Robin L. Carr, Editor
The study of Masonic literature is a very interesting task for it seems to have a definition that is not the same from one researcher to another. Not only is this true, but researchers disagree on the rules one has to follow in doing the research; one researcher says all statements about Lodge membership must be backed up by actual minutes documenting a person’s membership or by entries in a Lodge register to prove that the man was indeed a brother, the next researcher believes that there is such a thing as speculative research which, although not able to prove a man’s right to the title Brother, can remove most doubts about such membership by using other evidence, just as scientists and the court systems do.
The current volume is a bonus book to Masonic Book Club members and can be defined to be articles about men who have written fictional or other forms of writing which can be called literature. Some of the men being studied in the articles have written openly of Freemasonry, others have merely alluded to Freemasonry and still others have used Masonry as a frame for the stories they wished to tell. Some of the Brothers who have penned the articles have written mostly about the lives, public and masonic of the authors they discuss, others delve more deeply into the literature itself; its meaning and Masonic significance.
But, fiction? Can it have Masonic significance?
To propagate the belief in the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God is one of the prime motivations of Freemasonry, a basic tenet. What better way to talk to the general population about Brotherly love, Relief, and Truth than to use the palatable vehicle of storytelling.
Westphalia Press 