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Big Read 2013
The Things They Carried

The Big Read, along with partners the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, Columbus State University and the Muscogee County Friends of Libraries, wants you to join with our community to read and celebrate Tim O'Brien's masterpiece The Things They Carried this March.

The Vietnam War still has the power to divide Americans between those for it and those against. Today it also divides us, just as surely, between those who remember its era firsthand and those not yet born when the troops came home. There may be no better bridge across these twin divides than Tim O'Brien's novel in stories The Things They Carried. The details of warfare may have changed since Vietnam, but O'Brien's semi-autobiographical account of a young platoon on a battlefield without a front, dodging sniper fire and their own misgivings, continues to win legions of dedicated readers, both in uniform and out.

Each celebration of The Big Read brings several events to help you enjoy the book further, and we hope you can attend one or many of the presentations below.

Also available for free online at The Big Read website are special Reader's Guides and Teacher's Guides, as well as a Audio Guide that provides context and commentary about the book.

The Big Read is a program designed to revitalize the role of literary reading in American popular culture. A great book combines enlightenment with enchantment. It awakens our imagination and enlarges our humanity. It can even offer harrowing insights that somehow console and comfort us. Whether you're a regular reader already or making up for lost time, thank you for joining The Big Read.

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

BIG READ KICK-OFF

American Place Theatre
American Place Theatre Actor Billy Lyons

The American Place Theatre's Literature to Life® Stage Presentation of
The Things They Carried
By Tim O'Brien
Performed by Billy Lyons
Directed by Wynn Handman
Friday March 1, 7:00pm
Columbus Public Library Auditorium

Our The Big Read celebration of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried kicks off with this touring solo performance adaptation of the novel, produced by the acclaimed American Place Theatre. The play, developed in cooperation with author O'Brien, brings five of the stories from the book to vivid life, giving witness to the complex issues of war and the universal struggle of the soldier.

BIG READ KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Tim O'Brien

Author Tim O’Brien
Friday, March 29, 7:30pm
Springer Opera House
Part of the Southern Literary Festival

We are honored to present our The Big Read author Tim O’Brien for this very special appearance. An infantry soldier and Purple Heart recipient in the Vietnam War, much of his fiction involves the lives of soldiers before, during and after that period. His 1978 novel Going After Cacciato, set in Vietnam, won the National Book Award for fiction. Our The Big Read selection, The Things They Carried, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award and received France’s Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. His 1994 novel In the Lake of the Woods was awarded the James Fennimore Cooper Prize from the Society of American Historians and was named best novel of the year by Time magazine. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to meet one of American’s great authors and storytellers.

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THE WALL THAT HEALS

BIG READ CULMINATING EVENT

The Wall That Heals - Touring Replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, with Museum
Thursday, April 4 - Sunday, April 7
Columbus Public Library

Our The Big Read celebration of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried concludes with a visit by The Wall That Heals, the stunning half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. This moving tribute to the service men and women who gave their lives while serving their country in the Vietnam conflict will be in Columbus for four days. Also on site will be a touring mini-museum that displays information about some of the service members memorialized on The Wall, along with an information center where visitors can find the location of names.

Opening Service, The Wall That Heals
Thursday, April 4, 9:00am
Columbus Public Library

The visit of The Wall That Heals will begin with a memorial service commemorating those whose names are enshrined upon the wall. The ceremony is open to the public.

FILM FESTIVAL

The Quiet American

The Quiet American (2002, Rated R)
Tuesday, March 5, 7:00pm
Columbus Public Library Auditorium

From the novel by Graham Greene comes this murder mystery centered on a love triangle set against the French Indochina War in Vietnam, circa 1952. Intrigue and moral culpability grow to infect both individuals and governments as the United States slowly insinuates itself into the regions political situation. Starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser. Rated R for violence, profanity and sexual situations.

