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How Edna Ferber’s ‘Giant’ novel changed Texas

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When Edna Ferber giant When it was published in 1952, Texans were displeased. Ferber’s sweeping novel Cows, oil, and the winds of change gave Virginia ideas for reform. A young woman, Leslie Benedict, goes to a ranch in Texas. Where she had the coolness to suggest that citizens might treat their non-white, non-male neighbors a little better. Show kindness to Mexican immigrants—or “weak people,” as they are often called. giant– Living in poverty on the streets Recognize that women may be more capable and interested in thinking about politics.

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Ferber is a lively New Yorker who loves to write. Born and raised in the Midwest. Known for various novels such as Show boat and very bighas done the unforgivable—she messed with Texas—and Texas has let her know how it feels. Julie Gilbert recounts some of the vitriol in her new book. Giant love: Edna Ferber, her best-selling novel from Texas. and making classic American films.– “Carl Victor Little, in a review for the Houston Press, pointed out that she had been lynched,” writes Gilbert, just a little overlooked. Ferber’s “brand of fiction” because of the gossip behind it and what female novelists called local color.” Later, a man in Beaumont After hearing that Ferber’s novel would be made into a film directed by George Stevens, Hollywood columnists made his feelings known: “If you create and display that image, We will film the full screen, Hole.”

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Ferber was attacked not only for being a carpetbagger. But it also has a progressive agenda. It’s through her heroine, who comes to the Reata ranch when she marries longtime rancher Jordan “Bick” Benedict. The author imagines the change that Texans dream of to this day. And she knows it’s going to be a tough fight. Although the state has changed in many ways over the past 70 years, it has become more diverse, more urban, and more ideologically diverse. But the current political realignment seems just as elusive: just ask Beto O’Rourke, who created the lawn sign in 2018… and then lost the Senate race to take on Ted Cruz and the party machine. Deeply entrenched state Republicans, or Colin Allred, leading with the same candidate in November? But the results were even worse. Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994, when Bob Bullock was re-elected lieutenant governor.

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by Julie Gilbert

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The state’s current Republican Party oligarchs Led by Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas is facing political turmoil. The state’s abortion restrictions are some of the strictest in the nation. The Texas School Board recently approved it. Lessons from the Bible For a public elementary school, the Texas Land Office recently offered President Donald Trump a 1,400-acre ranch.”Deportation Facilities

Ferber isn’t turning Texas into a progressive paradise, though. But she also offers a heroine in the novel who tries to abandon the traditions she despises. Gilbert presented a book about that battle, which interested Ferber, who died in 1968, as the author’s great-aunt. And to Gilbert’s credit, Gilbert had fond memories of her. This is not a “My Aunt Edna” project. The author uses personal correspondence when helping to make a point. along with her own research and observations. Giant love A good friend of Don Graham. History of the movie 2018 giant– These are books about the power of art to change perception. Including the limits of changing reality. Years before Native son Lyndon Baines Johnson began talking about the Great Society, Ferber’s book and especially the 1956 film expanded national ideas about what felt possible in the heart of Texas.

Ferber first set eyes on this state several years ago when she began writing. giant– She did what she called A “surface tour” of Texas, from dusty border towns to glitzy urban shops: “Talk to lots of Texans. Surprised by their perspective their arrogance They seemed unaware of the world outside their vast commonwealth.” She initially concluded that the state’s richness was too much for her: “It was larger than life. Too big. Too many men. Too brutal and reckless and excessive. too explicit Too undiluted. Too rich. Too pitiful… This Texas novel is not a book for a woman to write. It will kill you.” But the state had already cast its spell. And she changed her mind “My rejection of Texas on that first visit was not due to a prearranged comment or an inexplicable emotion,” Furber later wrote, “on the contrary, I was deeply interested and surprised, confused and shocked. repulsed and attracted”

I know the feeling I moved to Dallas from my hometown of Berkeley for a newspaper internship after school in 1996, planning to stay in Texas for the summer. Nearly 30 years later, I’m still here. Even though it’s in Houston. during that time I have seen all kinds of cultural developments in both cities. Whether it’s an independent bookstore A booming movie scene, great food, Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States. It’s a place for immigrants and first-generation Americans. And when I go to the grocery store I felt like I was seeing a cross-section of the country. At least in the downtown area, it’s relatively easy for politically minded people to feel at home. Leslie Benedict would be pleased.

