A new class being offered during the 2024 summer session at Missouri State University-West Plains (MSU-WP) will focus on the fiction of local award-winning novelist Daniel Woodrell.
“Literature, Culture and Conflict” (ENG 289) is a three-credit hour class that will be taught by Professor of English Dr. Craig Albin from 6 to 8:40 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Its focus will be on Woodrell’s Ozarks fiction pieces.
“We will examine Woodrell’s portrayal of the criminal subculture of the Ozarks, his expansion of the crime genre into serious literature, his treatment of the socioeconomic divide, and his use of West Plains as inspiration for his fictional Ozark town of West Table, Missouri,” Albin said.
The reading list for the course includes “Give Us a Kiss” (1996), “Tomato Red” (1998), “The Death of Sweet Mister” (2001), “Winter’s Bone” (2007), “The Outlaw Album” (2011) and “The Maid’s Version” (2013).
More about Woodrell
Born in Springfield, Woodrell spent time in the Marines before completing a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa. With his wife, novelist Katie Estill, he eventually settled in West Plains, where both sides of his family have deep roots.
Woodrell has received the Pen West Award, The Clifton Fadiman Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Ozarks Heritage Award and the Prix de Mystere Critique for his writing. His novel “The Maid’s Version,” a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Pen Center Award, won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for fiction.
Three of his novels have been adapted into film. “Woe to Live On” was adapted into Ang Lee’s “Ride With the Devil” in 1999. “Winter’s Bone” was transformed into an award-winning film of the same name by writer/director Debra Granik in 2006. It also catapulted star Jennifer Lawrence into an award-winning acting career. Irish writer/director Juanita Wilson adapted “Tomato Red” into a feature film in 2017.
For more information about the class, contact Albin at CraigAlbin@MissouriState.edu.
For more information about 2024 summer session classes and how to register for them, visit WP.MissouriState.edu/Schedule.