“Human life itself may be almost pure
chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and
disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together
in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.” – Katherine Anne Porter
A
Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer,
novelist, and political activist, Porter was born on this date in 1890. Known for her penetrating insight, particularly
in her short stories and essays, she wrote only one novel – but it was a very good
one. Ship of Fools not only was a worldwide
bestseller, it also earned her the Pulitzer and The National Book Award and was a hit movie.
She also won the National Book Award for The Collected Stories of
Katherine Anne Porter, a hallmark of short
story excellence.
Her journalism career began on the East Coast, then gravitated to Colorado where
she was writing for the Rocky Mountain News when she almost died during
the 1918 flu pandemic. When she was finally discharged from the hospital, she was
frail and completely bald and when her hair finally grew back, it was white and
remained that way the rest of her life. Her life-and-death experience was reflected in
her trilogy of novelettes led by the wonderful Pale Horse, Pale Rider. That work earned her the 1940 Gold Medal for
Literature from the Society of Libraries of New York University.
A
prolific writer right up until her death in 1980, Porter advised young writers
to look upon writing as an art AND a profession. “Writing is a craft,” she said. “Take an apprenticeship in it just like any
other profession.”
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