A LIterary Gospel: How Literature has to Fight the Good Fight Too

In my conversations (electronic and otherwise) with literary-minded folk concerning the merits of Mrs. Stephanie Meyers work, I have received a most interesting criticism:

I find it ironic to praise the restraint in these books when sex is still at the forefront.

This venerable respondent has, unwittingly, paid me a great honor. My praise is, of all things, "ironic." Such criticism makes compliments hardly necessary. The praise is ironic, even deliciously so, because Meyer has effectively taken the discourse of mainstream teeny-bopperism, turned it on its head, and made it popular all the while. Would I call it Shakespearean? Heavens no...at the end of the day, the book really is about a bunch sniveling adolescents who are trying to keep their fangs to themselves. But while not great and abiding literature, it poses the question of how Latter Day literature is to make inroad with the populace? JOseph Smith remarked that he saw it to be his duty to make that which was righteous also popular (this in the context of his presidential campaign). Will we have a rise in abstinence because of Twilight? I'm skeptical...but what are we left without Twilight? Sixteen, Cosmopolitan, and heaven knows what else. Never mind the other idiocies that predominate primetime television. Sexual relations are part of the discourse; ignoring them will only alienate readers into thinking the book is drawn straight from the black-and-white era. Never mind that Twilight only addresses in the most oblique of ways.
If you're going to co-opt a sentiment, this is the way to do it; make abstinence kind of hip. Frankly, Meyer's argument that abstinence only makes the romance all the more magical is nothing more radical than what Brent Barlow has taught in BYU marriage and family classes for years.

If sexuality is going to be a construct (as intelligentsia and mass society claim--though in different terms), let's play the political game, mold it to the way we want, and spread abstinence through every means possible. Otherwise, we risk slipping into "Fortress Zion" mentality, hunkering down and "taking care of our own" (the backhanded compliment so many missionaries hear), and letting the collective assumptions and soul of morality go to waste (and the terrorists win...just kidding). If we don't mind sexuality in literature, why not focus on real sexuality, the sexuality that was instilled in us for divine purposes.

Do we realize that we are losing the culture war? Folks might read the Bible, but few believe it. The classroom is hardly effective; too many bureaucratic forces put up road blocks. Better to beat the cultural elite at their own game, produce our own talented writers who can promote the gospel in the marketplace of ideas...and as Meyer has done, win a few million fans doing it.

Can a Latter Day Saint write a book that does not address such issues in some substantive way these days? Heaven help us if they can't. We don't do much lobbying in Congress (save for an occasional gay marriage crusade or some alcohol issues), and the courts are hardly in our favor. Tapping into the power of the mind that really makes up society is the best venue that remains, and for all of its provinciality, Meyer has done a commendable job in recapturing the romance of abstinence.