Most Popular Books by Charles Portis

#1 New York Times bestseller “An epic and a legend” —Washington Post “Quite simply, an American masterpiece.” —Boston Globe “The dialogue in True Grit is exquisite.” —David Mamet “Charles Portis had a wonderful talent—original, quirky, exciting.” —Larry McMurtry Charles Portis has long been acclaimed as one of America’s most enduring and incomparable literary voices, and his novels have left an indelible mark on the American canon. True Grit, his most famous novel, was first published in 1968, and has garnered critical acclaim as well as enthusiastic praise from countless passionate fans for more than fifty years. This story of danger and adventure in the old west became the basis for two award-winning films, the first starring John Wayne, in his only Oscar-winning role, as Marshall Rooster Cogburn, and the widely praised remake by the Coen brothers, starring Jeff Bridges. True Grit tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen when the coward Tom Chaney shoots her father in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 cash. Filled with an unwavering urge to avenge her father’s blood, Mattie finds and, after some tenacious finagling, enlists one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available US Marshal, as her partner in pursuit, and they head off into Indian Territory after the killer. True Grit is essential reading. Not just a classic Western, but an undeniable classic of American literature as eccentric, cool, funny, and unflinching as Mattie Ross herself. For fans of either the John Wayne classic or the more recent Coen brothers’ movie, it’s a chance to relive the story of Mattie and Rooster and experience their story as it was originally told. For fans of taut, funny storytelling, it will be a joy to experience in its original form. This edition includes an afterword by bestselling author Donna Tartt (The Secret History and The Goldfinch) and a reading group guide.

Sent on a mission to New York he gets involved in a wild journey that takes him in and out of stolen cars, freight trains, and buses. By the time he returns home to Texas, Norwood has met his true love, Rita Lee, on a bus; befriended the second shortest midget in show business and “the world's smallest perfect fat man†?; and helped Joann “the chicken with a college education,†? realize her true potential in life. As with all Portis’ fiction, the tone is cool, sympathetic, and funny.

“[Charles Portis] understood, and conveyed, the grain of America, in ways that may prove valuable in future to historians trying to understand what was decent about us as a nation.” --Donna Tartt, New York Times Book Review Ray Midge is waiting for his credit card bill to arrive. His wife, Norma, has run off with her ex-husband, taking Ray's cards, shotgun and car. But from the receipts, Ray can track where they've gone. He takes off after them, as does an irritatingly tenacious bail bondsman, both following the romantic couple's spending as far as Mexico. There Ray meets Dr Reo Symes, the seemingly down-on-his-luck and rather eccentric owner of a beaten up and broken down bus, who needs a ride to Belize. The further they drive, in a car held together by coat-hangers and excesses of oil, the wilder their journey gets. But they're not going to give up easily.

Lamar Jimmerson is the leader of the Gnomon Society, the international fraternal order dedicated to preserving the arcane wisdom of the lost city of Atlantis. Stationed in France in 1917, Jimmerson comes across a little book crammed with Atlantean puzzles, Egyptian riddles, and extended alchemical metaphors. It's the Codex Pappus - the sacred Gnomon text. Soon he is basking in the lore of lost Atlantis, convinced that his mission on earth is to administer to and extend the ranks of the noble brotherhood.

Charles Portis’s fourth novel—a truly brilliant, wonderfully bizarre novel by one of our great American novelists. Jimmy Burns is an expatriate American living in Mexico who has an uncommonly astute eye for the absurd little details that comprise your average American. For a time, Jimmy spent his days unearthing pre-Colombian artifacts. Now he makes a living doing small trucking jobs and helping out with the occasional missing person situation—whatever it takes to remain “the very picture of an American idler in Mexico, right down to the grass-green golfing trousers.” But when Jimmy’s laid-back lifestyle is seriously imposed upon by a ninety-pound stalker called Louise, a sudden wave of “hippies” (led by a murderous ex-con guru) in search of psychic happenings, and a group of archaeologists who are unearthing (illegally) Mayan tombs, his simple South-of-the-Border existence faces a clear and present danger.

For those who care about literature or simply love a good laugh (or both), Charles Portis has long been one of America’s most admired novelists. His 1968 novel True Grit is fixed in the contemporary canon, and four more have been hailed as comic masterpieces. Now, for the first time, his other writings—journalism, travel stories, short fiction, memoir, and even a play—have been brought together in Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany, his first new book in more than twenty years. All the familiar Portis elements are here: picaresque adventures, deadpan humor, an expert eye for detail and keen ear for the spoken word, and encounters with oddball characters both real and imagined. The collection encompasses the breadth of his fifty-year writing career, from his gripping reportage of the civil rights movement for the New York Herald Tribune to a comic short story about the demise of journalism in the twenty-first century. New to even the most ardent fan is his three-act play, Delray’s New Moon, performed onstage in 1996 and published here for the first time. Whether this is your first encounter with the world of Portis or a long-awaited return to it, you’ll agree with critic Ron Rosenbaum—whose essay appears here alongside tributes by other writers—that Portis “will come to be regarded as the author of classics on the order of a twentieth-century Mark Twain, a writer who captures the soul of America.”

