Nephi Anderson’s Added Upon lost its first round August Insanity match-up against Louisa Perkins’ Dispirited, but we’re not going to let that get in the way of a spirited discussion about two of his later work, Piney Ridge Cottage and The Story of Chester Lawrence. As I mentioned in my post last month, these novels are celebrating their 101st and 100th birthdays this year and deserve a special retrospective discussion on how they’ve weathered the last century.
This discussion, as many of you know, has already begun with Christine Plouvier, Theric Jepson, and Sarah Reed debating the merits of Anderson’s apparent use of the deus ex machina device. I’d like this conversation to continue, of course, but I’d also like to hear what people think about other aspects of the novels.
Here are some possible discussion points:
- Initial responses to the novels
- Anderson’s representations of Mormon men and women. (I think it’s interesting, for example, that PRC focuses on a young Mormon woman and SCL focuses on a young Mormon man. How do these novels define Mormon gender roles a century ago? How do they affirm or overturn our assumptions about early-20th century Mormon attitudes about gender? How do they compare to how gender is depicted in Mormon novels or short stories or films today?)
- The way Anderson contrasts the city and the country, America and Europe.
- Anderson, sentimentality, and nostalgia.
- Anderson’s biting satire of Salt Lake City Mormons in PRC. (Is it satire?)
- The racy(?) backstories involving polygamy and illicit sex.
- The fun, quasi-incestuous love stories of both novels. (Did anyone else get kind of creeped out by the love story in The Story of Chester Lawrence?)
- The purpose of The Story of Chester Lawrence. (SCL is Anderson’s only sequel. Why did he need to write it? Does it adequately tie up the loose ends of PRC? Why focus on Chester?)
- Glenn vs. Chester: How Mormon do you need to be to marry a Mormon heroine?
- Chester Lawrence as a Modern Mormon Man of 1913.
- Julia Elston as a Modern Mormon Woman of 1912.
- The Story of Chester Lawrence as a response to the Titanic tragedy. (How do you respond to the ending of SCL? How does it compare/differ/improve upon Anderson’s handling of tragedy in Added Upon?)
- The gospel messages of both novels: what are they?
- The relevance of these novels today. (Should they be canonical the way Added Upon is canonical?)
Please don’t feel limited to these points of discussion–they simply reflect my experience with these novels. Feel free to share any thought you have.