Elsewhere: Mormonism and Ender's Game

Over at Times & Seasons, Kaimi Wenger has posted an interesting discussion of "Ender's Game as Mormon literature."

I won't repeat what I've already said over there. But I thought I'd take the opportunity to point to a few resources for those interested in Orson Scott Card's work and Ender's Game in particular.

1. The idea of Ender as a Christ figure comes up in the T&S discussion. Pre-eminent Card scholar Michael Collings has made his essay Imago Christi: Christ-Figures in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card available online. It's also found as a book chapter in his critical study of the works of Orson Scott Card: In the Image of God: Theme, Characterization, and Landscape in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card. Collings claims: "Ender is a particularly LDS Christ-figure, however. The choices he must make are real choices; his sufferings, real sufferings." Other essays by Collings on Orson Scott Card -- including some that deal specifically with Mormon elements in his work -- can be found at Starshine and Shadows.

2. One of the most interesting works of Orson Scott Card criticism that takes an explicitly Mormon stance is Eugene England's Pastwatch: The Redemption of Orson Scott Card with it's great opening line: "Orson Scott Card is a radical Mormon." In fact, that essay is a great counter balance to...

3. ...the popular perception among non-LDS who see OSC as a one-dimensional, homophobic, conservative ideologue. In order to understand that perception, you need to read the Salon.com interview -- My favorite author, my worst interview: I worshipped militaristic Mormon science-fiction writer Orson Scott Card -- until we met. Whatever your political beliefs or biases for/against Salon.com, it's a fascinating case study in how non-LDS often just don't get us (and don't seem to try too hard to do so).

Of course, OSC has certainly fanned the flames a bit with his World Watch column. Although he is (was?) a socially conservative democrat and somewhat of an anti-capitalist, the column doesn't vary much from the standard Republican party/social conservative line. And his rhetoric gets a little sloppy and heated. Understandable, perhaps, considering that it is a newspaper column. But I wonder if England would be tempted to revise his assessment above -- were he still around (and how I wish he was).

4. The author himself discusses how his religious beliefs influence his fiction here, here, here, several places here, and in a myriad of other places on the Web.