Comments about ‘New Harmony: Some words of wisdom from Wallace Stegner’

Stegner was a hero.

"Why aren't there more first-rate Mormon novelists?"
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Such a good question. I’ve often wondered that myself. Stephen Covey was proof that a Mormon writer can make it big in mainstream non-fiction but Mormon fiction on the Mormon experience has had appeal limited to Mormons. Orson Scott Card has a following in the science fiction genre but when he tried his hand at a literary effort in Mormon history (Saints), it didn’t have any appreciable impact, even among Mormons.

Mormons are still metabolizing their experience in the greater context of the American experience. We spent so long as an isolationist people in an isolationist nation, one would think there must be a microcosmic story buried somewhere in there that is begging to be told.

Bernard DeVoto once wrote that art it the terms of an armistice signed with fate and the terms the artist makes are the best ones he can. Maybe Mormons are still moving toward that day.

I don't think I've ever read an article by Jerry Johnson that was not thoughtfully crafted and worth reading. Thanks for another. Stegner was a wonderful writer, at least in part because he was addicted to telling the truth. Yet he seemed to never lose his core capacity to love... a key component of truth in any form.

You've got to love Stegner. How true that we as a people are responsible for the environmental degradation of a land that we hold so dear. With the unique geography of the Wasatch, the morality of our environmental decisions are certainly magnified by inversions. The LDS people ought to care for the planet more than any other people, given our doctrine. Instead, our poor choices can be seen and felt every day.

The world becomes less creative in sin; just trying to be good is the best story of all--art will flourish with a society that keeps on trying; hollywood is the least creative mass of people on the planet without family and Bible values.