Beyond the Literary Monologue: Engagement and Empathy

I've been pushing my students to develop their personal essays in more social ways -- trying out parts of their drafts with their friends and family members, and then doing the same but in broader circles among strangers. This has had mixed success: it isn't easy to take incomplete, in-development kinds of writing and put this in front of others who will not always understand the intent or purpose of our writing. It has been a risk, and not always an easy one.

Reframing Writing in Two Ways
I've done my best to try to give my students a new framework for understanding this writing -- two frameworks, actually. The first of these is coming to terms with new ways of creating and communicating that are part and parcel of our social-digital environment. Sharing in such contexts isn't something that awaits the kind of perfection that literary authors often want to give to their refined writing. In fact, you have to think of the refining process as not being as effective if it is purely private or minimally shared with one or two confidantes.

The second framework is more Mormon, but related to the first. And that is that we Latter-day Saints are being called to communicate and to participate within the new media. We are being asked to be digital pioneers in a clear parallel to our actual pioneer forbears: we are going through deserts of unknowns, and there are clear threats to venturing outside of the civilized comfort zone of the past and into the digital wilds where there are wolves and paths to nowhere.

My Spiritual-Literary Life - More Prewriting

The students in my current Literature of the Latter-day Saints class have intrigued me with their first, modest personal essays ("My Mormon Literary Life"). I want to hear more.

We are looking at the Book of Mormon through a literary lens; reciprocally, I want my students to look at non-LDS or non-religious works through a spiritual lens. My current students are all English majors attending BYU (where one's spiritual life is respected and cultivated, hopefully in every class they take). So, I want them to brainstorm, to reflect on moments when they have felt themselves receiving inspiration and insight not while reading scripture, but while reading literature or when writing.

Assignment:

1. Read the prompts below about different aspects of one's literary life to be considered from a spiritual angle. 
2. Use one of those prompts, or something along the same vein, and write one short account of a spiritual-literary experience (that is not based on an explicitly LDS or religious book or occasion). As a model, see this post, but keep it much shorter (around 200 words).
3. Then, unrelated to that story, add to your post a list of various spiritual-literary experiences, giving just enough info so that others can get an idea of the experience without it being too cryptic, but without you having to tell the whole story. (See my model below)
4. Respond to others' posts and state what sounds like something you'd like to hear more about (either the main story or one of the seedling stories in their list).

Assignment: Action Plan for Sharing Content

Let's consider sharing

This semester my students have created short personal essays and also one-minute videos. We are connecting these (the videos refer to and link to the essays). Now it is time to consider audiences. Doing so may in fact help in deciding on final revisions either to the essay or to the video each student is doing.

For their blog post due on Friday, December 5, 2014, I would like my students to brainstorm and list specific people and outlets for sharing their content. If they do not feel comfortable naming those people in a blog post, they can refer to them by first name, or by initials, or indirectly without names ("a certain friend from high school," "a former teacher," etc.). Even if anonymous, I want my students to have in mind individuals and not just general outlets like Facebook.  I want them to develop an action plan for sharing content. The steps for this are:

1. Name Specific People
2. Propose Specific and Diverse Sharing
3. Cultivate Interest by Showing Interest

Assignment: Representing Mormon Experience in Fiction

What happens when one attempts to represent Mormon experience in a fictional form? This is the main question I wish my students to explore in a blog post due Tuesday, December 2nd. As a class we have been reading Douglas Thayer's new novel, Will Wonders Never Cease, and this gives us a way into that question. Thayer is an established author of Mormon fiction, and his latest novel can serve as a test case for my students in thinking this through.

A related question which they could also consider is the issue of candor or honesty. This is a main theme in many of Thayer's fictional works. How can one achieve an authentic representation of one's life or beliefs in literary form? Can fiction do this in ways nonfiction cannot, or vice versa?

In a blog post of about 300 words, my students are to make an observation or short argument about representing LDS experience, and to do so with reference to Doug Thayer's novel (and, if they wish, to other Mormon fiction). They may also consider the question of how fiction differs from representing (LDS) experience through the nonfictional genre of the personal essay.

Hopefully, my students will not just give an opinion in response to reading this novel, but they will engage this broader topic, and one another, in their posts.

