This spring, students and faculty in the College of Languages and Communication are reading Charles Portis’s novel True Grit, which is set in and around Fort Smith. Most know the novel as the source of the John Wayne movie, but the novel is much better. In fact, the novel has been called one of the great undiscovered masterpieces of American literature. Word is that the Coen Brothers (Fargo, The Big Lebowski) are currently filming a remake.
While we’ve stopped short of calling this a campus-wide reading initiative, we would like to invite folks from other departments and colleges to participate. Here’s some of the ideas we’ve had:
• Invite reading groups from the community to read and discuss the book with us.
• Screen the film version and have a discussion afterwards on the differences between versions.
• Have public readings of the novel.
• Invite speakers to campus to discuss the book (who knows, maybe Portis or the Coens).
While this is a college initiative originating in English and Rhetoric, we’d like to invite teachers in other disciplines to explore the possibilities of interacting with this text and with students reading the book. Here are some ideas we’ve had to involve other faculty and courses:
• Could a group from historical interpretation take groups to places mentioned in the book?
• Might history teachers or students deliver papers and talks on the historical period?
• Could music students explore and then perform music from the period?
• Might art students create visual representations of events and characters from the book or
make a poster for the new Coen Brothers movie?
• Could creative writing students work on dramatizations of scenes from the book and theater
students put them on?
• Might business students design a marketing plan for the movie?
We’re open to any ideas to make this Spring the semester of True Grit. If you’d like to join with us in planning events in your courses, in your college, or if you’d just like to read the book with us, email jhardin@uafortsmith.edu or respond below.
Although the thought of such a massive project for the campus sounds wonderful, I am not sure how True Grit will be as the topic of discussion. I have never read this book, but it doesnt seem to command my attention very easily. I will have to read this book and write papers on it in my english class and for a grade i will do so. I just wish it was a little more interesting topic or book.
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