Four Centuries of Mormon Stories Contest: Theric Jepson's "Maurine Whipple, Age 16, Takes a Train North" Discussion

Welcome to The Low-Tech World: Exploring Mormon Literature! Today we’re hosting the discussion of Theric Jepson’s “Maurine Whipple, Age 16, Takes a Train North” for the Four Centuries of Mormon Stories Contest on Everyday Mormon Writer. Please feel free to leave your thoughts, comments, and insights on the story here. Also, feel free to look around the site and read some of the other posts.

(A schedule for the contest and discussion host sites can be found here.)

Jepson’s story is about three writers—Maurine Whipple, author of The Giant Joshua; Nephi Anderson, author of Added Upon; and Mark Twain, author of some of the best American novels of the 19^th century. In a sense, the story is also about a fourth writer, the Mormon writer, and his or her role. Strictly speaking, it’s a work of historical fiction, but Jepson plays fast and loose with the details. Some may find this unfair to the “real” Anderson and Whipple, who never actually shared this moment. I think it’s a stroke of genius.

Today’s discussion can take any direction you wish it to. Here are a few of my readerly observations about the story:

1) Nephi Anderson and Maurine Whipple represent two of the paths Mormon literature took in the twentieth century. Nephi Anderson’s fiction, as the story hints at, was often meant to be “artistic preaching.” It was meant to uplift and encourage righteous and virtuous living. Maurine Whipple’s fiction, on the other hand, presented Mormons realistically and endeavored to critique the Mormon past and assess its value for 20^th century Mormon and non-Mormon audiences. Jepson’s story suggests, perhaps, that Anderson’s approach was about giving answers while Whipple’s approach was about raising questions.

2) I sense a kind of “passing of the baton” in this story as Anderson gives Maurine his copy of The Mysterious Stranger. What I like about this is that it suggests there is some continuity between his work and hers. Since Whipple is part of the so-called “Lost Generation” of Mormon writers, whom we tend to think of as heretics writing deliberately against the faithful tradition of Anderson and his contemporaries, it’s easy to overlook this continuity. I like how Jepson rejects that notion and shows that both traditions seek to ask and answer questions. I also like how Anderson is cast as someone who feels somewhat limited in his ability to express himself. And I like how Anderson is a bit subversive in this story, too.

3) What makes this story poignant to me is the innocence of Maurine Whipple, who would go on to lead a very sad, lonely, and often frustrating life—despite her talent and success with The Giant Joshua. I also appreciate the tenderness of Nephi Anderson, someone who was no stranger to tragedy himself (his first wife and four of his children died during his lifetime).

4) I like that Jepson uses Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc, and The Mysterious Stranger in this story for a number of reasons. First, I like how Maurine is a kind of Joan of Arc figure—in her youth, her idealism, her human flaws. Second, I like how The Mysterious Stranger could work as an alternate title of this story—as Nephi Anderson is, for Maurine, a mysterious stranger. I also like how these two works also seek to give answers and raise questions for readers. They’re nice parallels to the kinds of fictions Anderson and Whipple wrote.

5) I think Mark Twain is a good choice on Jepson’s part since in 1919 Nephi Anderson was in the process of preparing his homage to Mark Twain and boyhood, The Boys of Springtown, for publication. In respect to writing this novel, Anderson wrote on May 20, 1918, about a year before Jepson's story takes place:

This morning I wrote out the first few paragraphs of my first efforts to write a boy story that is one of some lenghth [sic]. I have wanted to for some time, but I wonder if I am not to [sic] old to live over again the thoughts, feelings and doings of a boy. I’m going to try as time and opportunity affords.

Anderson finished his first draft of the book on October 22, 1918. The book was published in 1920. I like how Jepson’s story captures the reflective quality of Anderson in his “old” age.

6) Finally, I appreciate the way Jepson himself pays homage to Anderson in incorporating a kind of religious discussion between the characters, which is a hallmark of Anderson's work and style. Also, in Maurine, I see traces of Anderson's many sharp, thoughtful, and intelligent female characters. 

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Again, feel free to take the discussion of this story in any direction. I’d love to read your initial thoughts and responses to it. I’d also love to read your thoughts on what it possibly says about the Mormon writer, the purpose of Mormon fiction, and the role of Mormon literature in the Mormon community. I'd also like to hear your thoughts on Jepson's free use of historical details.

But please don’t feel limited to these issues. Mostly, we want discussion...