Sono gli anni Settanta dell'Ottocento quando la giovane Mattie Ross - l'inconfondibile voce narrante di questa storia, adorabile nella sua schiettezza - lascia a casa la madre e i fratelli in lacrime per avventurarsi alla ricerca di Tom Chaney, l'uomo a cui suo padre aveva dato lavoro e che l'ha ammazzato, unendosi poi a una banda di fuorilegge e fuggendo nel Territorio Indiano. Mattie è decisa a tutto pur di portare a termine la sua vendetta, ma per farlo è costretta a muoversi in un mondo ostile, ad affrontare uomini violenti, prepotenti, alcolizzati. Uomini come Reuben Cogburn, detto "Il Grinta", «un tipo duro e spietato, uno che non sa cos'è la paura» e che, assieme al ranger texano LaBoeuf, anch'egli sulle tracce di Chaney, diventerà suo compagno e alleato in una caccia all'uomo diventata leggendaria. Pubblicato nel 1968 e subito assurto allo status di classico accanto a libri come Le avventure di Huckleberry Finn e Il mago di Oz, Il Grinta riscrive le regole del genere western, offrendo ai lettori la voce sincera e spesso involontariamente umoristica di una protagonista indimenticabile, che a distanza di decenni dai fatti narrati getta il suo sguardo privo di illusioni sull'America della Frontiera e sui suoi miti.

The ultimate Portis: for the first time in one collector's volume, the complete fiction and collected nonfiction of the author of True Grit Rediscover a comic genius and master storyteller comparable to Mark Twain "Charles Portis is one of the great pure pleasures available in American literature." —Ron Rosenbaum "Like Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man, Charles Portis’s True Grit captures the naïve elegance of the American voice." —Jonathan Lethem "No living Southern writer captures the spoken idioms of the South as artfully as Portis does." —Donna Tartt "His fiction is the funniest I know." —Roy Blount, Jr. Twice adapted as a film, first in a version starring John Wayne and then by the Coen Brothers, True Grit is a wonder of novelistic perfection, told in the unforgettable voice of 14-year-old Mattie Ross as she sets out to avenge her murdered father in a quest that brings her out of her native Arkansas and into the wilds of the Choctaw Nation of the 1870s. One of the great literary Westerns, it is also a novel that has invited comparison with The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Portis's deadpan debut novel Norwood (1966) is, like True Grit, the story of a quest, though here the stakes are far lower: an auto mechanic from Texas embarks on a madcap journey to New York City to try and recover $70 owed to him from an Army buddy. A book that according to Roy Blount Jr. “no one should die without having read,” The Dog of the South (1979) is yet a third saga of pursuit, this time all the way to Central America. Ray Midge is on the road looking for the man who has run off with his car (and of somewhat less interest to him, his wife.) Masters of Atlantis (1985) conjures the fictional cult of Gnomonism and takes an uproarious plunge into the dark heart of conspiratorial thinking and schismatic in-fighting. Gringos (1991), set in Mexico, follows an expatriate ex-Marine in his search to find a UFO hunter gone missing in the Yucatan, amid a supporting cast of archaeologists, drug-addled hippie millenarians, and the son of the “bravest dog in all Mexico.” A generous gathering of the nonfiction reveals Portis's skills as a reporter, above all in his coverage of the Civil Rights Movement; his appreciation of Arkansas history and landscape, as in “The Forgotten River”; and his poignancy as a family memoirist, on display in his recollection “Combinations of Jacksons.”

Mattie Ross, de catorce años, se adentra en el Territorio Indio para buscar al criminal que mató a su padre y vengar su muerte. Dicen que no se puede saber qué anida en el corazón de un hombre. En un viaje para comprar caballos, Frank Ross es asesinado por uno de sus trabajadores por una montura, ciento cincuenta dólares y dos piezas de oro. Con catorce años, Mattie, la hija de Ross, está dispuesta a vengar una muerte que ha quedado impune y a reclamar el cuerpo de su padre. Recurrirá al comisario más «implacable y cruel» de Arkansas, el tuerto Rooster Cogburn. Se adentrará en el Territorio Indio si es necesario. Luchará contra cualquier forajido. Porque Mattie quiere demostrar que el suyo es un corazón noble. Y que su valor es de ley. Valorde ley es un clásico americano ambientado en el Oeste, una novela amada por generaciones de lectores desde su publicación en 1968 y la fuente de inspiración de dos películas formidables. Un libro tan delicioso como aterrador sobre la crueldad, la venganza y la ineludible entrada a la vida adulta. Y un ejemplo de coraje y vitalidad indestructible, como su conmovedora protagonista. Opinión: « Valor de ley es la mejor novela con que me topado en mucho tiempo. ¿Qué libro me ha proporcionado mayor placer en los últimos cinco años? ¿O en los últimos veinte? Pues no sé. ¡Vaya escritor!» Roald DAhl

