Richard H. Cracroft, professor of English at Brigham Young University, is one of the most important and active critics of Mormon literature. Having edited (with Neal Lambert) two anthologies of Mormon Literature, A Believing People: Literature of the Latter-day Saints (1974, 1979--see below), and 22 Young Mormon Writers (Provo, Utah: Communications Workshop, 1975), Cracroft continues to write numerous reviews of Mormon literature in a regular column in BYU Magazine and in other venues of Mormon criticism. A past president of the Association for Mormon Letters, he continues to teach Literature of the Latter-day Saints at Brigham Young University where he currently serves as the director for the Center for Christian Values in Literature. In 2000 Cracroft was granted honorarly lifetime membership in the Association for Mormon Letters.
Links to Richard Cracroft's Writings on the Mormon Literature Website
Review, The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball. Dialogue 5.3 (Autumn 1970): 57-60.
"Fiddlin' Around in Orderville, or, A Mormon on the Roof." Review of The Order is Love by Carol Lynn Pearson. Dialogue 6.2 (Summer 1971): 118-22.
"The Discomforter: Some Personal Memories of Joseph Fielding Smith." Dialogue 7.1 (Spring 1972): 17-19.
"The Gentle Blasphemer: Mark Twain, Holy Scripture, and the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies, 11 (Winter 1971),119-140.
"On the Way to Obsession." Review of Surely the Night by Claire Noall. Dialogue 8.2 (Summer 1973): 90-91.
Lambert, Neal E., and Richard H. Cracroft. "Through Gentile Eyes: A Hundred Years of the Mormon in Fiction," New Era, 2 (March 1972), 14-19
"Distorting Polygamy for Fun and Profit: Artemus Ward and Mark Twain Among the Mormons," Brigham Young University Studies, 14 (Winter 1974), 272-288.
Neal E. Lambert and Richard H. Cracroft, eds. 22 Young Mormon Writers. Provo, Utah: Communications Workshop, 1975
Cracroft, Richard H., and Neal E. Lambert. A Believing People: Literature of the Latter-day Saints. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1974.
Cracroft, Richard H. "Seeking 'the Good, the Pure, the Elevating.' A Short History of Mormon Fiction." Ensign 11 (June 1981): 56-62, and (July 1981): 56-61.
Lambert, Neal E. and Richard H. Cracroft. "Literary Form and Historical Understanding: Joseph Smith's First Vision." Journal of Mormon History 7 (1980): 33-42.
"A Timely Resurrection: The Return of J. Golden." Sunstone Review 2 (Nov./Dec. 1982): 15, 26.
"'O What Songs of the Heart': Pioneering the Mormon Hymn." Address given to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers National Convention, 2 October 1981.
"The Humor of Mormon Seriousness." Sunstone 10 (Jan. 1985): 14-17.
"The Pattern of Faith and Jolts of Joy: Spiritual Surprises." A Thoughtful Faith: Essays on Belief by Mormon Scholars. Ed. Philip L. Barlow. Centerville, Utah: Canon Press, 1986.
"A Profound Sense of Community": Mormon Values in Wallace Stegner's Recapitulation." Dialogue 24.1 (Spring 1991): 101-113.
"Freshet in the Dearth: Samuel W. Taylor's Heaven Knows Why and Mormon Humor," Sunstone 5 (1980): 31.
Review of Harvest, ed. Eugene England and Dennis Clark. BYU Studies (Spring 1990): 119-23.
Please send your updates, corrections, or comments to Gideon Burton: MormonLit@byu.edu