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Charles Portis
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Masters of Atlantis Paperback – March 1, 2000

by Charles Portis (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 473 ratings
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Lamar Jimmerson is the leader of the Gnomon Society, the international fraternal order dedicated to preserving the arcane wisdom of the lost city of Atlantis. Stationed in France in 1917, Jimmerson comes across a little book crammed with Atlantean puzzles, Egyptian riddles, and extended alchemical metaphors. It's the Codex Pappus - the sacred Gnomon text. Soon he is basking in the lore of lost Atlantis, convinced that his mission on earth is to administer to and extend the ranks of the noble brotherhood.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harry N. Abrams
  4. Publication date
    March 1, 2000
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    5.45 x 1.2 x 7.95 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1585670219
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1585670215
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Portis is on a roll thanks to Overlook's rejuvenation of several of his older titles in recent months. This 1985 book "concerns the establishment of the order of the Gnomons, a secret society purporting to teach the hidden knowledge of Atlantis." Though LJ's reviewer found the book a tad over the top, he commented that "those who enjoy deadpan comedy should get a good laugh here" (LJ 10/15/85).
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Masters of Atlantis is a cock-eyed journey into an America of misfits and con-men, oddballs, and innocents by one of America's most respected novelists.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harry N. Abrams; Reprint edition (March 1, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1585670219
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1585670215
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 1.2 x 7.95 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 473 ratings

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Charles Portis

Charles Portis

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
473 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Seachranaiche
5.0 out of 5 stars Kooky Cults Without the Kool-Aid
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2004
Verified Purchase
The predilection of humans to involve themselves in cults is a perplexing topic that requires years of study and stacks of dictionary-sized psychology books in order to understand.

Or...

...you can just read Masters of Atlantis then move on to your degree. Charles Portis continues to hold me in awe with his deadpan comic genius. His silly plots read humorously on the surface, and move at a good clip, but suddenly one realizes that there is so very, very much more going on.

Where do cults come from and why do (presumably) rational people involve themselves in the nutty things? Portis' take on the topic spells it out in plain humor: an accidental encounter, an impressionable young man, the hangers on, the manipulators, and, gasp, the true believer who spawns a whole philosophy derived from the antics of a con man. Strangely enough, he begins to discern subtle truths about the nature of the universe. When the government gets involved things get sillier yet, but don't just write this off as fiction, we've all seen Congressional hearings; Charles Poris has got their number.

Line your Charles Portis books up next to your Kurt Vonnegut-they make great companions.
48 people found this helpful
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Rory Coker
4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious novel by a literary genius
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2020
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Between 1966 and 1991, Charles Portis wrote only 5 novels, and this is his next-to-last. The writer Portis is most often compared to is Mark Twain, and the comparison is apt, because like Twain, Portis is absolutely fascinated by the great variety of vivid modes of expression found in US speech. Every main character in this tale has a unique way of expressing himself, and it's very clear to the reader that Portis genuinely loves each and every one of these characters. His theme in MASTERS OF ATLANTIS is daffy religions and how they arise and evolve. Mark Twain himself was fascinated by the cult of "Christian Science," and wrote a book making fun of the movement and its founder in 1907. The 19th and 20th Centuries were particularly fertile fields for new religions, and what Portis has done here is to invent a new one, Gnomonism. [It is vaguely similar to Theosophy.] The saga begins when, in England in 1917, a mysterious hobo gives an American GI, Lamar Jimmerson, a hand-written pamphlet filled with esoteric gibberish. We then follow the rise and fall of Gnomonism in numerous hilarious set-pieces which will have many readers laughing out loud... and yet the main characters, while deeply ridiculous, always have a strong hold on the reader's sympathy. One reads along hoping that a happy ending will somehow emerge, despite the clear path to disaster and oblivion.

It's clear that the favorite character of the author is a born con-man named Austin Popper, who has a true gift of gab and can usually talk his way out of any situation, no matter how hopeless.