Fazer um livro cheio de humor, que seja ao mesmo tempo tocante e profundo, é uma tarefa difícil. Charles Portis é um dos raros escritores que conseguem aliar essas qualidades à perfeição. Em "O Cão do Sul", Ray Midge acabou de completar 26 anos, e pouco fez até agora. Foi revisor num jornal, pensou em estudar diversas coisas, de engenharia a história, mas não se aprofundou em nada. Recebe ainda dinheiro do pai, e é casado com uma garota que gostaria de ser algo mais na vida. Mas agora ele será obrigado a sair de casa e se lançar no mundo, e por um motivo simples: Norma, sua mulher, fugiu com o primeiro marido para o México, e ele está disposto a encontrá-los. A narrativa do escritor mergulha o leitor numa visão de mundo cômica e cáustica, povoada de figuras absurdas, hilárias, malucas, mas ainda assim capazes de grandes gestos. A grande genialidade de Portis, autor de Bravura indômita, é narrar uma viagem fantástica, que beira o absurdo, através dos olhos de um sujeito que preferiria nunca ter saído de casa. Publicado originalmente em 1979, "O Cão do Sul" se tornou, ao longo dos anos, um romance cult norte-americano.

Charles Portis é um dos mais importantes e aclamados escritores norte-americanos. Bravura indômita, seu romance mais famoso, foi publicado pela primeira vez em 1968 e deu origem à cultuada adaptação cinematográfica de mesmo nome, estrelada por John Wayne e que o fez ganhar seu único Oscar. Agora adaptada pelos irmãos Joel e Ethan Coen, a história de Portis volta às telas, dessa vez com Jeff Bridges e Matt Damon no elenco. Considerado uma obra excêntrica e, sobretudo, cômica, Bravura indômita conta a história de Mattie Ross, uma menina de Dardanelle, Arkansas, que aos 14 anos decide abandonar a fazenda natal para caçar o homem que matou traiçoeiramente seu pai e roubou os seus poucos pertences. Com a ajuda de Rooster Cogburn - o mais inclemente dos agentes federais à sua disposição - e de um homem da lei texano, ela parte numa jornada em território desconhecido à procura de vingança. Com uma incrível personalidade, a jovem protagonista tem de enfrentar homens violentos e a própria inconstância de seus aliados. Sua obstinação, no entanto, tem a capacidade de enfraquecer toda e qualquer resistência ao seu redor.

Un flingue planqué au fond de sa glacière, Ray Midge, un drôle d'oiseau de vingt-six ans, quitte son Arkansas et part en quête de ce qu'il a perdu : sa femme, ses cartes de crédit, sa Ford Torino et sa tranquillité d'esprit. Cap au Sud, droit sur l'Amérique centrale ; le double des récépissés de CB fournie par sa banque retraçant l'itinéraire de la tourterelle en fuite - et de son odieux ravisseur, l'indécrottable Guy Dupree. Entre escrocs rêveurs, hippies réactionnaires, évangélistes et témoins de Dieu-sait-quoi en tous genres, l'irréductible gringo ramassera sur sa route le docteur Reo Symes : épave échouée au fond d'un parc à roulottes mexicain, praticien radié, vétéran revenu de tout dont le sens des affaires illégales et la moralité oblique semblent n'avoir aucune limite. Sous les tropiques, les retrouvailles conjugales se précisent, un fameux duel se prépare à l'ombre des ruines mayas : le vent se lève, un ouragan se profile au Belize... De quoi relever encore la verve ébouriffante et méchamment drôle de Charles "Buddy" Portis et réjouir les amateurs de Hunter S Thompson, Jim Dodge, James Crumley, Elmore Leonard...

Mattie Ross er bare fjorten år når faren hennes blir skutt og drept av sine egne menn. Hun bestemmer seg for å ordne opp selv, men skjønner etter hvert at hun kan trenge litt hjelp, helst fra et ekte mannfolk. Hun forhører seg hos sheriffen i Fort Smith. Rooster Cogburn er en avdanket og drikkfeldig menneskejeger blir det sagt. Men Mattie satser alt på at Rooster er ekte vare, en revolvermann som ikke vet hva frykt er. Denne amerikanske klassikeren er filmatisert av Coen-brødrene.