Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Norwood | 1966 |
| True Grit | 1968 |
| The Dog of the South | 1979 |
| Masters of Atlantis | 1985 |
| Gringos | 1991 |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany | 2012 |
About Charles Portis
Charles Portis was an American novelist from Arkansas, best known for “Norwood” (1966) and the Western “True Grit” (1968), both of which were made into films. He published five novels between 1966 and 1991, books noted for their deadpan style and picaresque plots.
Portis was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, in 1933 and grew up in several towns in the south of the state, including Hamburg and Mount Holly. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps during the Korean War and reached the rank of sergeant. After his discharge in 1955 he studied journalism at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, graduating in 1958. He then worked as a reporter for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Arkansas Gazette before spending four years at the New York Herald Tribune, where he covered civil rights stories in the South and served as London bureau chief. He left journalism in 1964 and went back to Arkansas to write fiction full time.
His first novel, “Norwood”, follows Norwood Pratt, a young ex-Marine from Ralph, Texas, who is talked into driving two cars to New York by a con man. “True Grit” was first serialised in The Saturday Evening Post. It is narrated by Mattie Ross, who at 14 hires Deputy Marshal Rooster Cogburn to help her hunt down Tom Chaney, the hired hand who murdered her father.
The 1969 film of “True Grit” won John Wayne the Academy Award for Best Actor, and “Norwood” followed in 1970 with Glen Campbell and Kim Darby. Joel and Ethan Coen made a second film of “True Grit” in 2010, starring Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld.
Three more novels came later: “The Dog of the South” (1979), “Masters of Atlantis” (1985), a satire about a First World War veteran who founds an esoteric society, and “Gringos” (1991), about an American expatriate in Mexico. His last book, “Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany” (2012), gathers journalism, short stories and a play, “Delray’s New Moon”. Portis died in Little Rock on 17 February 2020, aged 86. The Library of America published his “Collected Works” in 2023.