Item Detail
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12519
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1
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0
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English
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The Influence of Mormonism on American Literature
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Miami, Florida
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University of Miami (Florida)
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401
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Ph.D. diss.
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"Of the American religious sects which have engendered imaginative literature, little has been said concerning the influence exerted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church. The previous studies of Mormon literature have concentrated on contrasting the portrayals of Mormons in pro-Mormon and anti-Mormons writings. This dissertation proposes to identify the literature written about the Mormons and add to the pro-Mormon and anti-Mormon categories a third group, the Mormon-feature work by which term is meant a novel, poem, or play which does not focus on Mormonism but contains a Mormon allusion for a particular purpose. This study will evaluate the fiction, poetry, and drama associated with the Mormon experience and describe the effect it has had upon American literature. It will consider the development of the religious concepts fostered by the Latter-day Saints and relate them to their social background. The bibliography cites representative poetry and drama and attempts to list all the fiction related to Mormonism from the inception of the movement to the present. Many clergymen of the American nineteenth century were seeking new modes of religious expression. They examined each other's principles, borrowed ideas, or conceived new methods. New faiths were developed by this eclectic approach, but despite differences among the sects thus formed, principles were shared in common which developed into an identifiable American religious creed. After identifying these principles and inferring this creed, the dissertation will attempt to show that the religious concepts embodied in Mormonism are an amalgamation of the religious and national principles prevalent in America at the time of the birth of the Mormon Church. Because his history is so entwined with the nineteenth century frontier, the Mormon pioneer is a common subject in Western fiction. An extensive literature written by Mormons and non-Mormons concerning the Mormons experience has developed. Such a body of writing deserves assessment. This dissertation proposes to fill this need and to indicate the value of the Mormon movement to American literature. Indexing (document details)" [Author's abstract]