LDS Fiction - Controversies About LDS Fiction

Controversies About LDS Fiction

In 2002 The Last Promise, a novel by LDS fiction writer Richard Paul Evans and published by Dutton, was rejected by an LDS Church-owned book retailer, Deseret Book. The retailer explained that a scene of extramarital affection in the book implied adultery. Evans denied this. Lampooned by some non-Mormons who supposed that the rejection reflected excessive church puritanism, defenders argue that it shows how seriously LDS book retailers take their self-imposed mission to sell "uplifting" narratives.

This brings up more lingering criticisms of LDS fiction: that real life cannot realistically be portrayed without straying into gritty details that often aren't uplifting or necessarily flattering to the LDS Church. Some critics doubt that LDS fiction can adequately tackle prominent modern issues like drug abuse, depression, sexual abuse, criticism of Mormonism, or human failings in local LDS Church leaders. Despite these concerns, some efforts have been made to bring more stark human elements to the LDS niche market, such as LDS psychologist Heath Sommer's dark contemporary mystery The Manufactured Identity.

Some Latter-day Saints criticize LDS fiction for an entirely different reason: that it distracts from more serious religious study. For example, some have decried The Work and the Glory series, which features many prominent figures in LDS history, as displacing the primary texts of these historical figures. Proponents of LDS fiction deny this and instead argue that expressions of the Mormon culture strengthen Latter-day Saint ties to the church and therefore promote active faith.