Faithful transgressions in the American West: six twentieth-century Mormon women's autobiographical acts
Date
2004
Authors
Bush, Laura L., author
Utah State University Press, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
The central issue Bush finds in these works is how their authors have dealt with the authority of Mormon Church leaders. As she puts it in her preface, "I use the phrase 'faithful transgression' to describe moments in the texts when each writer, explicitly or implicitly, commits herself in writing to trust her own ideas and authority over official religious authority while also conceiving of and depicting herself to be a 'faithful' member of the Church." Bush recognizes her book as her own act of faithful transgression. Writing it involved wrestling, she states, "with my own deeply ingrained religious beliefs and my equally compelling education in feminist theories that mean to liberate and empower women." Faithful Transgressions examines a remarkable group of authors and their highly readable and entertaining books. In producing the first significant book-length study of Mormon women's autobiographical writing, Bush rides a wave of memoir publishing and academic interest in autobiography and other life narratives. As she elucidates these works in relation to the religious tradition that played a major role in shaping them, she not only positions them in relation to feminist theory and current work on women's life writings but ties them to the long literary tradition of spiritual autobiography.
Description
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Rights Access
Access is limited to the Adams State University, Colorado State University, Colorado State University Pueblo, Community College of Denver, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State University Denver, Regis University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, University of Denver, University of Northern Colorado, University of Wyoming, Utah State University and Western Colorado University communities only.
Subject
American prose literature -- Mormon authors -- History and criticism
American prose literature -- Women authors -- History and criticism
American prose literature -- West (U.S.) -- History and criticism
Women authors, American -- Biography -- History and criticism
Women authors, American -- Homes and haunts -- West (U.S.)
Women pioneers -- Biography -- History and criticism
Mormon women -- Biography -- History and criticism
Women -- West (U.S.) -- Intellectual life
Women and literature -- West (U.S.)
Autobiography -- Mormon authors