2000
AML Award:
Criticism
Presented to:
Benson Parkinson
For:
The first award established by the Association for Mormon Letters in
1978 was in the category of criticism, and no activity can be
considered more central to the mission and vision of this body than
enabling meaningful conversations. As Wayne Booth has said, Mormonism
"will never attain a great artistic culture until we have achieved a
great critical culture." That critical culture is indeed developing,
and it has grown exponentially in recent years due to the pioneering
vision and indefatigable efforts of Benson Parkinson.
Back in 1995, before e-mail became so widely used, Benson foresaw the
utility of establishing an online conversation about Mormon letters
and in May of that year inaugurated AML-List. Since that time,
hundreds and hundreds of scholars, students, church members, and the
casually interested from all over the world have become part of an
online community dedicated to analyzing the aesthetic, cultural,
pragmatic, and spiritual aspects of Mormon-related literature. The
membership of the Association for Mormon Letters has swelled as a
direct consequence of AML-List, and our meetings now reflect the
influx of many younger writers and critics and the broader variety of
literary genres represented by AML-List subscribers. For all but two
or three days of the year when our live events take the foreground,
AML-List is the Association for Mormon Letters. It has become a
clearinghouse for news about LDS literature, a resource for budding
writers, a forum for literary experts and lay readers, and a vehicle
for announcing and promoting readings, book signings, conferences, and
online resources of interest to AML members.
The guiding force behind the list has been Benson Parkinson. As
moderator of the list until last year, Benson not only solved many
technical problems, especially before e-mail became more established,
but he also read every post to the list-literally thousands-to screen
out both digressions and diatribes, continually reminding the
participants of the goals and texts central to this body. AML-List
could have had a shorter and less meaningful life if it had not been
overseen by a well-read, good-natured, and articulate critic who knew
how to tame this novel medium and turn it to account.
Benson established regular columns, including outlets for news,
bibliographies, new creative writing, and especially reviews. To date,
some 400 reviews have appeared on AML-List, most of which were made
possible through the mediation and editing of Benson Parkinson. The
AML's literary quarterly, Irreantum, was born out of the vision and
the community of personnel Benson Parkinson has fashioned over the
last five years. As Robert Hogge adumbrated in his recent AML
presidential address, the Association for Mormon Letters has been
reborn electronically, and Benson Parkinson has been the midwife to
that great renewal.