We Were Soldiers

We Were Soldiers (2002, Rated R)
Tuesday March 12, 7:00pm
Columbus Public Library Auditorium

Based on the best-selling book We Were Soldiers Once... and Young by Lt. General Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway, this picture depicts the true story of the first major battle between the United States and North Vietnamese forces. It ably showcases the uncommon valor and sacrifice of forces in combat and their families at home. Many scenes were filmed in Columbus and at Ft. Benning. Starring Mel Gibson, Sam Elliot and Madeleine Stowe. Rated R for violence and profanity.

Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket (1987, Rated R)
Tuesday March 19, 7:00pm
Columbus Public Library Auditorium

This widely acclaimed, highly polarizing film from auteur Stanley Kubrick presents the absurdity and futility of war in which soldiers must sacrifice all vestiges of their humanity to succeed at their mission. Set against basic training and the battle of Hue in 1968, the movie utilizes the director's idiosyncratic style in presenting its "War Is Hell" message. Starring Matthew Modine and, in a legendary star-making performance, R. Lee Ermey as the basic training drill sergeant. Rated R for violence and extremely graphic language.

The Fog of War

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003, Rated PG-13)
Tuesday March 26, 7:00pm
Columbus Public Library Auditorium

Our final film is the Academy Award-winning documentary The Fog of War. Directed by Errol Morris, this deceptively simple film is a series of "lessons" presented in conversation style by Robert S. McNamara, the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968 who was intimately involved with the decisions to escalate our country's involvement in Vietnam. It is a troubling, deeply affecting look by one intelligent man at his (and his generation's) choices, and how those decisions impacted the lives of millions of others. Rated PG-13 for images and thematic issues of war and destruction.

PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES

Tim O'Brien's Autobiographical Metafiction in The Things They Carried
Dr. Aaron Sanders, Columbus State University
Thursday March 7, 7:00pm
Columbus Public Library Auditorium

Join us for this enlightening conversation about the author's effective use of metafiction in The Things They Carried. Does this technique raise the novel to the status of "great" literature?  The presentation will be led by Dr. Aaron Sanders, Assistant Professor of English at Columbus State University.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Psychological Effects of War
Ms. Janice Lundeen, LCSW, Community Mental Health Services, Martin Army Hospitals
Tuesday March 12, 12:30pm
Schwob Library, Columbus State University

While Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a widely discussed syndrome suffered by those in combat situations, it is still misunderstood by the public at large. The Things They Carried presents how that disorder restructures the lives of those that suffer from it, as well as those close to the sufferer. This presentation by Ms. Janice Lundeen from the Martin Army Hospital will give us careful insight into the causes and treatments that are experienced by today's combat veterans.

The Things They Carried as a Reflection of History
Dr. Gary Sprayberry, Columbus State University
Thursday March 21, 7:00pm
Columbus Public Library Auditorium

This presentation will give us an overview of the Vietnam conflict and will provide an historical basis from which to read and analyze The Things They Carried. The presentation and discussion will be led by Dr. Gary Sprayberry, Department Chair and Associate Professor of History and Geography at Columbus State University.

SOUTHERN LITERARY FESTIVAL

Please be sure to visit the Southern Literary Festival 2013 website for more information about this remarkable series of presentations.

Authors Kevin Wilson and Madge McKeithen
Thursday March 28, 7:30pm
Studio Theatre, Riverside Theatre Complex
Columbus State University River Park Campus

The Big Read, in cooperation with the Southern Literary Festival, is pleased to present authors Kevin Wilson (The Family Fang) and Madge McKeithen (Blue Peninsula).

Open Mic Night - Southern Literary Festival
Thursday March 28, 9:00pm
Uptown Columbus Center Stage, Broadway and Eleventh Street

The public is invited to join with Southern Literary Festival participants in an outdoor open mic performance session. Bring your favorite poem or essay and speak up!

U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Tretheway and poet Dan Albergotti
Saturday March 30, 10:00am
Studio Theatre, Riverside Theatre Complex
Columbus State University River Park Campus

U. S. Poet Laureate Natasha Tretheway joins poet Dan Albergotti for a discussion and reading. A public Q+A session will begin at 10:00am, with readings at 11:00am.

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