Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Short Story Wednesday: "The Altruist" by Charles Portis, TRUMPET #1, February 1965, edited by Tom Reamy; Portis celebration online tonight

Library of America, to hype their new omnibus of Portis novels, a few short stories and other writing, are offering an online event live today, 17 May 2023, at 6-7pm ET, and now archived in video and audio-only versions here, to which they've invited Roy Blount, Jr., Roz Chast, Ian Frazier, Mary Roach, Paul Theroux, Ed Park, Calvin Trillin, "and other special guests" (including recurring Portis anthology editor Jay Jennings)...how much anyone gets to say in an hour is anyone's guess, but that's a good bunch to hear from. Registration here. They'll post it online at their site after the recording, barring the flood...their self-congratulatory title for the event is "‘The Best American Writer You’ve Never Heard Of’: A Tribute to Charles Portis", which is an odd claim, given True Grit alone and its lasting impressions on the culture. "The Altruist" is the earliest piece of fiction per se cited in the FictionMags Index that Portis saw published, and as far as I can tell it hasn't ever been reprinted.

The illustration, by Hollis Williford, very much in the style of those in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine at that time.


Trumpet's first issue can be read at the highlighted link.

Trumpet was a relatively elaborate fanzine (a relatively low-budget magazine published for distribution mostly to fellow fantastic-fiction fans), begun in 1965 by editor and publisher Tom Reamy, who had published an earlier fanzine and decided to try something a bit more adventurous with this title, which he would publish sporadically for a decade (and win two Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine with, in 1967 and '69) and then move on to a more elaborate magazine with some, if limited, newsstand circulation, Nickelodeon, which had a much shorter run due to Reamy's early death, from a heart attack in 1977. Reamy had by the mid '70s begun to write increasingly warmly-received fiction, most of it fantasy, and won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1976. Reamy was one of the earlier "openly" gay fantastica writers in the fantasy/sf community, and his continuing interest in film had led to some work in that industry. 

"The Altruist" is set in the last days of the Korean War, and is an interesting and (truly!) gritty, if anecdotal, account of the less than rewarding experiences of some frontline troops, notably Corporal Hesse, already a veteran of too much combat, and the more problematic Private Rhylick, who alternately inspires sympathy and irritation in Hesse; the rest of his unit also have mixed reviews of his service so far. The story as a story has a rather And Then This Happened feel to it, as if Portis wasn't quite sure how best to approach the narrative, and if to write it more like a combat bulletin (Portis was a professional reporter before he began a primarily fiction-writing career) or a more-traditional short story; I wonder if it had been a been a trunk story for a while before Portis had offered it to Reamy, or if Portis had been involved in any way with speculative-fiction fandom before this story's publication (there's no information on how Portis and Reamy knew of each other in the issue, unless my quick skim beyond reading the story missed it). So, a curio, and it would be interesting to know more about how the story arrived at its publication site and how long before publication it had been written. Also, it seems like that at least one or two typos might've been introduced in the text during layout (I believe most of the text of the magazine was shot from typewritten pages, rather than typeset). 

Interesting that at least two notable and innovative US writers who came to fiction-writing after journalism careers (among other work), not primarily associated with fantasy or sf per se, got their (possibly) first fiction published in fantastica "markets" (if Trumpet paid at all at the time, which is unlikely) in the '60s: Portis and David Ely, best remembered these days for his heavily metaphorical sf novel Seconds (and the film made from it) but also notably active in crime fiction and other work, whose first published fiction seems to have been in Cele Goldsmith's fantasy and sf magazines at Ziff-Davis Publications, Fantastic and Amazing Stories: Fact and Science Fiction, in 1961.

So, please consider checking in on the hour (or slightly more) celebrating Portis, and please do see the other Short Story Wednesday entries at Patti Abbott's blog.

11 comments:

George said...

I'm a big Charles Portis fan so I'll check out this panel discussion. Bill Crider was a huge fan of Portis.

Tony said...

The issue also has a Leonora Carrington story. Which is cool.

Rich Horton said...

Portis was a sergeant in the Marines during the Korean War, so he knew of what he spake, as it were. But I do agree with your take on the story. I am a bit disappointed that the LOA seems to know nothing of this piece, however.

