Brian Evenson

Last updated
Brian Evenson
Brian evanson 1530068.jpg
Brian Evenson
Born (1966-08-12) August 12, 1966 (age 57)
Ames, Iowa, U.S.
Pen nameB. K. Evenson
OccupationNovelist, professor
NationalityAmerican
Education Brigham Young University (BA)
University of Washington (MA, PhD)
Genre Literary fiction, Popular fiction
Notable works Father of Lies
Last Days
Notable awards Guggenheim Fellowship, 2017

Brian Evenson (born August 12, 1966) is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction, some of the latter being published under B. K. Evenson. [1] His fiction is often described as literary minimalism, but also draws inspiration from horror, weird fiction, detective fiction, science fiction and continental philosophy. Evenson makes frequent use of dark humor and often features characters struggling with the limits and consequences of knowledge. He has also written non-fiction, and translated several books by French-language writers into English.

Contents

Since 2016 he has taught in the School of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts, both in the Creative Writing MFA program and in the Aesthetics and Politics MA Program.

Biography

Brian Evenson was born August 12, 1966, in Ames, Iowa. [2] His father, William Evenson, was a longtime professor of physics at Brigham Young University (BYU) and later an administrator at the same school. [3] As a young man, Brian Evenson served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in France and Switzerland. [1]

He received degrees from BYU (BA) and the University of Washington (MA and PhD). After leaving a teaching position at BYU, he held positions at Oklahoma State University, Syracuse University, and the University of Denver before being hired at Brown University. He was Professor of Literary Arts at Brown from 2003 to 2015. [4]

BYU controversy

While teaching at BYU, Evenson was involved in a controversy surrounding his first book Altmann's Tongue (1994). [5] While a new professor of creative writing at Brigham Young University (BYU), Brian Evenson published Altmann's Tongue, which included scenes of violence such as characters who are forced to eat mutilated tongues and who attempt to cut off their own limbs. [6] Evenson stated that his book contract was a "significant factor" in his being hired, and he included some stories from the collection in his application. [3] A graduate student complained anonymously to church leaders that the work promoted the "enjoyment" of violence, while Evenson argued that his fiction accentuated violence to show its horror and "thus allow it to be condemned." [6] A senior faculty member planned to tell church authorities that Evenson knew that future, similar publications would "bring repercussions," even though Evenson had not said this. [3] Evenson resigned from BYU in 1995, and left the church formally in 2000. [6] His case, along with others, was included in a report by the American Association of University Professors, which argued that academic freedom was stifled at BYU. [3]

Writing style and influences

Evenson's Ph.D is in both literature and critical theory, and his work is subtly philosophical, particularly influenced by continental philosophy. Many of Evenson's recurrent themes of virtuality and "sensation" being traceable to Deleuze & Guattari's Capitalism and Schizophrenia . Altmann's Tongue opened with an epigraph by Julia Kristeva; Dark Property featured quotes in untranslated German from Martin Heidegger; and several of Evenson's books have epigraphs from philosopher Alphonso Lingis. However, Evenson has stated that he intends any philosophical elements to be fully integrated into his fiction rather than promoting any particular viewpoint, and has argued that reading philosophical works directly is more rewarding than reading philosophy that is veiled as fiction. [7]

Some of Evenson's work explores his Mormon heritage, often from a critical perspective or examining controversial subject matter. For example, the main character of The Open Curtain (2006) becomes preoccupied with a murder committed in the early 1900s by William Hooper Young, a grandson of 19th-century Mormon leader Brigham Young, while Immobility (2012) takes place in a post-apocalyptic Utah and features some esoteric elements of LDS theology. Nonetheless, Evenson has asserted that he maintains a measure of respect for devout believers in the LDS Church and does not intend to casually offend or provoke them. [8]

Evenson's work has been compared to that of J. G. Ballard, Jorge Luis Borges, Paul Bowles, Franz Kafka, William S. Burroughs, Cormac McCarthy, Robert Coover and Edgar Allan Poe (among others). [9] Evenson has expressed admiration for horror novelist Peter Straub, [8] and for crime fiction in the hardboiled genre, both past masters like Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson, [10] and contemporary practitioners like Andrew Vachss. [11]

Awards

Bibliography

Works of fiction

Works of non-fiction

Works of translation

Recordings

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Word of Wisdom (Latter Day Saints)</span> Health code of the Latter Day Saint movement