Deciding How to Improve Our Videos

In class today we viewed 21 "first draft" one-minute videos that will be revised and posted as part of our final project (Take a look! They are embedded just below. Two others, not in the playlist, can be viewed via their blog posts for Viri and  for Hailey). We took notes on production and content issues. Then, we discussed how we might improve these. I reminded our class that our goal is to create videos that can be an end in themselves (assuming many people will view the videos but not go on to view the essays they speak about), and so we need to focus on ethos. What do I mean by this?

Assignment: Prototyping a video trailer

I'm asking my students to experiment with a hybrid format for their final project in my Literature of the Latter-day Saints class. They are all writing brief personal essays (drafts of which have appeared on this blog), which in some way or another engage the Book of Mormon (though consciously not in a preachy kind of way). Each student will also be creating one-minute videos whose purpose (as I explained to them in class on Wednesday 11/18/14) is to serve as a kind of trailer or teaser, hopefully leading viewers to view other such videos in the set, and ultimately to click on a link in any given video's description taking them to the complete essay the video mentions (which will be published on a separate blog).

Why the hybrid? We are trying to get the best of both the online world and the literary world of creative nonfiction. Many people are willing to view short videos, and those videos can be a conduit to take viewers to additional content, including those personal essays that are unlikely to be sought out on their own, or consumed much if they were posted by themselves. In short, we are making video trailers that introduce the people behind the essays, and that give viewers a chance to become readers of the more formal written content. 

What's the problem? We aren't sure what type of video will accomplish this goal. I made the following video as a prototype, which we viewed as a class yesterday. This allowed us to discuss some variations on the type of video we will try to make (discussed below in the assignment details). Note that this video is set to start at :32 where I begin talking about Savannah's essay. Rewind the video to the beginning to hear the 30-second intro I give to the Book of Mormon project as a whole.

Assignment: Contemporary LDS Poetry

My students of LDS literature will be sampling contemporary LDS poetry, reading from the recently published anthology, Fire in the Pasture: Twenty-first Century Mormon Poets, edited by Tyler Chadwick.

Now, poetry is a tough sell. It's one thing to experience poetry indirectly, such as via the lyrics of a song. But once you start reading poetry proper, there are problems, the first one being that most people hate poetry.

There, I said it. As a poet, it's hard for me to own that reality. But it is what it is. A small group of literati (typically elitist English major types) love to make and exchange poetry, while the rest of the world seems to get along fine without it.

Well, I'm going to do my best to enliven my students' experiences with LDS poetry. I think they will enjoy it. Here is the procedure for them:

Assignment: Complete first draft, personal essay

In doing prewriting for their personal essays, my students have taken four quite varied approaches: 1) Generating the raw data of lived experience; 2) Likening another's life to the Book of Mormon; 3) Composing Devotional Writing; and 4) trying to add character and humor to one's personal writing. Now comes the selection and narrowing part. It's time to write a complete draft.

While drawing on any of the material written so far (and certainly not trying to include all such material), they must compose an essay that follows these criteria:

• the essay must be short (about 800-1200 words, comparable in length to this personal essay) 
• the essay must be personal (in terms of both experiences related and in terms of tone)
• the essay must be literary (specifically, making use of scene-setting, characterization, and vivid imagery to draw readers in)
• the essay must include the Book of Mormon (in a personal and non-preachy, non-moralizing way)

The danger of "churchspeak":

Character and Humor in Personal Writing

As my students further learn how to compose life writing, I want them to practice writing that is character-centered (even for nonfiction), as well as writing that is lighter in tone. These can often work together. Two examples follow for creating character and humor in personal writing:

Assignment: Composing Devotional Writing

As my LDS Literature students explore different ways of going about writing in the personal essay genre, I'm having them experiment in various ways. For their next blog post, I want them to generate new material -- either connected to writing they've already done, or not. They will do this, however, in terms of devotional writing.

What is devotional writing and why does it matter?

"Writing in the Dawn" by Thomas Anshutz

The genre of devotional writing matters to those who see writing as mode of worship and of spiritual work. My students are Latter-day Saints, inheriting a strong faith tradition tied to personal expression and private writing. I want them to recognize that people have been writing from a personal and religious angle for centuries, and that this has been a respected area from both a spiritual and a literary point of view. Maybe they could draw courage, as well as practical models, from some of those who (from Catholic, Protestant, or Mormon traditions) have written this way.

