In a recent essay on Salon, Allen Barra celebrates the 40th anniversary of True Grit, the Charles Portis classic recently reissued by The Overlook Press: "True Grit shares this with Portis' other novels: His characters are relentlessly grim while his prose is relentlessly funny. As Roy Blount Jr. put it, "Portis could have been Cormac McCarthy if he wanted to, but he'd rather be funny." That humor is often grim and always subtle; Portis is light-years from being 'the quintessential Southern humorist' he is often reputed to be, because he isn't a quintessential anything except original. I will leave it to others to determine whether True Grit is Charles Portis' best or quintessential novel, but it is the best Portis novel to read first."
Friday, December 07, 2007
TRUE GRIT Featured on Salon.com
In a recent essay on Salon, Allen Barra celebrates the 40th anniversary of True Grit, the Charles Portis classic recently reissued by The Overlook Press: "True Grit shares this with Portis' other novels: His characters are relentlessly grim while his prose is relentlessly funny. As Roy Blount Jr. put it, "Portis could have been Cormac McCarthy if he wanted to, but he'd rather be funny." That humor is often grim and always subtle; Portis is light-years from being 'the quintessential Southern humorist' he is often reputed to be, because he isn't a quintessential anything except original. I will leave it to others to determine whether True Grit is Charles Portis' best or quintessential novel, but it is the best Portis novel to read first."
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