Mormon Literature Database

Notice: The Mormon Literature & Creative Arts database has moved to mormonarts.lib.byu.edu.

History \| View all Works in this Category	338 total items.
Description This database excludes literature written by or about Mormons that is of a strictly historical character. Generally, if a critic has made a case for an artistic or literary dimension to an historical work, then such a work will be included (with a link to the criticism that establishes the literary character of the historical work). This is especially true of biography and autobiography.
Associated Genres Biography / Autobiography, Diary / Journal, Historical Fiction, Sermon,
Genre History Creating a literary style may often be a secondary concern for historians, but from the 19th century certain Mormon historians, such as B.H. Roberts and James E. Talmage, wrote their works with such a compelling style that their work is of enduring value beyond just the subjects they discuss. More recent histories typify contemporary scholarly or academic discourse and are less impressive than some 19th century histories. Mormon historians often substantiate their claims by making reference to primary texts that themselves can have an important literary character: journals, diaries, early periodicals, hymns, sermons, etc. As historiography turns more and more to the forms and conditions of material and intellectual culture, their method takes them into greater proximity to strictly literary studies. The historians of 21st century Mormonism, for example, will need to account for the rise of Mormon arts and letters. Another proximity between Mormon history and literature has come in the late twentieth century with the rise of historical fiction. Writers such as Gerald Lund, Dean Hughes, Margaret Young, or Darius Gray have carefully researched and footnoted their imaginative recreations of Mormon history (See Historical Fiction).