Portis died early this year. It's way past time for a renewed appreciation of his few but gemlike literary masterpieces.
20 people found this helpful
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Howard Mandel
3.0 out of 5 stars Strangely amusing book, with elusive theme
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2020
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I've got to give Charles Portis credit for writing a book that held my attention to the end, although it was about almost nothing, superficially. The premise, that a quite ordinary person could be quickly flimflammed into a lifetime devotion of "mysteries" that are nothing at all, might be taken as a satire on religion. Or perhaps on Americans' gullibility. But the point is never pressed. As the lifetime of the ostensible protagonist unfolds, he does very little beyond attract a small though often-changing coterie of fellows similarly immersing themselves in. . . very dubious considerations of triangles. These fellows have their ambitions, their vanities, their tics and flaws, and somehow a reader (I) passes time with them, idly as if reading The Pickwick Papers. Their adventures are rather mundane. There's something of Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt in this novel, too. Portis is quite empatheetic towards his characters, and covers some 50, 60 years of American society as if his figures lived pretty much in a bubble. What's this all about, from the author of True Grit?
2 people found this helpful
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Fifthbeatle
5.0 out of 5 stars So Smart and Funny
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2021
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A wonderful book about of a group of misfits, dreamers, oddballs, con artists and dimwits who criss-cross paths through their devotion to an invented pseudo-religious society (the details in the novel are wonderfully bizarre). The tonal shifts, both sudden and drawn out, are masterful. Equally masterful is the way Portis through deliberately flat, plain style, descriptive prose, creates sentences that vibrate with meaning. It's hard to believe that Portis didn't have his tongue in his cheek while wrtiing this, or better yet, feel like the cat who swallowed the canary. There will bemometns wwhne the humor will accrue and you will find yourself blerting out laughter.
6 people found this helpful
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James J. Bloom
5.0 out of 5 stars Side-Splitting Send-Up of The Nutcases of LaLa Land and Other American Oddities
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2009
Verified Purchase
I never read Portis before, so had little to compare it with, but this book made me laugh out loud---quite an embarassment on the subway, especially when the spittle hit the PC keyboard of the woman sitting next to me. I had been reading a lot about the seekers after the Lost Atlantis, including the Theosophists, Hollow Earth folks and assorted loonies of the American cult scene. So I was really ready for a good laugh at their expense and Portis more than measured up. The book is 248 pages of sustained hilarity. I didn't find it to be "over the top", as one reviewer mentioned. These characters may be a tad overstated, but you can find them in shopping malls, train stations, airports, state legislatures, TV commercials, talk shows, reality shows...they are all there and Portis has nailed them. I am re-reading the book and am laughing all over again, but then I am a slow learner and read aloud trailing my fingers along the print. Anyhow, I can see Will Ferrell in the role of Popper and perhaps the Coen Bros. as producer/directors in the cine-version.
19 people found this helpful
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Josh Hurst
4.0 out of 5 stars Unsung American Classic
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2023
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To me this book is emblematic of a particularly American strain of fiction— a rambling, episodic tall tale, one long joke that’s occasionally stretched too far but is consistently told with a wink and good cheer. Which is to say, I laughed out loud several times, and in a few chapters started to feel antsy and impatient. It’s no True Grit, but it’s definitely amusing, and it’s tale of a wayward cult could only have been fermented in American soil.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

terence dooley
5.0 out of 5 stars so inventive and funny
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2020
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Generally, humorous books lose steam half way through. This one goes on delivering and surprising to the very end.
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DG
4.0 out of 5 stars This book *might* help you make sense of the crazy Qanon phenomenon
Reviewed in Canada on April 15, 2021
Verified Purchase
Delusional people start a club or a church or a cult (or maybe it's all three) and Portis' writing has that magical kind of Hunter S. Thompson way about it where in the back of your mind you're thinking 'whoa this is crazy' and 'are there people actually like this in the world?' and of course the sad part is, that yes, there are actually people out there just like the ones in the book and they're out there right now doing and thinking batcrap crazy things...
So, if you want to perhaps understand how something ridiculous like Qanon begins, this book is as good a place as any to start, and it's entertaining as heck to boot.
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David Pritchard
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely outstanding. A tour de force.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 10, 2014
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This is a brilliant extended whimsy full of invention and colour, with some utterly compelling dialogue and characterisation. I commend it.
2 people found this helpful
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Davor
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in Canada on November 13, 2022
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Very, very different writing style from True Grit.
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brockstar81
4.0 out of 5 stars Witty
Reviewed in Canada on October 16, 2013
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The book is funny. Conan Obrien recommends this book. After reading I have recommended it to some friends, some of whom really enjoyed it and thought it was funny, some didn't get it. If you like books, read this one
One person found this helpful
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