Katherine Anne Porter | |
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 Porter in 1930 | |
| Born | Callie Russell Porter (1890-05-15)May 15, 1890 Indian Creek, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | September 18, 1980(1980-09-18) (aged 90) Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1920–1977 |
| Notable awards |
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| Spouse | |
Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, poet, and political activist. Her 1962 novelShip of Fools was the best-selling novel in the United States that year, but hershort stories received much more critical acclaim. In 1966, she was awarded thePulitzer Prize for Fiction[1] and the U.S.National Book Award[2] forThe Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter.
Katherine Anne Porter was born inIndian Creek, Texas, asCallie Russell Porter to Harrison Boone Porter and Mary Alice (Jones) Porter. Although her father claimed maternal descent from American frontiersmanDaniel Boone, Porter herself altered this alleged descent to be from Boone's brother Jonathan as "the record of his descendants was obscure, so that no-one could contradict her". This relationship was unfounded.[3] Porter was enthusiastic about her own genealogy and family history, and spent years constructing a "quasi-official" version of her ancestry alleging descent from a companion ofWilliam the Conqueror,[4] although "most of the genealogical connections she boasted did not exist."[5] The writerO. Henry (William Sydney Porter) was claimed as her father's second cousin,[6] but later research established that "except the accident of her name", there was no connection. Despite her focus on her family history, Porter failed to identify her relationship toLyndon B. Johnson, 36thPresident of the United States, his grandmother being the sister of Porter's uncle-by-marriage.[7] The rest of Porter's family did not take her genealogical embellishments seriously, considering them to be part of her character as an "accomplished raconteur".[8]
In 1892, when Porter was two years old, her mother died two months after giving birth. Porter's father took his four surviving children (an older brother had died in infancy) to live with his mother, Catherine Ann Porter, inKyle, Texas. The depth of her grandmother's influence can be inferred from Porter's later adoption of her name. Her grandmother died while taking 11-year-old Callie to visit relatives inMarfa, Texas.
After her grandmother's death, the family lived in several towns in Texas andLouisiana, staying with relatives or living in rented rooms. She was enrolled in free schools wherever the family was living, and for a year in 1904 she attended the Thomas School, a privateMethodist school inSan Antonio, Texas. This was her only formal education beyondgrammar school.
In 1906, at the age of 16, Porter left home and married John Henry Koontz inLufkin, Texas. She subsequently converted to his religion,Roman Catholicism.[10] Koontz, the son of a wealthy Texas ranching family, was physically abusive; once while drunk, he threw her down the stairs, breaking her ankle. They divorced in 1915.[6]
In 1914, she escaped to Chicago, where she worked briefly as anextra in movies. She then returned to Texas and worked the small-town entertainment circuit as an actress and singer. In 1915, she asked that her name be changed to Katherine Anne Porter as part of herdivorcedecree.
Also in 1915, she was diagnosed withtuberculosis and spent the following two years insanatoria, where she decided to become a writer. It was discovered during that time that she hadbronchitis, not TB. In 1917, she began writing for theFort WorthCritic, critiquing dramas and writing society gossip. Before 1918, Porter was married to, then divorced from, T. Otto Taskett then Carl Clinton von Pless.[11] In 1918, she wrote for theRocky Mountain News inDenver, Colorado. While there, she almost died during the1918 flu pandemic. When she was discharged from the hospital, she was frail and completely bald. When her hair grew back, it was white and remained so for the rest of her life.[6] Her experience was reflected in her trilogy of short novels,Pale Horse, Pale Rider (1939), for which she received the first annual gold medal for literature in 1940 from the Society of Libraries ofNew York University.[12]
In 1919, Porter moved toGreenwich Village in New York City and made her livingghost writing, writing children's stories and doing publicity work for a motion picture company. The year in New York had a politically radicalizing effect on her; in 1920, she went to work for a magazine publisher inMexico, where she became acquainted with members of the Mexicanleftist movement, includingDiego Rivera. Eventually Porter became disillusioned with the revolutionary movement and its leaders. In the 1920s she also became intensely critical of religion, and remained so until the last decade of her life, when she again embraced the Roman Catholic Church.[13]
Between 1920 and 1930, Porter traveled back and forth between Mexico and New York City and began publishingshort stories and essays.[14] Her first published story was "María Concepción" inThe Century Magazine. (In his 1960s novelProvidence Island,Calder Willingham had the character Jim fantasize a perfect lover and he called her Maria Concepcion Diaz.)[6] In 1930, she published her first short-story collection,Flowering Judas and Other Stories. An expanded edition of this collection was published in 1935 and received such critical acclaim that it alone virtually assured her place inAmerican literature.
