Item Detail
-
3435
-
2
-
7
-
English
-
The Lore of Polygamy : Twentieth-Century Perceptions of Nineteenth-Century Plural Marriage
-
Weber Studies
-
Winter 1996
-
13
-
152-61
-
"Because people tell stories about those things that interest them most or are most important to them, and because these stories change constantly to reflect and reinforce shifting attitudes and to meet current needs, one of the best ways to better understand the hearts and minds of a people at any particular moment is to look at their folklore. Until more polygamy stories have been collected and a larger data base has been created, the conclusions reached here must remain tentative. While different Mormons, as noted, hold different views on the subject, from the stories collected thus far it would seem that these contemporary narrators are most concerned with what they perceive to have been the tensions, especially the sexual tensions, growing out of polygamy; that they view plural marriage in something less than a happy light; and that the characters in the stories they most admire are not just those who endure—and they certainly do admire them—but also those who resist or avoid polygamy altogether. The world constituted by the narratives can best be explained not by turning to the historical reality of polygamy but by looking instead at contemporary views of celestial marriage and by examining contemporary beliefs about proper sex roles." [Author]
-
LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904
Mormonism in Transition : A History of the Latter-day Saints, 1890-1930
Mormon Polygamous Families : Life in the Principle
Mormon Polygamy : A History
Religion and Sexuality : The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community
Saints of Sage and Saddle : Folklore among the Mormons
Solemn Covenant : The Mormon Polygamous Passage