Porter, Katherine Anne (Vol. 7) - Porter, Katherine Anne 1890–
Porter, Katherine Anne 1890–
An American woman of letters, a master stylist, the author of flawless, standard-setting short stories, Miss Porter is known to younger Americans primarily for her long-awaited Ship of Fools, a novel flawed but unremittingly revealing of the intensity of her political and moral sensibilities. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 1-4, rev. ed.)
To the reviewer, Miss Porter is baffling because one cannot take hold of her work in any of the obvious ways. She makes none of the melodramatic or ironic points that are the stock in trade of ordinary short story writers; she falls into none of the usual patterns and she does not show anyone's influence. She does not exploit her personality either inside or outside her work, and her writing itself makes a surface so smooth that the critic has little opportunity to point out peculiarities of color or weave. If he is tempted to say that the effect is pale, he is...
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