The state’s four largest cities are Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. All are blue But it is a state with a population of more than 29 million people and many other cities. A lot of it is in between. One of the funniest scenes in the film involves Leslie. (played by Elizabeth Taylor) comes to Texas for the first time with her new husband, Bick (Rock Hudson). She looks out the train window and wonders if they When will it reach Texas? Big tells her they’ve been there for hours. It’s still like that.

Because of this spread, there are many different Texases in BernieThe 2011 film by Richard Linklater, The Old Horse Carriage, provides this helpful detail: “You take your West Texas out there. Along with a handful of ranches, in the north you have the Dallas Arrogant. With their Mercedes, you have Houston, the carcinogenic coast… then down south, San Antonio, that’s where Texans meet Mexicans. same as food Then in Central Texas You have the People’s Republic of Austin. Complete with lots of hairy women and liberal fruitcake.” Every Texan I know who has seen the movie loves this scene. It indicates that they are many. And they can laugh at themselves.

But when Ferber laughed at Texas and recommended improvements through Leslie. She did so as an outsider or tourist. In this movie Leslie was eager to tip the sacred cow. After reading Texas history She confronted her soon-to-be husband: “We really stole Texas. Is that right? You… Benedict? I mean, stay away from Mexico.” Bick spoke for his men in shock: “I’ve never heard anything so foolish as some of the Orientals.” Leslie’s father jumped in: “Leslie, you mustn’t. Say that to a Texan. They feel strongly about their status.” Yes, they do. They can talk trash among themselves. But don’t interfere..

But Leslie doesn’t just talk. When she arrived in Reata, she called upon a local (white) doctor to take care of a nearby Mexican village. Over Bick’s objections, she supports their son.To pursue his dream of becoming a doctor instead of working on a farm, Jordy married Juana, the daughter of a local Mexican-American doctor. and combat segregation and racism by working to provide health care for all. As Gilbert wrote Themes of racial discord and progress It is actually more central to the film than the novel. Much to the chagrin of one preview viewer, who complained: “There’s not enough mockery of Texas like in the book. The problem of a wet back becomes a problem. The one who stands out.”

Bick, a proud Texan Yet more redeeming characters are given to Stevens and his screenwriters, Fred Giol and Ivan Moffat, than Ferber provided. In this novel When the Benedict family was kicked out of a roadside restaurant that didn’t serve Mexican food. Big wasn’t even there. In this movie He took this opportunity to stand firm. and is beaten by a burly store owner after agreeing to stay with another Mexican-American family. “This is a ‘lesson’ scene for Bic,” Gilbert writes. “And maybe for some viewers too… Like never before in the whole story. We see Leslie holding Bick’s head lovingly. Amidst the broken crockery surrounding them … we see her falling in love with her late husband.”

The film’s Bick seems to point to a new, more tolerant future. Texans are enthralled with the movie in a way they never were with the book. This is truly a native person. Not a woman with a big mouth and wearing a bag. Showing the backbone of Texas, Bick’s redemption isn’t the only reason this happened. The film softens Ferber’s acidic sarcastic tone. It also gives the glamor of Taylor, Hudson, and James Dean (who died in a car accident before production was finished), but making Hudson’s Bick both Strong and enduring is the ego of a courageous state. “Four years ago the book was quite an enemy of the state. And now this former heretic has become the High Priestess of the Lone Star,” Gilbert wrote. “There is such praise and praise. It’s called ‘the national Texas film,’ ‘the archetypal Texas film,’ and even ‘the national religion.’” And there are no reports of anyone taking a picture of the screen full of holes.


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