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...to bring you this fantastic piece about TRUE GRIT by Malcolm Jones in Newsweek. Much like how dessert is our favorite part of any meal, the concluding paragraph is our favorite part of this column:

True Grit is one of the great American novels, with two of the greatest characters in our literature and a story worthy of their greatness. It is not just a book you can read over and over. It’s a book you want to read over and over, and each time you’re surprised by how good it is. In every Portis novel, someone makes some kind of journey. His protagonists all have a little Don Quixote in them. They are at odds with the ordinary ways of making do, and they don’t care what the world thinks. In True Grit, these elements are the raw ingredients for one of the finer epic journeys in American literature. The Coen brothers, with their wry, dry-eyed take on all things American, are supremely equipped to bring Portis’s vision to the screen intact. But do yourself two favors: read the novel before you see the movie. You won’t regret it. As for the second favor: do not loan this book out. You’ll never see it again.

Go here to read the article on newsweek.com!

True Lit: Movies eclipse their literary sources all the time, which is fine when the book is ‘Jaws.’ But when John Wayne overshadows a master such as Charles Portis, we have a problem.

When Charles Portis published True Grit in 1968, the novel became a critically praised bestseller. Then a year later the movie, starring John Wayne, came out, and after that no one even remembered there was a book. If we know how 14-year-old Mattie Ross hired Rooster Cogburn, a one-eyed U.S. marshal with a drinking problem, to hunt down the man who robbed and killed her father, it’s mostly because the movie never stops showing up on television. As a result, most of the pre-release chatter about the new Coen brothers version of True Grit, with Jeff Bridges as Rooster, continually calls it a remake of the John Wayne film. For Portis fans this is nothing short of a crime.

Criminal or not, there’s nothing unique going on here. Any time Hollywood takes a book and turns it into a successful movie, there’s every chance that the book, however good it may be, will be forgotten. For every To Kill a Mockingbird or Gone With the Wind, where the book and the movie are equally respected and neither trumps the other, there are five exam

2 Comments on We depart from our regularly scheduled holiday giveaways, last added: 12/9/2010

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@DogberryPages said, on 12/9/2010 4:17:00 PM

Would love to get this book!

Thanks!

@DogberryPages said, on 12/9/2010 4:19:00 PM

but you're not giving it away :)

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A must-read: this wonderful feature on True Grit from a newspaper columnist who knows the famously publicity-averse author. He joins the rest of us in being excited to see the upcoming Coen Brothers film adaptation!

Coens and Portis, genius on genius
December 5, 2010
The Arkansas News
By John Brummett
Go here to read the article online

All the insider movie rage last week was about the imminent debut at a movie theater near you of the genius Coen brothers’ version of “True Grit.”

It is from the novel by Charles Portis, the lovably reclusive author in Little Rock whom some consider the best American writer of our time or at least the most under-appreciated.

Portis is not much for attention by photograph or interview or tribute or the unsubstantiated superlative. His personal style is as lean and minimalist as some of his writing.

If he warms to you at all, and you cannot be sure of that, it is because you do not bother him or make over him and you do not let it rile you that, when he finally decides to engage, he goes all right-wing.

He loves having been a Marine in Korea. He likes the militaristic field-positioning of old-style football. He hates our litigious society.

Or at least that is what he said. I do not profess actually to know. I only profess to have had the privilege of inhabiting a bar stool next to his a time or two.

I am fairly sure he despises pretense especially when verbose.

Once when I was editor of the Arkansas Times when it was a slick monthly magazine, Portis gave me an epic piece about the Ouachita River that won a national prize. All he asked was that I not change a word unless I talked with him first and not to make a big splash about him on the cover.

I said I would never do such a thing.

That banner above the nameplate — “Charles Portis discovers the Ouachita” — was no big splash. It was medium-sized.

All he ever said to me about writing a novel was that “you gotta have a story.”

I took that to mean it is one thing to write a sentence or a paragraph or an essay, but that it is something else entirely to conceive of a drunken eye-patched U.S. marshal in Fort Smith who heads out for serious character development in the unlikely company of a noble teenage Arkansas hill girl determined to seek justice for the murder of her father by a most-evil outlaw.

That is “True Grit,” and what the Coen brothers — Joel and Ethan — have done with it has now been seen by a few critics, most of them admiring and a few extolling, and will get its theatrical release Dec. 22.

The main criticism has been that the movie, by clinging so closely to the novel and by stressing peculiar and archaic language and slow character development, may not offer the mass appeal of the action-adventure form.

But that is not detraction. It is roaring endorsement.

The Coen brothers are known for homages to great literature and for mastering the distinctive dialogue of places and periods, as

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A special guest post from Overlook publisher Peter Mayer, on his trip to Arkansas to meet Charles Portis, author of TRUE GRIT (along with other wonderful novels Norwood, Masters of Atlantis, Gringos and Dog of the South). Portis won't be participating in the media coverage surrounding the upcoming release of the Coen Brothers' film adaptation of his 1968 novel True Grit, he's considered one of the great American writers and a fascinating person. Here's Peter's experience meeting the man himself.


Meeting Charles Portis was an unlikely dream that came true. I had never been to Arkansas before, much less Little Rock, but as I found myself having to be there for another reason a couple of years ago, I just took a shot at calling or writing my author, despite having heard from many that Charles Portis was “reclusive.” He certainly over many years had ignored our various blandishments to take part in one or another author promotions, personal appearances, even some not too far from Little Rock.