I will be asking my students to try their hand at three approaches to devotional writing (as explained in detail below):

1. Narrating an inner struggle
2. Writing in a personal way about scripture
3. Telling about a wilderness quest

But first, a recap of my lecture today on devotional writing (Find the recording here):

Likening Another's Life to the Book of Mormon (in a literary way)

Latter-day Saints are urged to follow the counsel of the prophet Nephi from the Book of Mormon to apply scripture to themselves:

And I did read many things unto them which were written in the books of Moses; but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning. (1 Nephi 19:23)

Likening scripture to one's own life can be done in many ways. I am proposing to my students some new approaches to doing so--from a literary and a collaborative angle. What do I mean by this? Well, let me first explain what I do not mean.

It is customary and even reflexive for Latter-day Saints to interpret their lives in light of scripture. From a religious point of view, that's a very fine thing, and I'm all for it. However, from a literary point of view (as I made clear in my prior post), quickly interpreting things from a moral or religious point of view isn't always the most engaging approach. This may be well intended, and good in its own right, but there is something that can be attained -- a kind of "achieved authenticity" by delaying any drawing of religious conclusions.

Consequently, even though I am hopeful my students will find interesting ways to connect their lived experience with the Book of Mormon, I think they would do well if they depersonalize that approach (for the moment) by focusing on the work of peers. So, even though students have completed some prewriting toward a personal essay (which it is hoped will be related to the Book of Mormon), I don't want them yet to make such connections on their own work.

Moreover, I want my students not to apply the Book of Mormon in the most familiar, moralizing way. (Again, this is not to say anything against moral interpretations of scripture; this is a matter of learning to look for literary form before going on to drawing religious conclusions). To help students be able to do this, I will ask students to reexamine the Book of Mormon on a more general level.

I will explain both aspects of this new approach, but the short way of understanding this next assignment is that we are going to set about likening another's life to the Book of Mormon (considered from a literary angle).

Assignment: Generating the Raw Data of Lived Experience

Yesterday I guided my students through an exercise in generating material for a personal essay. I read off a series of prompts ("Think of your childhood home. Think of a moment of transition in your life. Think of an enemy, an injury, a moment of clarity"--that sort of thing.) Hopefully this started the wheels turning. I am now adding a follow up exercise to generate raw material out of which a great personal essay can arise.

This early stage of composing a personal essay should be messy. There ought to be many false starts: lists, half-sentences, abandoned paragraphs. There shouldn't be too much crossing out or erasing. That can come later.

Before giving directions for generating more writing, I want to review a couple of principles that frame this whole approach:

Revising General Conference Analysis

I'd like my students to return to the rhetorical analysis that each did of a General Conference speaker in order to formalize these analyses slightly: adding brief biographical background, standardizing format, and making some rhetorical adjustments.

Add Biographical Background

• Find and read biographical information about the speaker. Add to your analysis something from the speaker's general background or from his/her recent history that sheds light on the speaker's topics or rhetorical approach. You can find biographies of general authorities on LDS.org.  You might also, however, look up recent history of the speaker using their social media or via the LDS Church News archive. Don't make this a long addition to your analysis. Consider these examples:
  --"It's no surprise that Elder Packer would emphasize the scriptures, since he has been involved in developing the LDS editions of the scriptures and served for years in the church educational system teaching youth to study the scriptures..."
  --"Elder Oaks' sensitivity to other cultures may in part come from the fact that from 2002-04 he served as Area President in the Philippines."
  --"Because Elder Nelson remarried in 2006, it comes as no surprise that in 2008 he would speak so enthusiastically about marriage in General Conference."

Amateurs + Scripture + Social Media

Scripture has new life today because of popular social media and because amateurs are unabashedly putting their experiences with God's word "out there" in myriad different ways. How is this happening with the Book of Mormon? How might our own experiences with the Book of Mormon be creatively shared through the new media?

But first, let's think a moment about how scripture has always had a "multimedia" life. It begins as the spoken word, largely, as prophets and holy men speak to the people of their day. It has then been transformed into text, extending the reach of these messages well beyond their first audiences. But it lives in more than the written word. A grand tradition of adapting scripture to the various arts manifests the vitality of scripture. Indeed, one measure of the success of scripture is the degree to which new generations not only read it and discuss it, but use it to express their own faith, their own experience -- in written expression, and in other ways.

The written word continues strong, but complemented powerfully today by technology and media allowing for (and even encouraging) new forms for scripture and new modes of appreciating and sharing experiences with God's word. In a most surprising way, we find it possible to make something amateur that can have mass distribution.

