Presented to: Patricia Karamesines
For: "The Rhetoric of Stealing God"
We are all familiar with the kinds of religious discourse used to comfort those who are enduring great trials. The grieving wife is told that her husband died because God had a greater purpose for him in Heaven. Parents of severely autistic children hear that their disability means they were too perfect to require testing in the mortal world. Such language is meant to be a comfort, but in her essay �The Rhetoric of Stealing God� Patricia Karamesines identifies it instead as well-meaning but ultimately selfish discourse which serves more to protect the speaker than to comfort the hearer. Her essay, which is centered on her experiences as mother to a daughter born with severe brain injuries, deals primarily with cultural criticism, but its linguistic focus makes it hard not to see the implications for faith-centered literature. �Mortal crises,� she writes, �are in truth powerful situations,� and her caution against exploiting such crises to palliate our own or others� fears or spiritual doubts extends to every kind of language we use, written or spoken. Ultimately, Karamesines�s hope is for the kind of rhetoric that builds rather than destroys, as she writes in conclusion: �The language of belief can do better than have the appearance of meaning or doing good; that is, it must do better than merely seem to speak with the tongues of angels.� The Association for Mormon Letters is pleased to award Patricia Karamesines with its 2006 Award for Criticism.