Vardis Fisher

This book reevaluates the influence of Mormon religion and regional culture on the work of Western American novelist Vardis Fisher (1895-1968). Fisher was born and raised in an isolated Southern Idaho community established by the Mormons. He was brought up by Mormon parents and educated in Mormon schools. He rejected the Church while a college student and identified as an atheist for most of his life, but he wrote about Mormonism frequently in his work. Vardis Fisher begins with a detailed introduction to Fisher’s life and work and ends with a comprehensive bibliographical essay. Other chapters explore the influence of Mormonism on specific works. Chapter Two examines Fisher’s seven early novels set in the Antelope region of Idaho and argues that they constitute the first significant body of regional literature in the area that demographers have identified as the “Mormon Culture Region.” Chapter Three examines the writing and reception of Children of God, Fisher’s epic 1939 novel of the Mormon migration. Chapter Four explores the Mormon influence on Fisher’s Testament of Man saga, the twelve-volume series of historical novels that Fisher wrote between 1943 and 1960. In each of these chapters, the book identifies and traces aspects of Mormon history, theology, and culture that shape Fisher’s work, concluding that these patterns of influence justify categorizing much of Fisher’s work as “Mormon Literature.”