Imagine getting home from a long day at work and being able to sit down and travel to a world with cowboys and criminals. Reading is a way to escape from the real world for a while. Authors write books to entertain their readers. Many great authors have come and gone and have left many great pieces of literature in their wake. One of these authors is Charles Portis. Charles Portis is one of America’s greatest writers and has written a variety of books and short stories.
Charles Portis was born in 1933 in El Dorado, Arkansas. He was known as Buddy by his friends (Chilton). His parents were Samuel and Alice Portis. The family also included Charles two brothers and one sister. He spent many days outdoors with friends and family. Charles went to the movies and watched western movies a lot which helped grow his interest in the west. Portis and his family moved to many different places in Arkansas including Hamburg. After graduating high school in Hamburg, Charles enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. He achieved the rank of sergeant and then got discharged in 1955 at the age of 22. After Portis was discharged from the Marine Corps, he went to college at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville to get his degree in journalism. He obtained his degree in 1958.
Charles Portis’ career started when he was writing for the University and the Northwest Arkansas Times. The writing he did helped him later on with writing one of his famous novels, True Grit. Once he graduated from the University, he worked for many local newspapers, such as the Arkansas Gazette, as a reporter. He later moved from Little Rock, Arkansas to New York to work for the New York Herald Tribune His career was very successf...
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...rall, he is an amazing writer who will always be known as one of Americas best authors.
Works Cited
Chilton, Martin. "Charles Portis, the Man Who Wrote True Grit - Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
Idol, John L., Jr. “Charles Portis.” In Contemporary Fiction Writers of the South, edited by Joseph M. Flora and Robert Bain. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993. An appreciative summary. 28 Apr. 2011
Magill, Frank N. Magill's Survey of American Literature, Volume 5. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1991. 29 Apr. 2011
Moore, Bryan L. "Charles McColl Portis (1933) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas." The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. 30 Dec. 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
"Portis." Emory University---English Department "Where Courageous Inquiry Leads" Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
Kellman, Steven G. "Magill's Survey of American Literature." Kellman, Steven G. Magill's Survey of American Literature. Pasadena: Salem Press, Inc, 2007.
...rian who showed at no end that he would stop doing what he loved, writing about America and enriching the minds of his readers and students.
When he was fifteen years old, his mother died from appendicitis. From fifteen years of age to his college years, he lived in an all-white neighborhood. From 1914-1917, he shifted from many colleges and academic courses of study as well as he changed his cultural identity growing up. He studied physical education, agriculture, and literature at a total of six colleges and universities from Wisconsin to New York. Although he never completed a degree, his educational pursuits laid the foundation for his writing career.
Litz, A. Walton. American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies, Supplement 2, Part 2. New York: Charles
...n American Literature. By Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 387-452. Print.
Wright, Richard. "The Man Who Was Almost a Man." Literature and the Writing Process. Ed.
The first writing influence in Hemmingway’s life came from his first job, as a reporter at the Kansas City Star newspaper. The Star’s style and usage book advocated using short sentences, active verbs, authenticity, clarity, smoothness, and writing in a positive tone. This left an impression on Hemmingway that can be seen in all of his writing. He called them “the best rules I ever learned in the business of writing” and, based upon his work, never forgot them. (Online ref. #2) While working at The Star, Hemmingway made the next major decision in his life, joining the Red Cross to help in the war effort in Europe. (Online Ref #3)
He is truly a great writer, and Of Mice and Men is no exception, but while reading this
Although not a writer himself, Maxwell Evarts Perkins holds an auspicious place in the history of American literature. Perkins served as editor for such well-acclaimed authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Ezra Pound, Ring Lardner, James Jones and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Through his advocacy of these modernist writers, he played an important role in the success of that movement. Perkins association with Thomas Wolfe is perhaps his most famous, but his relationships with Fitzgerald and Hemingway are equally note-worthy. He was, at different times, their editor, friend, creditor and the link between them.
Ever since I was a child, I've never liked reading. Every time I was told to read, I would just sleep or do something else instead. In "A Love Affair with Books" by Bernadete Piassa tells a story about her passion for reading books. Piassa demonstrates how reading books has influenced her life. Reading her story has given me a different perspective on books. It has showed me that not only are they words written on paper, they are also feelings and expressions.
As a result of Irving´s prodigious skill and writing, he dramatically impacted society, one critic says ¨Irving is known as ¨The Father of American Literature¨, as the first American writer to make his living primarily through his creative work… the first American acclaimed by the English literary establishment as worthy of recognition was seen as our literary declarer of Independence.¨ Irving published his stories for the mere pleasure of writing them. Irving started out becoming a lawyer, but his true passion since the beginning was writing, and as a result of his literature ¨thousands of Americans all writing stories based in some American environment and centered around an American character with a touch of an American theme.¨
Perkins, Geroge, and Barbara Perkins. The American Tradition in Literature. 12th ed. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print
Gwendolyn Brooks once said “I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it, and experiencing the challenge”. For some, writing may not be enjoyable or easy, but for Brooks writing was her life. Gwendolyn Brooks not only won countless awards, but also influenced the lives of several African Americans.
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 1190-1203. Print.
brilliant writer, but yet his books are always top sellers. There has to be something said in that. Write on, Stephen, write on.