The Scholar of Moab is a 2011 American novel written by Steven L. Peck. Considered an important work of Mormon fiction, it explores themes of belief, faith, science, Mormonism, superstition, and mysticism through the use of satire and an unreliable first-person narrative. Since its publication, the novel received generally positive reviews, and was recognized by organizations including the Association for Mormon Letters and By Common Consent.
Overview
The plot of The Scholar of Moab centers on Hyrum Thayne, a colorful character from Moab, Utah. Thayne, a high school dropout and an often unreliable narrator, works for the United States Geological Survey, but longs be a scientist and a scholar, despite displaying little understanding of what scientific inquiry entails. Thayne is poorly educated, and his writing features frequent misspellings.
The book is told from four points of view: Thayne's broken writing, poet and mistress Dora Daphne Tanner, conjoined twins William and Edward Babcock, and a frame narrator known as the "Redactor." Some sections have characteristics of mysticism and magic realism.
Throughout the book, Thayne becomes morally corrupt and begins to produce fictional stories which are believed by the superstitious Moab community. He comes to believe that his flaws are preventing him from becoming the scholar that he wants to be. Critics have characterized Thayne as an antihero.
Critical reception
The Scholar of Moab was part of By Common Consent's essential readings in Mormonism and is read in at least one course on Mormon literature. Rosalynde Welch, writing in Dialogue, called it "a wonderfully strange, deeply philosophical narrative that interrogates the nature of the first person" while drawing on Mormon traditions of diaries and regionalism. In 2017 also for Dialogue, Shane R. Peterson stated that with The Scholar of Moab and A Short Stay in Hell, Peck "moved the [Mormon Literature] genre into the twenty-first century because of his willingness to push boundaries, embrace the unorthodox, and explore difficult themes."
The novel received the 2011 AML Award for best novel from the Association for Mormon Letters.