Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Desperate Not To "Forget The Gods": Mormon Fantasy And The Epic Poem, Gerrit Van Dyk

Faculty Publications

Because of humanity's fixation on death, religion and the afterlife have played a part in human culture throughout history. As a result, belief, religion, and theology have been central to the main action of stories since the earliest forms of literature. One of the greatest ancient literary genres, the epic, is no exception.

Epics have many universal characteristics, such as elevated language in poetic form, vast settings, and strong protagonists who demonstrate feats of great strength and genius. They also commonly contain "supernatural forces-gods, angels, and demons-[who] interest themselves in the action" (Harmon and Holman 185). After the Renaissance, the …