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Bruce W. Jorgensen

Included in 75 Significant Mormon Poets
Wayne Jorgensen, B. W. Jorgensen, Bruce Jorgensen
LDS
LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
He is the father of three daughters and five sons, the grandfather of four girls and five boys.
His interests range from the scriptures, Plato, Aristotle, and St. Augustine to Emmanuel Levinas and Raymond Carver, but most recently he has pursued studies of Reynolds Price and Gina Berriault, and he continues to write his own fiction. He has published poems, stories, critical essays, and reviews in Carolina Quarterly, The Ensign, Modern Fiction Studies, BYU Studies, Sunstone, Dialogue, Western American Literature, Wasatch Review, and High Plains Literary Review. The main study of his life since childhood has been the hearing and telling of stories. His work focuses at the intersection of story, the ethics of agency, and the sacred. As an LDS literary critic, he would do the works of Abraham, who waited in the door of his tent to welcome strangers, and pled with Yahweh to spare the Cities of the Plain for the sake of even ten righteous persons. He now feels that all his writing is a long, intermittent, tentative exploration of the LDS scriptural teaching that "the spirit and the body are the soul of man."
Salina, Utah
M.A. in English (1969), Brigham Young University Ph.D. in American Literature (1978), Cornell University
He teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University and writes criticism. He writes poetry as well as fiction under the name Wayne Jorgensen. He has most recently been pursuing studies of the American fiction writers Reynolds Price, George P Elliott, and Gina Berriault. Jorgensen, who has served as President of the Association for Mormon Letters, has written criticism that has been seminal in shaping Mormon literary tradition.
Male
Author, Interviewee
English

33 Works by Bruce W. Jorgensen

Title Role Year Genre
The Light Come Down Author Poetry
[Review of] Recapitulation, by Wallace Stegner Author Review
Born of the Water Author Short Story
Incompletions for a Living Father Author Poetry
Near an Abandoned Canal Bridge in Southern Utah Author 1973 Poetry
A Note on Lewis B. Horne Author
Gathering Apples in First Snow Author 1971 Poetry
For No Dreams Author 1972 Poetry
Opening Lunch on Getting to the Office Author 1972 Poetry
Syllables for a January Thaw Author 1972 Poetry
Weight of Glory Author 1972 Poetry
On Second West in Cedar City, Utah Author 1971 Poetry
Come Into His Presence with Singing Author Personal Essay
Sorensen Bibliography Author
In the Cold House Author 1978 Poetry
Almost But Not Quite Author Novel
Maverick Fiction Author Review
Thinking of the End in Fire Author Poetry
Two Years Sunday Author Short Story
[Review of] Turn Again Home, by Herbert Harker Author Review
[Review of] Hunters in the Snow, by David Kranes Author Review
Getting Home from Ithaca, 1968 Author Poetry
Poetry Month 1999 Author Poetry
Friends: A Moral Song Author Poetry
A Litany for the Dark Solstice Author Poetry
Eros in LDS Life and Literature Interviewee Interview / Panel
For Bread and Breath of Life Author Poetry
A Song for One Still Voice Author Short Story
When Mormon Literature Becomes "Mormon" Author Interview / Panel
Domesticity and the Call to Art Author Interview / Panel
Measures of Music Author 1999 Fiction
Roughly One of the R's Author Personal Essay
For Bread and Breath of Life Author Poetry
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