Charles Portis

Charles McColl Portis (December 28, 1933 – February 17, 2020) was an American author best known for his novels Norwood and the classic Western True Grit (1968). Both Norwood and True Grit were adapted as films, released in 1970 and 1969, respectively. True Grit also inspired a film sequel and a made-for-TV movie sequel. The second film adaptation of True Grit was released in 2010.

In 2023 The Library of America published his Collected Works. In the introduction, editor Jay Jennings observes: "Charles Portis is now recognized as a singular American genius, a writer whose deadpan style, picaresque plots, and unforgettable characters have drawn a passionate following among readers and writers."

Portis has been described as "one of the most inventively comic writers of western fiction".

Early life Charles Portis was born in 1933 in El Dorado, Arkansas, the son of Alice (Waddell) and Samuel Palmer Portis. He was raised and educated in various towns in southern Arkansas, including Hamburg and Mount Holly. After receiving his discharge in 1955, he enrolled in the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He graduated with a degree in journalism in 1958.

Career Portis began writing in college, for both the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville student newspaper, Arkansas Traveler, and the Northwest Arkansas Times. One of his tasks was to redact the colorful reporting of "lady stringers" in the Ozarks, a task credited as a source for the vivid voice that he created years later for his character Mattie Ross in True Grit. After Portis graduated, he worked for various newspapers as a reporter, including the Memphis Commercial Appeal and almost two years at the Arkansas Gazette, for which he wrote the "Our Town" column.

Both Norwood and True Grit were adapted as movies, with fellow Arkansan Glen Campbell and Kim Darby in leading roles in the two films. Both pictures were commercially successful. John Wayne won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, one of the top box-office hits of 1969. True Grit was released on June 11, 1969, earning US$14.25 million at the box office. A second film version, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld debuted in December 2010.

Portis published several short pieces in The Atlantic Monthly, including the memoir "Combinations of Jacksons" and the story "I Don't Talk Service No More".

His final published work was the collection Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany, including journalism and other non-fiction, short stories, and a single play, Delray's New Moon. Subjects include the civil rights movement, a road trip in Baja, and Elvis Presley's visit to his aging mother. Some of the works originally appeared in such publications such as the New York Herald Tribune and Saturday Evening Post. New York Times book reviewer Carlo Rotella said, "You can enjoy Escape Velocity as a stand-alone collection, but a Portis miscellany will always be read too as a key to the experiences and craft lessons that shaped the novels."

Writing of Portis, Aaron Gilbreath has observed that his literary obscurity might, like him, remain forever hidden, because "he won't surface long enough to let reporters ask him about it."

However, in 2023 the Library of America published his Collected Works.

Works Novels 1966: Norwood 1968: True Grit 1979: The Dog of the South 1985: Masters of Atlantis 1991: Gringos

Nonfiction 2012: Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany

Short fiction, articles, etc. "The New Sound from Nashville," The Saturday Evening Post, 239 (12 February 1966): 30–38. "Traveling Light," The Saturday Evening Post, 239 (18 June 1966): 54–77; 239 (2 July 1966): 48–75. (The revised, serialized version of Norwood). "True Grit," The Saturday Evening Post, 241 (18 May 1968): 68–85; 241 (1 June 1968): 46–61; 241 (15 June 1968): 44–57. (The condensed, serialized version of True Grit). "Your Action Line", The New Yorker Archive, 53 (12 December 1977): 42–43. Faulkner Wells, Dean, ed. The Great American Writers' Cookbook. Oxford: Yoknapatawpha Press (1981). "Nights Can Turn Cool in Viborra", The Atlantic Monthly, 270 (Dec. 1992): 101–106. "I Don't Talk Service No More." The Atlantic Monthly, May, 1996, Vol. 277, No. 5, pp. 90–92. "Combinations of Jacksons." The Atlantic Monthly, May, 1999, Vol. 283, No. 5, pp. 81–92. (A Memoir).