The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter is a volume of her previously published collections of fiction and four uncollected works of short fiction.
Published in 1965 by
Harcourt, Brace & World
Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City an ...
, the volume includes 26 works of fiction—all the stories that Porter “ever finished and published” in her lifetime.
The Collected Works of Katherine Anne Porter won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.
["Fiction"]
''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-30. and the U.S.
National Book Award for Fiction
The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...
.
["National Book Awards – 1966"]
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
(With acceptance speech by Porter and essays by Mary Gaitskill and H.L. Hix from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
Stories
''The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter'' comprises the works of three earlier volumes —''Flowering Judas and Other Stories'' (1935), ''
Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels'' (1939) and ''The Leaning Tower and Other Stories'' (1944).—and four previously uncollected short stories: “Virgin Violeta” , “The Martyr”, “The Fig Tree” and “Holiday.”
The collection includes a brief preface penned by Porter especially for the publication, entitled “Go Little Book.”
Preface
“Go Little Book”
From ''Flowering Judas and Other Stories'' (1935)
“Maria Concepción”
“Magic”
“Rope”
“He”
“Theft”
“That Tree”
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
“Flowering Judas”
“The Cracked Looking-Glass”
“Hacienda”
From ''Pale Horse, Pale Rider'' (1939)
“Old Morality”
“
Noon Wine”
“Pale Horse, Pale Rider”
From ''The Leaning Tower and Other Stories'' (1944)
“The Source”
“The Witness”
“The Circus”
“The Journey”
“The Last Leaf”
“The Grave”
“The Downward Path to Wisdom”
“A Day’s Work”
“The Leaning Tower”
Uncollected Stories
“Virgin Violeta” (
The Century Magazine, December 1924)
“The Martyr” (The Century Magazine, July 1923)
“The “Fig Tree” (
Harper’s Magazine, June 1960)
“Holiday” (
Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
, December 1960)
Critical Assessment
Biographer Darlene Harbour Unrue traces the evolution in the critical appraisal of Porter’s oeuvre:
Literary critic for
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
,
Howard Moss comments on the relationship between Porter’s style and her subject matter:
Moss adds that “Miss Porter is a poet of the short story, and she never confuses the issue.”
[Moss, 1965 p. 47]
Footnotes
Sources
*
Bloom, Harold
Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...
. 2001. ''Katherine Anne Porter: Comprehensive Research and Study Guide''.
Chelsea House Publishers
Infobase Publishing is an American publisher of reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, including ...
, Broomall, PA.
*Howard Moss , Moss, Howard. 1965. ''The Collected Stories: A Poet of the Story in Critical Essays on Katherine Anne Porter'' Critical Essays on Katherine Anne Porter (1997). Editor, Darlene Harbour Unrue. G. K. Hall and Company, New York.
*
Porter, Katherine Anne. 2009. ''Katherine Anne Porter: Collected Stories and Other Writings''. Literary Classics of the United States, New York. The Library of America Series (2009).
*Unrue, Darlene Harbour. 1997. ''Critical Essays on Katherine Anne Porter''. Editor, Darlene Harbour Unrue. G. K. Hall and Company, New York.
External links
Photos of the first edition of The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collected Stories Of Katherine Anne Porter
1962 short story collections
National Book Award for Fiction winning works
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winning works
American short story collections
Harcourt (publisher) books