Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Home Literature Aspects in Added Upon


When it comes to Home Literature, Orson Whitney talked about how literature was for learning, and some of what fell under the “best books” also included history, poetry, philosophy, etc. Literature must also be original and diverse, and a person should also feel what they write.

Something that Nephi Anderson did in Added Upon was include substantial amounts of poetry (such as Wordsworth). If, for some reason, you stumbled upon the book as a non-member, you would be able to see a familiar names within the poetry. The book was published in 1898, so it was after the early saints had struggled with a lot of moving from place to place, and were in Utah (however, they were still moving around after that), so that could have influenced Anderson’s writing and “feeling of what he wrote.” He also began the book with the story of the premortal existence, a story, as members of The Church, we are familiar with. People of other Christian faiths would also be able to recognize the event taking place, as the widely-known characters are either presented by name (ex. Lucifer), or easy to pick up on (ex. Father). He kept with the basic storyline, but included characters of his own to make the story more original.

4 comments:

  1. I felt like additionally to what you are saying, the "pre mortal' part of the story was very much tailored to a specific LDS audience and deeply rooted in LDS Theology. For example, you mention "Father" would be common, but "Father" in the sense that Nephi is using it is quite a bit different, especially when he talks about Lucifer and Elder Brother (christ) being siblings. This is a doctrine that most christian churches shy away from, even combat and use in anti-mormon literature.

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  2. Yeah! I really like this observation. I think quoting poets and having actual quotes from the Bible with references does a lot to help an outsider perspective, and it also does what Whitney said that helps Mormonism be not just truth, but a gospel of intelligence and culture. Quoting poetry really ties the story into intelligence and culture.

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  3. I thought the simple story line was key in making it easy to read and easy to take a lot away from.

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  4. I don't know if I would agree that him quoting other poets added to its literary significance, because it me it felt a little force.

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