SUNSTONE SUNSIDNE Fmndrd m 19i4 matically suspected of heresy or greater SCOTT KENNEY 1975-1978 FAIR COMPENSATION ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978-1980 crimes, and God's adherence to the Republi- PEGGY FLETCHER 1978-1986 ARY BERGERA'S "Wilkinson the Man" can party had become an article of faith. DANIEL RECTOR 1986-1991 Editor and Publisher G (SUNSTONE,July 1997) makes me want Although Wilkinson supported the library ELBERT EUGENE PECK to relate my first experience with Wilkinson. with money, one always suspected that the Managing Editor Ofice Managrr ERICJONES CAROL B QUlST In 1954, when we were law students at administration considered us as the enemy Associnte Ed~lon Pmduction Manager the University of Utah, Tom Greene and I Therefore, I'm more than irritated that GREG CAMPBELL MARK J. MALCOLM BRYAN R7ATERhAN won a moot court competition dealing with Gary Bergera's paean to Wilkinson should in- Prtion Editors the issue whether schools that the Church clude the repeated remarks by William MARNI ASPLUND CAMPBELL. Comucop~a LARA CANDLAND ASPLUND. l~ct~on had, yean earlier, transferred to the state, Fdwards about BYU's being a high-class ju- DENNIS CLARK, poetv remews would revert to Church ownership if the nior college. Edwards was a brilliant man in BRIAN KAGEL, news STEVE MAYFIELD. l~branan state closed the schools. The issue concerned finance, but in reality he, like most of the DIXIE PARTRIDGE, poetry BYU WILL QUIST, new books president Ernest L. Wilkinson in his role men Bergera quotes, held his position at BYU PHYLLIS BAKER. hct~oncontest as Church commissioner of education. because he was ultimately a sycophant. Ed~tonalAssistants SARA CHRISTENSEN. LOWELL N. HAU'KES. BEVERLY HOPPE Tom and I received a request to come to Bergera should have written a more objec- JANE MOMBERGER. WENDY MURDOCK Provo to discuss the issues with President tive article quoting some of the individuals ERIC SINGLETON. LYN WORTHEN Advisory Editorial Bmrd Wilkinson. We were flattered. Once in his of- who ultimately left BYU because of The Man. PAT BAGLEY BRJAN BEAN. T. E BEHREND fice, we presented our views of the legal situ- WILLIAM BRACE JAYS. BYBEE. CONNIE DISNEY MICHAEL HARWARD. LYNNE KANAVEL WHITESIDES ation. Then he questioned and cross- River Forest, IL Contributing Column~sis examined us vigorously and sharply. My un- ORSON SCOTT CARD. COURTNN CAMPBELL DORICE WlLLlAMS ELLIOTT. MICHAEL HICKS spoken reaction was, "What nen7ehe has, to TONY HUTCHINSON. DALID KNOWLTON CRITICAL CULTURE MARYBETH RAYNES. PETER SORENSEN ask us to come all the way down here to do STEPHEN THOMPSON. DAVID P WRIGHT him a favor and then treat us like that!" APOLOGIZE that my review of Benson Corresponden& JOANNA BROOKS. NEAL & REBECCA CHANDLER As we left, he picked up from his secre- I Parkinson's novel The MTC: Set Apart BRIAN EVENSON. KARL SANDBERG tary's desk checks already made out to us, (SUNSTONE,Apr. 1997) was perceived as be- HOLLY WELKER Cartoon~rts each in the amount of twenty-five dollars, a ing "harsh" ("An Empty 'C"' by Thomas F: PAT BAGLEY. CALVIN GRONDAHL CHRIS CHECKETTS. KENT CHRISTENSEN significant sum for the time. I then realized Rogers, SUNSTONE,July 1997). 1 honestly SAM DAY. MARVlN FRIEDMAN. STEVE KROPP that even though we were students, he had didn't (and still don't) think my criticism to CARL MCBRAYER. ROBERT MURRAY BRUCE READE, BRAD VELEY. RYAN S. WAYMENT paid us the compliment of treating us as pro- be such. Nor was (or is) my criticism of the Volantrrrs fessionals who should expect to have their novel's quality intended to be personal. I PHYLLIS BAKER. VIRGINIA BOURGEOUS JIM DYKMAN. DEE FREEMAN. VICTOR GENER views tested by challenge and who are wor- have no intention of discouraging Parkinson BARBARA HAUGSOEN. MICHAEL OWNBY WENDY SILVER. JEANNE WINDER. JIM WOOD thy of fair compensation for their work. or others from writing realistic fiction that il- EDWARD L. KIMBALL luminates asDects of the Mormon cultural ex- THE SUNSTONE FOUNDATION Ernest L Wilkinson Chai~emeritus perience. Indeed, a careful and incisive social Board ul Trustees J. Reuben Clark Law School exploration and evaluation, such as that of KENT FROGLEY. vice cha~r:STAN CHRISTENSEN ROBYN KNIBBE DAVIS. GLEN LAMBERT Brigham Young Univerisity which the best realistic fiction is capable, MARY ANN MORGAN. LOUIS hlOENCH. MARGARET REISER would be extremely valuable in shaping a ELBERT EUGENE PECK Erealive Dirrctor WLKINSON THE HUMAN genuinely Mormon literature and in trans- ELBERT EUGENE PECK forming our culture. Syrnpossm Chairs MOLLY BENNION. Northwest AM FROM THE pre-Wilkinson era of I continue to stand by my evaluation of ANN STONE & SUSAN PAXMAN HATCH. Chicago MTC: BARBARA RONNOW-BUNKER. Washington. D.C. I Bn]. I had the pleasure of studying under The Set Apait. The book certainly has REBECCA LINFORD. St Paul. Mn. some truly great teachedscholars-Orea potential, though