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Biography
Born Callie Porter in Indian Creek, Texas, Katherine Anne
and her three siblings were raised by their maternal grandmother
after their mother died. The family lived in poverty, and
when Porter turned sixteen she married both to leave home
and to find security. But Porter did not take to domestic
life and soon separated from her husband, turning to a life
of travel and career changes -- moving to Denver, New York
City, Mexico, and Europe; writing for a Dallas newspaper
and freelancing in Mexico, where she composed her first short
story. Porter's fiction is characterized by a strong sense
of locale, and much of her work explores the tensions faced
by women as they negotiate their place in the modern world.
Porter's careful attention to planning and revising her work
-- sometimes over a period of several years -- resulted in
the publication of only four story collections and one novel,
each considered a literary event. Her books of short fiction
are Flowering Judas (1930), Noon Wine (1937), Pale
Horse, Pale Rider (1939), and The Leaning Tower (1944);
her novel is Ship of Fools (1961). The Collected
Stories was published in 1965, bringing Porter the National
Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Gold Medal for fiction
from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
Explorations
Because Porter's stories show considerable range in subject
and rhetorical style, Flowering Judas cannot be read
as "typical" of her fiction -- except as an example of her
carefulness and polish as a storyteller. Working firmly in
the realist tradition, Porter creates narratives which echo
with major themes and defining moods of other modernists.
We have in Laura a protagonist in a crowd of others, yet
somehow alone, caught up in consequential, dangerous action,
yet somehow detached from it, watching herself as well as
her world. If the wealth of careful observation in Flowering
Judas recalls realists like James,
Howells, or Wharton, the tale may
also resonate with moments in Eliot, Stevens,
or McKay. 1. Describe the viewpoint from which Flowering Judas is
told. Consider the opening paragraphs, which describe Braggioni.
What do these paragraphs suggest to us about Laura's emotional
relationship with him? Describe her feelings and how they
are conveyed in the narrative.
2. This is a story about revolutionaries. But how are
politics and ideologies treated in the narrative? What
impact do revolutionary hopes and values have on Laura
and the other characters?
3. The story ends with a dream. Given what you know
about Laura, is the dream psychologically plausible? Is
it an allegory? Is it both? How would you describe Laura's
predicament at the story's end?
Other sites to consult:
American
Modernism: Katherine Anne Porter. A bibliography,
overview, and study questions from the PAL: Perspectives
in American Literature site maintained by Paul
P. Reuben (California State University, Stanislaus).
Flowering
Judas guide. Scroll down to the overview
and study questions for Flowering Judas on
Carol Altieri's Porter page. (Part of the Yale-New
Haven Teacher's Institute resources site.)
Porter
bibliography. From the Katherine Anne Porter
Room at the University of Maryland Library.
http://www.lib.umd.edu/ARCV/litmss/kap.html: A
brief biography of Porter, along with a guide to the Porter
collection.
http://www.lib.umd.edu/Guests/KAP/: The Web site of the
Katherine Anne Porter Society, with links to Society Newsletters.
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