The "Word of Wisdom" is the common name of an 1833 section of the Doctrine and Covenants, a book considered by many churches within the Latter Day Saint movement to be a sacred text. The section defines beliefs regarding certain drugs, nutritious ingredients in general, and the counsel to eat meat sparingly; it also offers promises to those who follow the guidance of the Word of Wisdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible</span> Biblical revision by Joseph Smith

The Joseph Smith Translation (JST), also called the Inspired Version of the Holy Scriptures (IV), is a revision of the Bible by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, who said that the JST/IV was intended to restore what he described as "many important points touching the salvation of men, [that] had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled". Smith was killed before he deemed it complete, though most of his work on it was performed about a decade beforehand. The work is the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) with some significant additions and revisions. It is considered a sacred text and is part of the canon of Community of Christ (CoC), formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and other Latter Day Saint churches. Selections from the Joseph Smith Translation are also included in the footnotes and the appendix of the Latter-day Saint edition of the LDS-published King James Version of the Bible. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' edition of the Bible includes selections from the JST in its footnotes and appendix. It has officially canonized only certain excerpts that appear in the Pearl of Great Price. These excerpts are the Book of Moses and Smith's revision of part of the Gospel of Matthew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard J. Arrington</span> American Mormon historian

Leonard James Arrington was an American author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field. Since 1842, he was the first non-general authority Church Historian for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1972 to 1982, and was director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History from 1982 until 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Nibley</span> Latter-day Saint religious scholar

Hugh Winder Nibley was an American scholar and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) for nearly 50 years. He was a prolific author, and wrote apologetic works supporting the archaeological, linguistic, and historical claims of Joseph Smith. He was a member of the LDS Church, and wrote and lectured on LDS scripture and doctrinal topics, publishing many articles in the LDS Church magazines.

Mormon fiction is generally fiction by or about members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are also referred to as Latter-day Saints or Mormons. Its history is commonly divided into four sections as first organized by Eugene England: foundations, home literature, the "lost" generation, and faithful realism. During the first fifty years of the church's existence, 1830–1880, fiction was not popular, though Parley P. Pratt wrote a fictional Dialogue between Joseph Smith and the Devil. With the emergence of the novel and short stories as popular reading material, Orson F. Whitney called on fellow members to write inspirational stories. During this "home literature" movement, church-published magazines published many didactic stories and Nephi Anderson wrote the novel Added Upon. The generation of writers after the home literature movement produced fiction that was recognized nationally but was seen as rebelling against home literature's outward moralization. Vardis Fisher's Children of God and Maurine Whipple's The Giant Joshua were prominent novels from this time period. In the 1970s and 1980s, authors started writing realistic fiction as faithful members of the LDS Church. Acclaimed examples include Levi S. Peterson's The Backslider and Linda Sillitoe's Sideways to the Sun. Home literature experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s when church-owned Deseret Book started to publish more fiction, including Gerald Lund's historical fiction series The Work and the Glory and Jack Weyland's novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mormon cinema</span> Films with themes surrounding Mormonism

Mormon cinema usually refers to films with themes relevant to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The term has also been used to refer to films that do not necessarily reflect Mormon themes but have been made by Mormon filmmakers. Films within the realm of Mormon cinema may be distinguished from institutional films produced by the LDS Church, such as Legacy and Testaments, which are made for instructional or proselyting purposes and are non-commercial. Mormon cinema is produced mainly for the purposes of entertainment and potential financial success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orson Scott Card</span> American science fiction novelist (born 1951)

Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert J. Matthews</span>

Robert James Matthews was a Latter-day Saint religious educator and scholar, teaching in the departments of Ancient Scripture and Religious Education at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.

Douglas H. Thayer was a prominent author in the "faithful realism" movement of Mormon fiction. He has been called the "Mormon Hemingway" for his straightforward style and powerful prose. Eugene England called him the "father of contemporary Mormon fiction."

Brigham Young University Press was the university press of Brigham Young University (BYU).

Benson Young Parkinson is a Latter-day Saint novelist, literary critic, and biographer. He has published two novels concerning fictional LDS missionaries, entitled The MTC: Set Apart and Into the Field, as well as a biography of S. Dilworth Young, an LDS general authority. In the mid-1990s he became involved in the Association for Mormon Letters (AML), primarily by creating an email forum for the discussion of LDS literature called AML-List, for which he was awarded the 2000 AML Award for Criticism. Parkinson then co-founded the literary journal Irreantum and served as co-editor for a year. His criticism of LDS literature has been featured in multiple publications. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University.