the potential seems to me National Advlrory Board ALAN ACKROM). IRENE BATES Tanner, l? A. Christensen, Thomas Martin, largely unrealized except, as I suggest in my IAN BARBER. MOLLY BENNION Russell Swenson, and Brigham Madsen. Most review, in perhaps one or two chapters. I KATHERINE BOSWELL CARLAN BRADSHAW, BELLUMY BROWN of their accomplishments are recorded in judged the book not only through exterior COLE CAPENER. RENEE CARLSON BLAINE CARLTON. PAUL CARPENTER Jean Ann Waterstradt's They Gladly Taught. standards but according to the best writing to S'EPHEN C. CLARK. DOUGLAS CONDIE In those days, BYU said that knowledge was be found in it, and in light of that writing, I JOHN COX. D. JAMES CROFT WlLFRlED DECOO, ROBERT FILLERUP power; it made the road to truth a personal feel that a good deal of the rest of the book SHELDON GREAVES MARK GUSTAVSON. LIONEL GRADY venture on which one sometimes encoun- fails. It is a book that has the seeds of a better JEFFRN R. HARDYhWN. NANCY HARWARD tered pot holes, sudden turns, and strange book in it, and 1 think that Parkinson de- DIETRICH KEMPSKI. MILES SPENCER KIMBALL SHUNlCHl KUWAHATA. GREG KOFFORD digressions. My loyalty to the Church was serves to be faulted for not bringing the FARRELL LINES. PATRICK MCKENZIE tested and strengthened by the vigor and dif- whole of the book up to the level of the best CARRIE MILES. RONALD L MOLEN MARJORIE NMTON, GRANT OSBORN ferences among the faculty I feel good about chapters. Encouraging him by saying that the ALICE ALLRED POTTMYER. DANIEL H. RECTOR CHRIS SEXTON, RICHARD SHERLOCK my student years at BYU. book is "good enoughn both inhibits GEORGE D. SMlTFl JR.. NICHOLAS SMITH I do not, however, feel so good about my Parkinson's own artistic development and the RICHARD SOUTI~\VICK.MARSHA S STEWART LORlE WINDER STROMBERG. JOHN &JANET TARJAN years as a member of the library faculty un- development of Mormon literature. NOLA W WALLACE. HARThlUT WEISSMANN MARK J. U'ILLIAMS der Ernest L. Wilkinson. Conformity had be- The purpose of criticism should be to come the watchword, Democrats were auto- evaluate the quality of the fiction against PAGE 4 SEPTEMBER 1997 - --- - -- ~A SUNSTONE standards high enough to be worthy of the ALMOST ALL of our actions. importance of the subject matter. These stan- Office does not confer wisdom! Ignor- dards must also be aware of the potential role OW MUCH IS almost all in "almost all ance, inexperience, bias and prejudice, inad- the fiction might play in helping us under- H men, as soon as they get a little author- equate time to contemplate and consider, stand our relationship to both our broad and ity, as they suppose, will exercise unrighteous and many other factors make it easier to local culture. If a work of fiction is bland, un- domintion"? (D&C 121:39). All is obviously adopt a somewhat mindless, simpler "role challenging, or stereotypical, that should be 100 percent. Is almost all 99 percent? Or 98 and rule" ethic in dealing with the human acknowledged by critics rather than being percent? Or a more liberal 95 percent? problems we face. But a "consequential ethic" glossed over because of the appeal of the sub- Obviously, it is more than half, possibly two- requires looking into the future and consid- 'ect matter or because the work does begn to thirds or three-fourths. How few are those ering the collateral possibilities for inadver- break through Mormon writers' typical in- exceptions who are not in the "almost all"? tent harm done to the people involved, their ability to deal realistically with the MTC expe- We male priesthood holders all like to loved ones, and their fellow Church mem- rience. think we are in the elite few Oh, we stumble bers (and the Church itself). The stress We do ourselves a tremendous disservice occasionally, but by and large we are, as andlor pain caused must be accurately per- by praising mediocre books because they're Henry Higgins sang, "a marvelous sex!" ceived and empathized with. simply the best that we have before us. When we go up the ladder of office, the Each soul, a child of god, is of equal value Mormon literature has suffered immensely opportunities (and temptations) to exercise in our savior's eyes, so we are told, and,the from critics' willingness to serve as apologsts "unrighteous dominion" increase exponen- concern for the "lost sheep," with the dire for it. It will continue to suffer as long as we tially. The higher the office, the more oppor- consequences if we cause one of these to as critics remain willing to praise the halfway tunities for (and the greater difficulty in "fall," should give us pause daily. Any correc- good instead of pushing writers toward avoiding) such condemned behavior, when tion ("speaking sharply") is to be followed by greater stylistic, aesthetic, and cultural suc- we exercise the "duties" and the "authority" an increase of unfeigned love so the reproved cesses.