Pale Horse, Pale Rider (Identities and Issues in Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Katherine Anne Porter
- First Published: 1938
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Parents and children, Love or romance, Suicide, Murder or homicide, South or Southerners, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Guilt, West, U.S., Emotions, Reality, War, Farms, farmers, or farming, New Orleans, Death or dying, World War I, Hallucinations or illusions, Colorado, Southwest, Soldiers, Suffrage or voting rights, Life and death, Romanticism, Reporting or reporters, Texas, Horses, Women’s rights, Influenza, Racing
- Locales: South (U.S.), New Orleans, LA, Colorado, Texas
The Work
Much of “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” is autobiographical; the story recalls an event from Katherine Anne Porter’s life. During World War I, Porter worked as a reporter in Denver. There she met and fell in love with a lieutenant. She then contracted influenza during the epidemic and nearly died. “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” is her attempt to record that experience.
“Pale Horse, Pale Rider” begins with a dream sequence about the story’s central concern: death. Miranda, Porter’s autobiographical heroine, dreams of being pursued by death. Miranda, however,...
[The entire page is 819 words long]
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