion ful writing, is about the greatest human to destroy it. Thayer skillfully evokes the 198 DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT "mystery of iniquity" in Staver, using the demptive love, is an important innovation fine symbol of his being wounded in the in Mormon fiction. It allows Thayer to heart in Korea and evoking his Claggart- place his own moral and spiritual authority like despair in violent midnight rides he firmly within the story without intruding takes on a half-wild stallion. A friend had on Owen's first-person naivete, thus giving joined the army to be with him in Korea us a fine balance of sympathy and judg- and was killed there trying to save others ment; and it allows Thayer's deeply Mor- the day before Staver himself was wounded mon convictions to be voiced and acted in what seems to have been some desperate, upon in language that is Christian and even suicidal, action. Staver would not scripturally grounded but still unusual accept that sacrifice; but through Owen's enough to avoid sentimental cliche, to be only partly comprehending vision, we see both arresting and clear. And Mrs. Cum- Staver teaching Owen crucial things about mings becomes Thayer's direct agent for work and caring, even about giving, and literally saving as well as teaching Owen. see that his flaw is a complex one. There is Finally pushed too far by Staver's success hope, which even Owen can finally feel be- in corrupting his cousin Randy (the other cause of his own self-discovery as well as summer hand), Owen becomes enraged from the example of others, that Staver too enough to try fighting Staver and then, might be healed. after a humiliating defeat, to aim a gun at The main source of that hope, and for him from outside the bunkhouse. But Owen me the most interesting secondary figure, is is stopped by a providential appearance: Mrs.

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