Charles Portis's reputation rests primarily on his second novel, True Grit (1968), which skillfully blends a dry wit much in the mainstream of American regional humor, plot conventions and stock characters from a Western adventure story, and the serious fictional themes of self-reliance and coming of age. Unfortunately, the real quality of the novel is overshadowed by the fact that its film adaptation provided one of John Wayne's best-known roles, Rooster Cogburn, and his only Academy Award. Like Portis's other two novels, True Grit is firmly rooted in his home state of Arkansas and its singular blend of Southern and Southwestern culture. His fiction explores the clash between the temperaments and values of the old and new South and between traditional Southern traits such as independence and gentility and the untamed, willful quality of the Southwest. In this respect, Portis is a unique, entertaining, potentially important regional writer.

Portis's...