Susan Jeffers and The Twilight Mystique

0 Commentsby   |  11.12.10  |  Alumni Spotlight, Announcements

2010 has been quite a busy year for me. My husband and I moved to New Jersey in May. We miss all of our friends in Abilene and it has taken us a while to get settled, but we are adjusting. We finally unpacked the last box just this weekend. We also had our first little one in October. Jacob Nathaniel is the cutest baby in the world.  He brings us a lot of joy—even at 3 in the morning (though I admit there’s less joy than there is yawning at that hour). It probably shouldn’t surprise me to discover that he is, in fact, a real person with preferences and a personality, but it does. We feel very blessed to have him in our family.

Also this year, an essay of mine was published in a collection about Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. The editors, Amy M. Clarke and Marijane Osborn, noticed that undergraduates wanted to think and to write papers about these books, but that there weren’t enough critical resources to help these students produce good scholarship. The Twilight Mystique attempts to begin filling this gap. There is a broad range of articles in this collection, considering topics from Meyer’s use of Quileute legends to the economic transformation of the real Forks. Other essays look at Twilight in the contexts of the gothic, abstinence, feminism, and religion. My article, titled “Bella and the Choice Made in Eden,” considers how Latter-day Saint theology intersects with the Twilight series. LDS doctrine on the Fall situates Eve as a hero and an active participant in her own salvation. I argue that Bella can be read similarly. Bella is only a victim when she’s denied status as an agent. I also briefly discuss how the happy ending of the series mirrors aspects of LDS ideas about the afterlife, specifically the idea of eternal families. If you’re interested in buying The Twilight Mystique, you can find it on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Mystique-Critical-Explorations-Science/dp/0786449985/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289497617&sr=1-1. It is also available as an e-book for Kindle.

Getting this essay ready for publication was a challenging process, but a rewarding one.  I love seeing my name in print as an author! Thanks to Mikee Deloney and everyone else there in the English Department for supporting my efforts. You’re invaluable friends.

God Bless.

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