The Scholar of Moab

The Scholar of Moab
Book Cover
AuthorSteven L. Peck
LanguageEnglish
GenreBlack comedy, Fiction, Mormon fiction, Satire
PublishedDecember 2011 (Torrey House Press)[1]
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages302 [1]
ISBN978-1-937226-02-2 [1]
Website[1]

The Scholar of Moab is a 2011 American novel written by Steven L. Peck and published by Torrey House Press. Set in Moab, Utah, it follows the life of Hyrum Thayne, a poorly educated aspiring scientist, and his role in his increasingly superstitious local community. Thayne's unreliable first-person narrative relays the story. Considered an important work of Mormon fiction, it explores themes of belief, faith, science, and mysticism.

The Scholar of Moab was recognized with a "best novel" award from the Association for Mormon Letters and was recommended as an essential reading in By Common Consent.

Overview

The plot of The Scholar of Moab centers on Hyrum LeRoy Thayne, a high-school dropout from Moab. Considered an unreliable narrator,[2] Thayne works for the United States Geological Survey and longs be a scientist and a scholar, but displays little understanding of what scientific inquiry entails. Thayne is poorly educated, and his writing features frequent misspellings.[3]

The book is told from four points of view: Thayne, poet and mistress Dora Daphne Tanner, conjoined twins William and Edward Babcock, and a frame narrator known as the "Redactor."[4][2] Some sections have characteristics of mysticism and magic realism.[2]

Over time, Thayne becomes morally corrupt and begins to produce fictional stories which are believed by the superstitious Moab community. He comes to believe that his own flaws are preventing him from becoming the scholar that he wants to be.[3] Critics have characterized Thayne as an antihero.[3]

Critical reception

The Scholar of Moab is cited as an example of Mormon literature.[5] It was included in By Common Consent's essential readings in Mormonism[6] and received the 2011 AML Award for best novel from the Association for Mormon Letters.[4] Rosalynde Welch, writing for Dialogue, called the novel "a wonderfully strange, deeply philosophical narrative that interrogates the nature of the first person" while drawing on Mormon traditions of diaries and regionalism.[7] In 2017 also for Dialogue, Shane R. Peterson stated that with The Scholar of Moab and A Short Stay in Hell, Peck "moved the [Mormon Literature] genre into the twenty-first century because of his willingness to push boundaries, embrace the unorthodox, and explore difficult themes."[8] It was a finalist for the Montaigne Medal.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "The Scholar of Moab". torrey-house-press. Retrieved 2023-09-16.
  2. ^ a b c Miner, Shelah M; Clark, David M; Harrell, Jack; Peck, Steven L (2012). "The Death of a Disco Dancer; A Sense of Order and Other Stories; The Scholar of Moab". BYU Studies Quarterly. 51 (3): 12.
  3. ^ a b c Hales, Scott (2015). "Steven L. Peck, The Scholar of Moab and A Short Stay in Hell". Mormon Studies Review. 2 (1): 23.
  4. ^ a b "AML Awards 2011". Dawning of a Brighter Day. Association for Mormon Letters. Retrieved 2023-09-16.
  5. ^ Miner, Shelah (7 July 2016). "Teaching Mormon Literature". associationmormonletters.org. Association for Mormon Letters. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  6. ^ Park, Benjamin (9 May 2013). ""What Books Should I Read?": Essential Readings in Mormonism for Every Member". By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  7. ^ Welch, Rosalynde (2012). "Faith and Doubt in the First-Person Singular" (PDF). Dialogue. 45 (4): 158. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Review: On Apple Seeds, Rats, and the State of Mormon Literature Steven L. Peck. Gilda Trillim: Shepherdess of Rats". Dialogue Journal. Retrieved 2023-09-16.