Jay Jennings

@jayjenni.bsky.social

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Writer: CARRY THE ROCK / Editor: CHARLES PORTIS: COLLECTED WORKS / Screenwriter: A TREACHEROUS COUNTRY and DOG OF THE SOUTH jayjennings.net

SHEPARD TO DARK January 7, 2007-Kentucky [handwritten] Dear John, Sitting here by the fire in Kentucky on a grayish wet day & happened to notice a book laying randomly on a table— The Dog of the South by our old friend Charlie Portis & remembered that mad day in San Rafael years ago when, stoned of course, we absolutely had to have a copy of that book in our possession. It became a matter of life & death as we rushed over to the library in the white Nova only to discover they were about to close for the day & we began begging & pleading with the librarian how desperate our situation was—how far we'd traveled to get there-how we needed to have that book as though it were our last drink of water. Then, of course, the poor fellow let us in, we located the book, checked it out then, as I remember, neither one of us managed to read more than about five pages of the damn thing & we were on to the next mad caper-stealing bathrobes or something like that. Those were indeed rare & cherished days full of a wild sense of being alive but not having a clue why or what or how.
Draft of “Visions of Johanna”
Newsletter from Rep. French Hill has headline showing Arkansas spelled “Arkasnas.”
The final paragraph from an early draft of Charles Portis's novel TRUE GRIT. Between the typed lines, he's exploring alternate phrasings in pen. He still hasn't decided on whether he should keep the name LaBoeuf or change it to Beaufort. His pen wasn't working at first, so he primed it with some circular squiggles. He's also calculating the ages of the characters and as a result changes LaBoeuf's age from "eighties" to "seventies."
The cover of the first edition of the novel Masters of Atlantis, depicting an art deco style illustration of two men in hats, coats and ties standing behind a conical hat called a “poma” in the book.
A photo of John Faulkner, William’s brother, taken with his head facing to the left. The family resemblance, down to the thin mustache, is striking.