Katherine Anne Porter:

Compiled By Angie Davidson, Millikin University

Biography:
1890-May 15 Born Callie Russell Porter in Indian Creek Texas to a poverty stricken family
1892-Mother dies in childbirth and of bronchial condition
Father takes children to live with grandmother in Kyle, Texas
1896-Porter claims to have made up her mind to be a writer
1901-Grandmother dies and family moves to San Antonio, begins Porter's affinity with Mexico
Callie attends private Thomas School for 1 year and acts and sings in summer stock
1906 Marries John Henry Koontz (railroad clerk) in hopes of gaining financial security, converts to Catholicism
1915 Divorced claiming "nothing in common and physical abuse"
Retains Catholic religion but changes name to Katherine Anne after her grandmother
Katherine diagnosed with Tuberculosis spends two years in sanatoriums
1917 Begins journalism career writing for the Critic in Fort Wayne criticizing dramas and writing society gossip
1918 Writes for Rocky Mountain News in Denver, almost dies during influenza epidemic which becomes subject of her later fictional piece Pale Horse, Pale Rider
1919 Moves to Greenwich Village, New York ghostwrites, writes children's stories, and does publicity work for motion picture company
1920 Accepts a job at magazine company in Mexico and participates in education and art reforms instituted during the Mexican Revolution
Teaches dance at girl's school and meets with revolutionaries of Mexico and abroad
1921 Returns to New York
1922 Publishes first short story "Maria Conception" in Century magazine about her experiences in Mexico
1922-1926 Travels with friends and male companions tries unsuccessfully to have a child
1926 Marries Ernest Stock an English interior decorator and painter ten years her junior, moves to Connecticut
1927 Katherine finds it difficult to work while married and leaves Ernest after contracting gonorrhea from him and having to have a hysterectomy from the infection-moves back to New York
Supports herself by writing book reviews for the New York Herald Tribune, the New Republic, and the Nation
1929 becomes ill once again and group of friends sends her to recover in Bermuda, gives her inspiration for her Southern Plantation life series, creates alter ego Miranda Gay, and writes first in story series "The Fig Tree"
1930 with help of lover and critic, Matthew Josephson she publishes Flowering Judas, a volume of short stories
1930 Returns to Mexico to work on her novel Ship of Fools and marries Eugene Pressley a writer 13 years her junior
1931 She is awarded a Guggenheim fellowship and takes cruise from Vera Cruz to Bremen, Germany her log would go on to become Ship of Fools, on this trip she meets Hermann Goring in Berlin and it is rumored she predicts the Nazi movement and tries to publish her findings in the U.S. but her advice falls on deaf ears
1933 Pressley and Porter settle in Paris
1936 Return to U.S. and Texas
1938 Divorces Pressley
Immediately marries Albert Erskine, a graduate student and business manager of the Southern Review 20 years her junior
When he discovers her real age he divorces her
1939 Receiving much critical acclaim, makes public appearances, lectures, and teaches woman's workshops has more and more financial problems
1943 Accepts appointment to Chair of Poetry at library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and publishes The Leaning Tower and Other Stories in 1944
1945 After end of an affair with a young married soldier she moves to Hollywood and takes job as a script writer which only last 13 weeks
She finds Hollywood too vulgar and hates the censorship of films
1945-1949 Remains in California working on novel and writing literary critique
Late 1940's and early 1950's teaches at Stanford and University of Michigan, has very unique teaching style, very popular among students but too unprofessional for the faculty
1962 Lives in New York and Connecticut and finally publishes Ship of Fools after pressure from publishers
Book met with rave reviews worldwide, especially in Germany, Porter gains success she always dreamed of and lives lavish lifestyle in Washington, D.C.
Drinks heavily offended by small number of bad reviews and publications of her past secrets (her real name…)
1964 United Artists bought film rights to Ship of Fools for $400,000
1966 Porter wins Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
1970 Receives Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters and has room of library dedicated to her from University of Maryland, arranges to leave her papers of the UoM
1977 With Porter's health fading her personal secretary assembles the material for her a last published work The Never Ending Wrong, an essay about the Sacco-Vanzetti executions
1980 September 18, 1980 Katherine Anne Porter Dies
 
Published Primary Works:

Short Story Collections
Flowering Judas and Other Stories-1930
Maria Conception
Virgin Violeta
The Martyr
Magic
Rope
He
Theft
That Tree
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Flowering Judas
The Cracked-Looking-Glass
Hacienda
The Leaning Tower and Other Stories-1944
The Old Order
The Source
The Journey
The Witness
The Circus
The Last Leaf
The Fig Tree
The Grave
The Downward Path to Wisdom
A Day's Work
Holiday
The Leaning Tower
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter-1965. Reprinting of all the above.
Long Stories/Short Novels
Pale Horse, Pale Rider-1939
Old Mortality
Noon Wine
Pale Horse, Pale Rider

Novel
Ship of Fools-1962

Essays
The Days Before 1952
The Never-Ending Wrong-1977

Writing Style and Reputation:
Overall Porter is known as a writer of tremendous clarity. Her works have been compared to that of Faulkner and Hemingway in their stylistic beauty.  However, she herself creates this unique style and constructs it into remarkable objective pieces full of imagery and symbolism. Porter focuses on the darker side of reality but uses her own sort of humor to lighten her writings. In addition, her works are often focused in such Southern locations as Mexico, Texas, and the Southwest in general.

Katherine Anne Porter Links:
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kaporter.htm -Books and Writers Reference Guide
http://www.britannica.com/ -Encyclopedia Britannica Online
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/porter.htmls -PAL Reference Guide
http://www.lib.umd.edu/UMCP/RARE/797hmpgM.html -University of Maryland Reference Library

Works Cited:
"Katherine Anne Porter." Books and Writers Reference   Site.   http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kaporter.htm. (March 11, 2001).
"Katherine Anne Porter." Encyclopedia Britannica 1999 Ed.
"Katherine Anne Porter." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. www.britannica.com. (March 11, 2001).
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 7: Early Twentieth Century-Katherine Anne Porter. "PAL: Perspectives in American Literature-A Research and Reference Guide. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/porter.html#mla. (March 11, 2001).
"The Katherine Anne Porter Society." http://www.lib.umd.edu/Guests/KAP/. (March 11, 2001).

Last modified March,2001 by M. O'Conner. Contact: moconner@millikinor Click Here to Email