Assignment: Rhetorical Analysis - General Conference

For Latter-day Saints, the semi-annual General Conference meetings are a rich feast -- not only of religion, but of rhetoric (I am using rhetoric in the neutral sense of the term). In short, there is a lot of engaging speaking and speakers!

I want my Mormon literature students to analyze one of the speeches presented during one of the various sessions of the conference. To this end, I have created a form they will use to make notes while listening to a speech of their choice, and this will be used as they prepare a blog post.

Here is the link to the speech analysis form. There, students will find instructions for how to do an analysis, and they can also consult Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric if they need to review any rhetorical terms.

What will they do with this?

Assignment: Book of Mormon Speaking

My LDS literature students keep returning to the Book of Mormon to analyze this work. Since we are studying Mormon oratory currently, we will use this as a lens for our next discussion of the Book of Mormon as literature.

Each of my students has been assigned one section of the Book of Mormon to study more closely, using Grant Hardy's Reader's Edition. For Friday, October 3, they are to review their assigned section, looking exclusively through the lens of rhetoric and spoken discourse.

In a short blog post (for which they should use the label "Book of Mormon Speaking"), they are to account for the spoken word as it occurs in their section of the Book of Mormon. They should do so in the following way:

1. List the incidents of the spoken word that occur, labeling these according to their genre (sermon, dialogue, prayer, etc.). For it to count as spoken word, there must be a primary audience from the speaker's time. In other words, "speaking" to the future through written form doesn't count.
2. If there is NOT any spoken word in the student's assigned section, he/she should go to a neighboring section and look there. After finding a given instance of public speaking or the spoken word, the student should characterize it and analyze it using the rhetorical concepts of audience, decorum, context (kairos), rhetorical appeals (logos, pathos, ethos), logical proof, arrangement, and stylistic use of language. This should go beyond prior efforts to bring rhetorical analysis to bear on the Book of Mormon and should, if possible, link to others' sections or analyses.

A third part of the assignment -- though not to be included in the Friday blog post -- will be to watch General Conference carefully for 1) how speakers use the Book of Mormon (as a topic, as support for another topic, manner of citation or manner of representing the stories or ideas in it); and 2) any quotations of or references to their assigned section of the Book of Mormon. They are to bring these notes to class on Monday to use in our discussion. 

As a help for this, students have the option of using this Google Document where they can help one another to keep track of any references to the Book of Mormon across the conference.

Assignment: Mormon Rhetorical Theory and Practice

Public speaking is a core component of Mormonism, and the accumulated sermons and talks given by church leaders and members since the 1820s comprise a formidable literary heritage. I want my students of Mormon literature to understand both the theory and the practice of Mormon speaking.

In a blog post of 300-400 words, they are to respond to Mormon rhetorical theory as set forth in the texts provided; and second, after studying a model rhetorical analysis, I want them to do a brief rhetorical analysis of a sermon by Jeffrey R. Holland listed below.

Mormon Rhetorical Theory
To understand LDS rhetorical theory--that is, Mormon views about communication, especially public speaking and teaching--I'd like my students first to read the following.

• 1 Cor 1:17-31, 2:1-4 - St. Paul's cautions about worldly words.
• George A. Smith "Preaching the Gospel" An address by Elder George A. Smith delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 12, 1855. (Focus on the highlighted paragraphs).
• Neal A. Maxwell, "Teaching by the Spirit - 'The Language of Inspiration.'" CES Symposium on the Old Testament, 15 November, 1991. (HTML version via LDS.org | PDF version via LDS Church Educational System)

Rhetorical Analysis

In addition to applying the principles for communication set forth above, one may also analyze Mormon speaking in terms of traditional rhetorical categories. First, students should read an example of such analysis (Burton); then, they are to briefly analyze the speech by Jeffrey R. Holland, applying to this speech the ideas from Mormon rhetorical theory, above, and/or the analytical strategies demonstrated by Burton. (The focus must be narrow since the blog post, in its entirety, should not exceed 400 words).

• Gideon Burton, "Twentieth Century Mormon Eloquence: A Stylistic Analysis of Two Sermons by Neal A. Maxwell"
• Jeffrey R. Holland, "Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments"

Assignment: Book of Mormon Literary and Rhetorical Analysis

Collectively, my students will read the entire Book of Mormon in the next two days, each focusing on about 22 pages of text. Rather than taking a strictly religious approach, we will do a literary and rhetorical analysis. 

