8.2 /10 1 Votes
Language English Media type Print Originally published 1964 Genre Crime Fiction Adaptations Coup de Torchon (1981) | 4.1/5 Goodreads Publication date 1964 Pages 143 pp Publisher Gold Medal Books Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Jim Thompson books, Crime Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pop. 1280 is a crime novel by Jim Thompson, published in 1964. NPR's Stephen Marche described it as Thompson's "true masterpiece, a preposterously upsetting, ridiculously hilarious layer cake of nastiness, a romp through a world of nearly infinite deceit."
Contents
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Plot
Pop. 1280 is the first-person narrative of Nick Corey, the listless sheriff of Potts County, the "47th largest county in the state". He lives in Pottsville which has a population of "1280 souls".
Sheriff Nick Corey presents himself as a genial fool, simplistic, over-accommodating, and harmless to a fault, given he is Pottsville's sole lawman. From the outset Nick's problems appear to be those of a harmless fool, managing his shrew wife and idiot brother-in-law while simultaneously having affairs in town; negotiations with criminals and undesirables in Pottsville; the evasion of work; and a difficult election campaign against a more worthy candidate.
Adaptations
Pop. 1280 was adapted as the French film Coup de Torchon (1981), directed by Bertrand Tavernier, set in French West Africa in 1938.