Nothing Very Important and Other Stories is a collection of interconnected short stories written by Béla Petsco and self-published in 1979 with illustrations by his friend Kathryn Clark-Spencer. The stories are about missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) working in Southern California. Signature Books reprinted the book in 1984 under their Orion imprint. Petsco wrote the stories for his master's thesis at Brigham Young University (BYU). The book won the 1979 Association for Mormon Letters award for short fiction. The stories were adapted for theater and performed in 1983, but without BYU's endorsement.
Critical reception of the book was mostly positive, and the work was hailed as an important work by and about a Latter-day Saint written by someone raised outside the Wasatch Front. Reviewers remarked that the book used realism to show a truthful but sometimes painful picture of Mormonism.
The stories are centered around LDS missionaries in the Southern California mission in the late 1970s, with Mihaly Agyar being a central character.
Richard Cracroft, an English professor at BYU, encouraged Petsco to study English and to write a creative thesis in the English master's program at BYU. Petsco cited David Evans as a major influence.[1] Petsco wrote Nothing Very Important for his 1977 MA thesis.[2] Initially, Petsco could not find a publisher for Nothing Very Important and self-published it in 1979.[3] The book was sold in Deseret Book in 1979.[4] Signature Books re-published it in 1984 under their Orion imprint.[5] Petsco taught composition at BYU as an adjunct professor after graduating with his MA in 1977.[6][1] His friend, Kathryn Clark-Spencer, did the artwork for the book.[1]
A student club called the Hyde Park Club produced a play based on the book in November 1983.[7] Dennis Clark and Harlow Clark led the group.[6] Petsco was pleased with the adaptation, calling it "remarkably fine."[8] BYU Student newspaper The Daily Universe refused to advertise for the play; they explained to student director David Cameron that administrators didn't want the production to appear that it had the university's endorsement.[9] The play was also performed at the Orem Public Library. Writing to the editor at The Daily Herald, A. J. Nielson believed that the production had "universal appeal" and that the acting in the production was good.[10]
Dallin H. Oaks, then-president of BYU[clarification needed], wrote a letter to Ezra Taft Benson, then the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church). The letter is quoted in Bergera's and Priddis's Brigham Young University: A House of Faith. In it, Oaks said that Nothing Very Important "does not strengthen [Petsco's] efforts for employment at BYU".[11] Petsco's adjunct contract was not renewed in 1983. Petsco's health declined and he stopped writing fiction after this time.[6]