Why literary and rhetorical analysis?
The purpose of performing this sort of analysis is that students will better appreciate the literary nature of their faith and its central scripture. They will improve their understanding of the scripture by recognizing genres, patterns, and the persuasive nature of Book of Mormon writings. And as students compare their findings, we will collectively identify larger themes and forms at work across the book as a whole.

How does one perform literary or rhetorical analysis?
In general we will be looking for the "how" to shed light on the "what": identifying form in the writing or speaking and then considering how this form affects the meaning or impact of that communication. First look at form, then interpret its influence. The pattern is simple. Start with concepts of form out of literary and rhetorical terminology, find them, and decide what the use of that form does.

Instructions
Follow this pattern to do an initial attempt at analyzing for form:

1. Review your lecture notes, class recordings, or this list of Literary and Rhetorical Terminology
2. Select one these kinds of literary or rhetorical form
3. Find examples of this form within part of your assigned segment and mark them.
4. Create a post of 200-300 words showing your annotations and drawing conclusions about that one aspect of form that you used. Use the headings and follow the pattern of the example, below.
5. Before posting, check other students' posts to see if they used the same literary or rhetorical concept. If they have, then in the final section ("Questions and Connections" --see example), mention their post(s) and link to it/them, commenting on your similar or different approaches.

Three example analyses follow:

Formal Analysis of Effective Mormon Speaking

In preparation for discussing Mormon Oratory, I want my students (who are Latter-day Saints) to reflect on the Mormon speaking that they have experienced -- as speakers and as listeners -- in various LDS settings, and to consider instances in which the form or literary quality of a talk or sermon was memorably effective.

I want them to recall an instance or two in which they remember the form of the speaking being part of the success of that speaking. For example, they may consider the use of storytelling as part of a talk, or the effective use of a metaphor, or other aspects of form such as an effective topical structure or arrangement, or effective word choice, pacing, or delivery.

In a brief blog post of about 300 words, they are to set up the context and briefly explain the setting and speaker, then describe the effective use of form or literary qualities they observed.

Due Tuesday, September 23, 10:00pm (for posts).

Some parameters and cautions:

• Discuss local speaking, rather than speaking in General Conferences of the church
• The speech analyzed need not be a sacrament meeting talk.
• Students can speak of their own experience as speakers
• Students should use special care not to comment solely upon the spiritual or emotional qualities of a speech, though such outcomes can be part of the effects. The focus should be on form.

Additional ideas for "My Mormon Literary Life"

I'd like to give some additional prompts to you as you consider how you might compose your miniature personal essay about your Mormon literary life (see the assignment post, here).

• Journal writing / reading
  How has this shaped your spiritual life? (Even when not writing about religious activities or explicitly about Mormon belief)? Has re-reading your own journal, or reading the journal of a relative, been a reflective and spiritual occasion for you? Have you felt a sense of identity with others who are not you but somehow like you?
• Letters
  As you've composed letters or email messages, or as you have received these, how has this been part of your religious or spiritual life? (Again, even if not directly associated with something like letters to/from missionaries, though that's okay)
• Poetry / Creative Writing
  Such writing need not have anything to do with your religious or spiritual life, but it can. Has this been the case with you -- either in reading poetry or composing it?
• Lyrics
  Do you write lyrics, memorize lyrics, share lyrics? Of course the texts written for hymns are a kind of lyrical poetry, but a lot of people are immersed in contemporary music (whether religious or LDS or not) and attach a lot of personal and emotional significance to such lyrics. Has this been the case with you?
• Reading history (personal, family, or church history; history in general; historical fiction).
  History can be pretty dry stuff and far away from your beliefs or spiritual feelings. But sometimes we connect powerfully with the past by way of a written history (or even historical fiction). Has this been the case for you?
• Plays
  In viewing, acting in, or even writing plays, have you felt connected to others (in the audience, in the cast, or even to the characters portrayed in the play)? Ever been involved in a church-sponsored dramatic activity?
• Social Media
  We don't think of this modern form of communication as literature, and much of it is superficial (or isn't even text-based). But if you've been involved in sharing your beliefs, even in very informal ways among your close online connections, this is a kind of literary experience with your religion. If you blog, have you blogged about your religion?