The+Letters+of+Katherine+Anne+Porter

//Letters of Katherine Anne Porter// L.B. E Period

On May 15, 1890 Callie Russel Porter was born in Indian Creek, Texas. In 1892, her mother died. After her mother's death, Porter's father took the children to live with his mother, Catherine Anne Porter. At the age of eleven, the grandmother died. People have said that Porter's grandmother had a huge impact on her, and she was the reason for Porter's name change later on in her life. In 1906, when Porter was sixteen years old, she married John Henry Koontz- who later turned out to be abusive. When divorcing Koontz, she changed her name to Katherine Anne Porter. Over Porter's lifetime, she had a total of four husbands. Around 1917, she almost died in Denver from the Spanish influenza. Once better from the series of treatments given, she was bald. The treatements used for the influenza provided a background for her book //Pale Horse, Pale// //Rider.// While in Paris during 1933, she published //Katherine Anne Porter's French Song Book//. Also while in Paris that year, she married Eugene Pressly who was in the American Consulate//.// In her writings she had different types of themes- death, betrayal, and the origin of evil. Over her lifetime, she achieved many awards- in 1966 the Pulitzer Prize for //The Collected Stories,// in 1966 The National Book Award for //The Collected Stories//, in 1967 a gold medal award, three nominations for the Nobel Prize, and in 2006 she appeared on the face of a stamp in the United States. She wrote 23 short stories, 5 short story collections, 3 short novels, 1 regular novel, and 6 essays. Porter died on September 18, 1980 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her ashes were buried next to her mother’s body at the Texas cemetery in Indian Creek.
 * [[image:stamp..jpg caption="(06_porter_300s)"]]
 * The stamp of Katherine Anne Porter.** || **"For i am not really nervous, and even if I knew that this was the beginning of the end, I still wouldn't be nervous, for it is not death that troubles me, but the boresome process of disengration" (19). ​ **

Porter was diagnosed with a serious case of tuberculousis, but it was later found out that she only had bronchitis. This quote showed the integrity of her spirit, and that Porter dealt with anything and everything head on. Whether it was writing a book or being diagnosed with an ailment, Porter kept an an amazing attitude with the help of her shining spirit. ||  ||
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 * Woodlawn Lake, the place of Porter's home as a child in San Antonio, Texas.** || **"But as I looked around me, I thought, these people are strong, and they are my people, and I have their toughness in me, and that is what I can rely upon...I loved them, really with my heart" (150).**

Porter went to The Old Settlers Reunion in San Marcos, Texas. She spoke with people who knew her grandparents, and she realized nothing that she had ever written about them could have come close to what she had heard. Her compassion was shown through this quote; she was proud of where she came and from and who she was related to. ||
 * //Pale Horse, Pale Rider.//** ||
 * "This past month has been spent at it, quite literally, but it is done" (153). **

Porter wrote to her dear friend Glenway Wescott that she had spent a month finishing up her book //Pale Horse, Pale Rider//. Throughout the book, Porter has had a determination to finish writing the books she had started; she quite often finished her books by her ever-lasting determination. ||
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 * Paramount Studios.** || **"Well, darling, I had my turn at Hollywood and it isn't for me, any more than ever it was" (304).**

Porter worked in California at the Paramount Studios for a while, and the letter written to Monroe Wheeler explained that the Hollywood life is not for her. In my opinion, I believe she meant that she would much rather stay home doing what she had a great passion for- her writing. ||
 * [[image:heart.jpg caption="(HeartShape)"]] || **"He has been the same person twenty four hours a day for one year, and he loves me so steadily and infallibly I can hardly believe it. He has worn through my fits of nerves, my depressions, my illnesses, my general hellishness with a kind of super human patience and friendliness" (42).**

Porter wrote to Josephine Herbst and mentioned Eugene Pressly. She wrote how through every situation she had gone through, Pressly had been beside her supporting her. Whether it was her sickness or depression, he always stood beside her. The quote also shows that while she loved writing, men loved her in return and she loved back. The two married March 11th, 1933. ||
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 * The Guggenheim Fellowship.** || ** "If I don't get the Fellowship, I shall stay here until I've finished up, anyhow, and then I suppose I'll go to Tennessee and gouge myself into that cabin, and try to earn my living by writing" (33). **

In the first section of the book, Porter wrote to her many companions as she waited to hear if she had won the Guggenheim Fellowship- an American grant that awarded people based on their "exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." (She eventually received the award.) This quote showed her determination of her writing ability. If she did not get the Fellowship she would not sulk around; she would continue on with her life and continue writing her many pieces. || "06_porter_300s". 26 Oct. 2009 . Web. <[]>
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 * The lesson learned-** || I've learned many things about American History in the process of this narrative. I've learned that every single person, important or not important, has had an influence on the world we live in today. For example, after Katherine Anne Porter came many important writers, such as Emily Dickinson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Perhaps they used her writings as a tool for their own pieces. Without the impact or influence of the people when America was first growing, our world would be very different. ||
 * || Works Cited:

"180px-PaleHorsePaleRider.jpg". 9 Nov. 2009. Web. < []>

Andrea K Frankwitz. (2004). Katherine Anne Porter's Miranda Stories: A Commentary on the Cultural Ideologies of Gender Identity. The Mississippi Quarterly, 57 (3), 473-488. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from Platinum Periodicals. (Document ID: 822979901). Web. Bayley, Isabel. //Letters of Katherine Anne Porter.// New York; The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990. Print.

"Guggenheim Fellowship". 6 Nov. 2009. Web. <@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim_fellowship >

“HeartShape”. 19 Nov. 2009. Web. <[]>

JOHNSTON, LAURIE. (1980, September 19). KATHERINE ANNE PORTER DIES AT 90; WON A PULITZER FOR SHORT STORIES :[Obituary]. New York Times (Late Edition (east Coast)), p. A.1. Retrieved November 12, 2009, from New York Times. (Document ID: 935850981). Web.

"Katherine Anne Porter". 29 Oct. 2009. Web. <[]>

“KMD05Hollywood12-2-05_175x.jpg”. 12 Nov. 2009. Web. < [] > 

"Lake1”. 28 Oct. 2009. Web. <[]>

"NEAlogoTAGLINEbw-sm". 9 Nov. 2009. Web. < []> ||  ||  ||