Todd Mason said...

Well, Rich, LOA chose (I'm not sure if in consultation with/at the request of the heirs/estate of Portis) only to include the four short stories in their volume Portis (and/or his editors) had reprinted in his last book, edited by Jay Jennings (who also edited the LOA volume), Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany from 2012. So, a number of Portis stories are omitted in both volumes. (Portis, you might recall, died in 2020...I'm not sure of how well he was doing in his late years, or if he was less enthusiastic about his early short work.) I'd look forward to a Complete Portis Short Fiction volume, myself.

Tony--agreed, it's cool...though the Carrington story is a reprint, and the Portis is not only new in the issue, but may be the first short story (as opposed to an arguably nonfictional humor piece) Portis saw published...and the floodgates were opened!

George--I've yet to read more than True Grit and a few scattered shorter works, but I've been meaning to read more. As with nearly every writer I've enjoyed, and generally in life. Bill and you not Portis's only fans among our various interconnected groups of readers...

Rich Horton said...

Certainly, Todd, I'm okay with the LOA deciding that certain stories needn't be reprinted in that book -- especially if Portis was none too fond of them. It's just that I don't even recall a mention of "The Altruist" in any of the flood of material about Portis I've seen recently. It seems significant enough, and interesting enough, especially as it seems to be his very first fiction publication, that it could have been nodded at.

That said, maybe it has been mentioned somewhere, and I haven't seen that.

I have yet to read GRINGOS or MASTERS OF ATLANTIS, though I certainly will, but I can recommend NORWOOD and THE DOG OF THE SOUTH quite highly.

Todd Mason said...

One can wonder about why Jennings (if it was he) chose only to feature the same four short stories in each book, as well.

For convenience, here's the current FictionMags Index listing for Portis's work in magazines:
Portis, Charles (McColl) (1933-2020) (about) (items)
Damn!, (hu) Nugget October 1957
The Altruist, (ss) Trumpet #1, February 1965
That New Sound from Nashville, (ar) The Saturday Evening Post February 12 1966
Traveling Light, (sl) The Saturday Evening Post June 18 1966, etc.
True Grit, (n.) The Saturday Evening Post May 18 1968, etc.
Your Action Line, (ss) The New Yorker December 12 1977
Gringos (book Excerpt), (ss) The Atlantic Monthly September 1990
Nights Can Turn Cool in Viborra, (ss) The Atlantic Monthly December 1992
I Don’t Talk Service No More, (ss) The Atlantic Monthly May 1996
The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth, (ar) Oxford American #48, Winter 2005
Delray’s New Moon, (pl) Oxford American #78, Summer 2012

...which does suggest the question, is "The Altruist" the only inarguable short story omitted from the two volumes? I suspect not, but it might be.

Anonymous said...

Rich,

I also enjoyed Norwood and Dog of the South. However they are similar enough that they blend together in my mind as if they were different events in the life of the same character. I couldn’t tell you what event occurred in which of those two novels.

Gerard Saylor said...

I signed up for the online program. Hopefully I can listen to it on my way home after work.
I've always thought of fanzines as something dependent on available and affordable photocopiers; meaning that I thought of 'zines not coming about until the '70s. Heck, anyone with an available mimeograph could crank out copies and mail them.

Todd Mason said...

Yes...mimeography, and such similar processes as hectography and ditto and spirit duplication were pretty common, along with (on the high end) various sorts of professional-level printing, and on the low end, typing with carbon paper for a Very few copies...all used to produce fanzines and contributions to fannish APAs or amateur press associations. And the concept spread, along with similar inspirations moving people doing other sorts of amateur and low-budget presentations.

TracyK said...

I did not realize a collection of Portis's novels was being published by the LOA. I have only read TRUE GRIT and off and on I look for others but haven't purchased any. That might be the way to go.

Todd Mason said...

Tracy, I'm in essentially the same boat, except I've known the Portis LOA volume has been coming for a few months, at least...I'd never tried to find his work beyond TRUE GRIT, while being at least vaguely aware of it (the paperback editions of TRUE GRIT were almost impossible to miss in the bookish realms of my youth).