Christopher Everett Crowe is an American professor of English and English education at Brigham Young University (BYU) specializing in young adult literature. In addition to his academic work, Crowe also writes books for the young-adult market, including Mississippi Trial, 1955.

Steven Craig Harper is a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. He was a historian for the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From 2019, he is the Editor-in-Chief of BYU Studies Quarterly.

The Religious Studies Center (RSC) at Brigham Young University (BYU) sponsors and publishes scholarship on the culture, history, scripture, and doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Keith W. Perkins was a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU). He has written widely on the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the period when it was headquartered at Kirtland, Ohio. Perkins has written articles on figures in the recording of the history of the LDS Church, such as Andrew Jenson, whose work as a historian was the subject of Perkins' masters' thesis. His thesis was cited in Charles T. Morrissey's article "We Call it Oral History", which moved the accepted time of the origin of the term back from the late-1940s to the mid-1860s.

Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement associated with the Book of Mormon, though not all churches and members of the Latter Day Saint movement identify with the terms Mormon or Mormonism. Denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by far the largest, as well as the Community of Christ (CoC) and other smaller groups, include some categorized under the umbrella term Mormon fundamentalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Islanders and Mormonism</span>

Pacific Islanders have a particular place in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its first non-English-speaking mission was in the region in 1844, less than twenty years after the church's founding, and there are currently six temples among the Pacific Island regions of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. In 2015 the Latter-day Saint population in the area was increasing in percentage and absolute numbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</span> Overview of and topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

<i>Nothing Very Important and Other Stories</i> Stories about Mormon missionaries

Nothing Very Important and Other Stories is a collection of interconnected short stories written by Béla Petsco and self-published in 1979 with illustrations by his friend Kathryn Clark-Spencer. The stories are about missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints working in Southern California. Signature Books reprinted the book in 1984 under their Orion imprint. Petsco wrote the stories for his master's thesis at Brigham Young University (BYU). The book won the 1979 Association for Mormon Letters award for short fiction. The stories were adapted for theater and performed in 1983, but without BYU's endorsement.

Béla Petsco was an American writer who was the author of Nothing Very Important and Other Stories, a collection of connected stories about missionary work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was born to Hungarian immigrants and grew up in Queens in New York City. He converted to the LDS Church after watching the film Brigham Young. He served an LDS mission in the California South mission.

References

  1. 1 2 Brian Evenson: Strange (But Never Gratuitous)
  2. ↑ "Brian Evenson". PEN American Center . Archived from the original on 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Pratt, Linda Ray; Heywood, C. William. "Academic Freedom and Tenure: Brigham Young University" (PDF). AAUP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2017.
  4. ↑ "Literary Arts | Brown University". 22 August 2023.
  5. ↑ "BYU Professor Under Fire for Violent Book Archived 2013-06-05 at the Wayback Machine ", Sunstone Magazine, August 1995
  6. 1 2 3 Young, Adrian Van (10 February 2016). "The Dark Fiction of an Ex-Mormon Writer". The New Yorker. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  7. ↑ Yoss, K. Matthew. (2005 An Interview With Brian Evenson"
  8. 1 2 See Evenson's afterward to The Open Curtain
  9. ↑ "Time Out Chicago | Chicago Events, Activities & Things to do".
  10. ↑ See Evenson's afterward to Last Days
  11. ↑ Evenson, Brian. ""When Religion Encourages Abuse: Writing Father of Lies." First published in The Event, 08 October 1998, p. 5.
  12. ↑ "Nominees: The EdgarŽ Awards". Archived from the original on 2010-03-12. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  13. ↑ "The Shirley Jackson Awards Website". Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  14. ↑ See http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/awards/readinglist/index.cfm
  15. ↑ "2009 World Fantasy Awards Nominees". 24 August 2010.
  16. ↑ "The Shirley Jackson Awards » 2018 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees".
  17. ↑ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Brian Evenson".
  18. ↑ "Home". shirleyjacksonawards.org.
  19. ↑ http://www.worldfantasy.org/world-fantasy-awards%e2%84%a0-2020/
  20. 1 2 3 "Brian Evenson" in Cellarius Stories, Volume 1. Cellarius, Ed., New York: 2018, ISBN   978-1-949688-02-3.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.