![“Here’s how [Tom] Wolfe described his former colleague’s transition from journalist to novelist: ‘[Charles] Portis quit cold one day; just like that, without a warning. He returned to the United States and moved into a fishing shack in Arkansas. In six months he wrote a beautiful little novel called Norwood. Then he wrote True Grit, which was a best seller. The reviews were terrific…. A fishing shack! In Arkansas! It was too goddamned perfect to be true, and yet there it was.’ Wolfe’s trademark hyperventilation is meant to imply that it’s unthinkable that anyone could write successful novels in a backwater like Arkansas. The truth is that novelists can work absolutely anywhere, and more than a few people think they’re better off far away from the media hum, high cost of living, and obsessive mirror gazing that go on in places like Wolfe’s adopted hometown of New York City. Besides, Portis didn’t write fiction about Arkansas; he wrote fiction out of Arkansas.”
- How Charles Portis Got Made: On Escape Velocity by Bill Morris
[Image via Garden and Gun]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/baf4266fb721e1add9ccc84758151097/tumblr_mg1vmvO5wC1r6xvfko1_1280.jpg)
“Here’s how [Tom] Wolfe described his former colleague’s transition from journalist to novelist: ‘[Charles] Portis quit cold one day; just like that, without a warning. He returned to the United States and moved into a fishing shack in Arkansas. In six months he wrote a beautiful little novel called Norwood. Then he wrote True Grit, which was a best seller. The reviews were terrific…. A fishing shack! In Arkansas! It was too goddamned perfect to be true, and yet there it was.’
Wolfe’s trademark hyperventilation is meant to imply that it’s unthinkable that anyone could write successful novels in a backwater like Arkansas. The truth is that novelists can work absolutely anywhere, and more than a few people think they’re better off far away from the media hum, high cost of living, and obsessive mirror gazing that go on in places like Wolfe’s adopted hometown of New York City. Besides, Portis didn’t write fiction about Arkansas; he wrote fiction out of Arkansas.”
- How Charles Portis Got Made: On Escape Velocity by Bill Morris
[Image via Garden and Gun]
![“Here lies the key to [Charles] Portis’s success as a novelist: he feels tremendous tenderness for every one of his characters, like the forbearing father of some unruly but loveable brood.”
- How Charles Portis Got Made: On Escape Velocity by Bill Morris](http://25.media.tumblr.com/19145384567d8f6565c9d24a38a3f56b/tumblr_mg1vgptIc11r6xvfko1_400.jpg)
