by Michael Andrew Ellis
Jonathan Langford asked me to expand on my comments regarding the recent 2015 AML Mini-Conference held at Utah Valley University on March 28. My comments were in response to some questions that Joe Plicka posted on this blog as a follow-up survey to the conference. Here are the questions:
– What did you take away from this year’s conference?
– What were the main challenges in planning and running it?
– How many people were in attendance? What was the breakdown of regulars vs. newcomers?
– What worked that you would like to see repeated at next year’s conference?
– What would you like to add or build on for next year’s conference?
– Do you have any suggestions for panels/themes for next year’s conference?
– Maybe most importantly, were there snacks?
I can’t speak to all the questions, but I loved the conference! James and Nicole Goldberg did a great job pulling everything together. I also liked the informal atmosphere of this one, where it was a group of people, of whatever background, who just wanted to find out what’s going on in Mormon Lit or share what they know about the Mormon Lit scene. I realize that we can’t have these informal, “introductory,” sessions every time (and wouldn’t want it that way), but it would be nice to host them occasionally so that we can attempt to grow the audience.
The attendance was much better than I anticipated, considering the reduction in scope. There were probably sixty plus people there. I saw several people I didn’t recognize and took to be students. I’m not sure whether there were extra-credit incentives for them to be there or not, but either way, their attendance perhaps garnered a few converts.
For next year’s conference, especially considering that it will be in a unique location, it would be great if the conference could allow for remote participation via Skype or FaceTime. That would allow those who would otherwise attend in person, but for the price, participate. Failing that, it should all be recorded at least. It was great that this one was recorded, and the sound quality wasn’t bad at all on the recordings I’ve listened to so far.
I would like to see a panel on the idea of “Restorationist Literature” and more discussion on what it means and what it looks like. Of course, the ideal scholars for commenting about this would be Scott Hales, Wm Morris, and James Goldberg. Maybe Margaret Blair Young or Angela Hallstrom too. Maybe this next idea I have could be wrapped up in that same panel or presentation, but I would like to see more commentary and discussion on James Goldberg’s counter-argument to Stephen Carter’s position in the “Great Debate” of this year’s conference. I think most writers, myself included, agree with Stephen’s position somewhat and have written from it, but James’s position seems to be less explored by creative minds in the Mormon community. Are there examples of it in the literature currently out there? Does James achieve that in his own work?
I don’t think there was a clear winner for the debate between Eric Samuelsen and Gideon Burton, but both of them did agree that Mormon writers should read Mormon Literature, although Eric mentioned they would do well to read a whole lot more. From this debate, and from other comments that were made in the session about the Mormon Lit scene today, I would also like to see a class/panel discussion/lecture at one of the upcoming AML conferences that discusses one of the highly recommended Mormon novels, or short story, or other work. The participants will need to have read the work and be prepared to discuss what they like about it, or didn’t.
Also, there was some commentary on the apparent lack of critical reviews of Mormon Literature of the literary type. If we view “literary” as a genre, then it could be said that other genres have bigger communities built up to review and promote them. I know that Scott Hales and Wm Morris and others review Mormon literary works and I have appreciated their recommendations. But perhaps we need a class/panel discussion/lecture about where you can find critical reviews of Mormon literature. At the conference, in the session on the Mormon Lit scene today, Boyd Petersen mentioned that if you google-searched for critical reviews of Mormon literary works, then you come up with a handful of hits, but if you search authors individually, then you can often find them written about in national publications. I would be interested in learning more about how far the interest in Mormon literary works extends, and where it’s talked about, and what’s said, and so forth.
Finally, food. That’s the one thing that was missing from this conference. But considering that it was put together quickly and other circumstances, I don’t blame the Goldbergs at all. But for a longer conference, it is appropriate to feed the five thousand. (Let’s hope we get that many.)
Just some thoughts to consider. If you’re interested in a review of the debates and panels that I attended, I blogged about it over at michaelandrewellis.com. Much thanks to those that recorded and posted the other sessions so that we can listen to them.