In 1924, Porter had an affair with Francisco Aguilera that resulted in pregnancy. In December of that year, Porter gave birth to astillborn son.[15] Some biographers suggest that Porter suffered severalmiscarriages and had anabortion. During the summer of 1926, Porter visited Connecticut with other writers and artists includingJosephine Herbst,John Herrmann, and Ernest Stock, an English painter.[15] After contractinggonorrhea from Stock, Porter had ahysterectomy in 1927, ending her hopes of ever having a child. Yet Porter's letters to her lovers suggest that she still intimated hermenstruation after this alleged hysterectomy. She once told a friend, "I have lost children in all the ways one can."[16]
During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Porter enjoyed a reputation as one of America's most distinguished writers, but her limited output and equally limited sales had her living on grants and advances for most of the era.[17]
During the 1930s, she spent several years in Europe during which she continued to publish short stories. She married Eugene Pressly, a writer, in 1930. In 1938, upon returning from Europe, she divorced Pressly and married Albert Russel Erskine, Jr., a graduate student. He reportedly divorced her in 1942, after discovering that she was 20 years his senior.[N 1]
In 1941, during a stay at the artists' retreatYaddo, Porter went on a ride through the rural area south ofSaratoga Lake, where she found her future home inMalta. She named the property "South Hill" for several years before selling it to authorGeorge F. Willison in 1946.[18]
Porter became an elected member of theNational Institute of Arts and Letters in 1943, and was a writer-in-residence at several colleges and universities, including theUniversity of Chicago, theUniversity of Michigan, and theUniversity of Virginia.[19]
Between 1948 and 1958, she taught atStanford University, the University of Michigan,Washington and Lee University, and theUniversity of Texas, where her unconventional manner of teaching made her popular with students. In 1959 theFord Foundation granted Porter $26,000 over two years.[20]
Three of Porter's stories were adapted intoradio dramas on the programNBC University Theatre. "Noon Wine" was made into an hour drama in early 1948, and two years later, both "Flowering Judas" and "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" were produced in half-hour dramas on an episode of the hour-long program. Porter herself made two appearances on the radio series, giving critical commentary on works byRebecca West andVirginia Woolf. In the 1950s and the 1960s, she occasionally appeared on television in programs discussing literature.
Porter published her only novel,Ship of Fools, in 1962; it was based on her memories of a 1931 ocean cruise she took fromVera Cruz, Mexico, to Germany on the German passenger ship SS Werra (renamed theSS Calabria in 1936 after being sold to the Italian shipping lineLloyd Triestino. The novel's success gave her financial security. She reportedly sold the film rights for $500,000. ProducerDavid O. Selznick was after the film rights, butUnited Artists, who owned the property, demanded $400,000. The novel was adapted for film byAbby Mann; producer and directorStanley Kramer featuredVivien Leigh in her final film performance.[N 2]
Despite Porter's claim that after the publication ofShip of Fools, she would not win any more prizes in America, in 1966 she was awarded thePulitzer Prize[1] and the U.S.National Book Award[2] forThe Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter. That year she was also appointed to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters. She was nominated for theNobel Prize in Literature five times from1964 until1968.[22]
In 1966, Porter donated her literary papers to theUniversity of Maryland.[23] On her 78th birthday, the Katherine Anne Porter Room opened inMcKeldin Library (later moved to Hornbake Library) at the University of Maryland to house many books from Porter's personal library and other items belonging to her.[24]
In 1977, she publishedThe Never-Ending Wrong, an account of the notorious trial and execution ofSacco and Vanzetti, which she had protested 50 years earlier.
Porter had a severestroke in 1977. After being examined by psychiatrists, she was deemedincompetent, and the court appointed her nephew Paul Porter as her guardian.[25] Porter died inSilver Spring, Maryland, on September 18, 1980, at the age of 90, and her ashes were buried next to her mother at Indian Creek Cemetery in Texas. In 1990,Recorded Texas Historic Landmark number 2905 was placed in Brown County, Texas, to honor Porter's life and career.[26]
Media related toKatherine Anne Porter at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toKatherine Anne Porter at Wikiquote
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