As it turned out, Portis was anything but reclusive, simply not interested in being part of the publishing machine in which authors, for better or worse – and sometimes of necessity – play a leading role. He wanted his peace and he wanted it in order to write.

When my plane touched down in Little Rock, I didn’t believe he’d be there to meet me, but there he was with an anything-but-a modern pickup, half-ton I think, and before I’d climbed into the cab, hooked up my seat buckle, he asked me whether I was up for a drink. Indeed I was, I even hoped that Arkansas state laws permitted a thirsty man to drink and smoke at the same time. This not being the case, we went to The Capital Hotel. I’m not sure if this was a regular watering hole of his; I wasn’t sure then and after two days in Little Rock I still didn’t know. He certainly knew the clientele, many of the better known Little Rock grandees and good old boys. I quickly came to see that Charlie Portis was, yes, very regional, but also something much more sophisticated, something certainly not apparent in his novels. There probably are good reasons why readers sometimes mistakenly connect him with regional writers but variant purposes like Mark Twain and Cormac McCarthy. The connections have often more to do with a sense of place than anything else.

Frankly, I found mys

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The excitement is building--here in our offices and throughout the country--for the new Coen Brothers film adaptation of TRUE GRIT. We love it! Check out the latest from the fantastic entertainment blog from USA, "Character Approved."

True Grit: A 1968 Novel Rides to Hollywood with Joel and Ethan Coen
Written By Ann Kingman
Nov 26, 2010

One of the most anticipated films of 2010 may also bring new life to a classic work of fiction. True Grit, the latest film from Joel and Ethan Coen, stars Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Matt Damon, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld. It is set to open December 22nd. The Coen brothers are on record as saying that their Character Approved project is not a remake of the 1969 John Wayne film, but that they are basing their movie on the 1968 novel of the same name that was written by Charles Portis.

Speaking about the earlier film, Ethan Coen told Comingsoon.net: "It made very little impression on me, the movie. We subsequently both read the book and the book made a huge impression and I guess that's kind of why we're interested in doing the movie."

"It's not a great movie but it is a great book actually," Joel Coen added.

Portis' book tells the the tale of Mattie Ross, a 14 year-old girl in 1880 Arkansas who leaves home to avenge her father's murder at the hands of farmhand Tom Chaney. Along the way, Mattie convinces mean, one-eyed U.S.Marshal Rooster Cogburn to assist her, and the two form an uneasy partnership as they track down the outlaw gang that Chaney has joined.

The trailer (embedded below) for the reimagined True Grit has recently hit theaters. It will remind many of No Country for Old Men, which the Coen brothers wrote and directed in 2007. The film was a faithful adaptation of the original Cormac McCarthy novel, and the hit western spurred sales of McCarthy's book. I'm willing to bet that True Grit brings the Portis novel to top of the bestseller lists as well.

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We always count on the New Yorker to point us in the direction of the best-looking books and film, and this literary guide to holiday movies is no exception. We're glad they mentioned our slick new edition of TRUE GRIT (read that excerpt below!) but we're also excited for the new adaptation of THE TEMPEST starring Helen Mirren as Prospera.

“True Grit” (December 25th) is the latest from the Coen brothers, and is based on the novel by Charles Portis ,which has been given a spruced-up new package and an afterward by Donna Tartt (“The Secret History”). Featuring Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Jeff Bridges, “True Grit” is the tale of Mattie Ross, whose father has been murdered; she attempts to track down the killer with assistance from a U.S. Marshal.

Do you plan on seeing any of these films? (And more importantly, will you read the book first?) Happy movie-going!

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And of course, Matt Damon's not alone--Portis has long been considered one of the great living American novelists and True Grit is beloved among readers. But it's wonderful to hear people involved with the new Coen Brothers film acknowledge the influence of the original novel in the new adaptation.

"It's just a brilliant adaptation," enthuses Damon. "They change stuff to make a two-hour film out of it, but retain so much of the dialogue, and Charles Portis - who is still alive - has an ear for the way people talk. It's a really special script."

Check out Empire Magazine's exclusive interview with Matt Damon for more. And don't forget to become a fan of True Grit on Facebook to keep up with all of the latest news and buzz surrounding the film, set to release in December!

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Get excited for December 25...

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which hits stores on November 5! You've probably heard about the new movie based on the novel, opening December 25 from the Coen Brothers and starring Jeff Bridges.

Look for our new edition of this Charles Portis classic next week!

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A clever mash-up of Toy Story 3 visuals and dialogue from the upcoming Coen Brothers’ True Grit.

(Thanks, Gary Meyer)

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I knew Donna Tartt, a huge fan of Charles Portis, wrote the afterward to the reissued True Grit. I didn’t know that she read for the audiobook. Might be the first one I ever listen to. See also Tartt on being read to as a child.

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Joel and Ethan Coen are working on an adaptation of the classic western True Grit by Charles Portis for their next project. According to Variety, their adaptation of the 1969 picture will hew more closely to the Charles Portis book on which it is based. In the book, a 14-year-old girl, an aging US marshal, and another lawman track her father’s killer through Indian country. While the 1969 version focused on Wayne, the Coens’ version will highlight the girl’s point of view.

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