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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Supplement to A Fine Writer's Fiction
Review: Too often we know a literary artist only by the name between the title and first line of a work. The more the imaginative, the more the compelling the work, the more we are curious about the person behind the name. Some locales such as Stratford-on- Avon earn an income by displaying the residence and belongings of a famous writer. Now if only we had Shakespeare's letters . . . . Katherine Anne Porter was an inveterate letter writer, fortunately for admirers of her fiction and essays. The foreword to THE LETTERS OF KATHERINE ANNE PORTER states the content of this 629 page collection is a small portion of the thousands she wrote. Part are gleaned from recipients who prized her correspondence enough to preserve them. For others we may thank the friend who advised her to keep carbon copies of letters she typed. As is usual with such books the letters are arranged in order of date. Beginning in 1930 they end in 1963, "her major working years." They are further grouped according to sections based on key events in her life. A chronology list from birth to death precedes the letters as well as brief biographical notes on the persons the letters were written to. Isabel Bayley a long time confidant of Ms. Porter selected and edited the book's content. She has written an illuminating and appreciative introduction. There is in fiction an inevitable degree of formality that journals, diaries, and letters escape. The person behind the art speaks to us with a spontaneity, a honesty that makes her individuality loom large. Personality can be regarded as an aggregate of roles. Katherine Anne Porter philosopher, radical, teacher, wife, homemaker, gardener, critic, doting aunt, fond grandmother, friend, comforter, cynic, defender, and of course, writer-are all well met in these pages. If we loose a little of the awe Ms. Porter's well crafted stories inspire, we gain a lot of admiration for this gifted lady. Good writers have a knack for felicitous phrases. This is what makes their letters a treat to read. Ms. Porter is no exception. ". . . Sometimes I am amazed to find how many years have passed, how long we have been good friends, because in that steady climate without seasons which is the nature of my love, time seems to have stood still." Her prose is elegant, which is to say it expresses complex matters in simple words. To own such a book as this is to have bought virtue at a bargain price.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Supplement to A Fine Writer's Fiction
Review: Too often we know a literary artist only by the name between the title and first line of a work. The more the imaginative, the more the compelling the work, the more we are curious about the person behind the name. Some locales such as Stratford-on- Avon earn an income by displaying the residence and belongings of a famous writer. Now if only we had Shakespeare's letters . . . . Katherine Anne Porter was an inveterate letter writer, fortunately for admirers of her fiction and essays. The foreword to THE LETTERS OF KATHERINE ANNE PORTER states the content of this 629 page collection is a small portion of the thousands she wrote. Part are gleaned from recipients who prized her correspondence enough to preserve them. For others we may thank the friend who advised her to keep carbon copies of letters she typed. As is usual with such books the letters are arranged in order of date. Beginning in 1930 they end in 1963, "her major working years." They are further grouped according to sections based on key events in her life. A chronology list from birth to death precedes the letters as well as brief biographical notes on the persons the letters were written to. Isabel Bayley a long time confidant of Ms. Porter selected and edited the book's content. She has written an illuminating and appreciative introduction. There is in fiction an inevitable degree of formality that journals, diaries, and letters escape. The person behind the art speaks to us with a spontaneity, a honesty that makes her individuality loom large. Personality can be regarded as an aggregate of roles. Katherine Anne Porter philosopher, radical, teacher, wife, homemaker, gardener, critic, doting aunt, fond grandmother, friend, comforter, cynic, defender, and of course, writer-are all well met in these pages. If we loose a little of the awe Ms. Porter's well crafted stories inspire, we gain a lot of admiration for this gifted lady. Good writers have a knack for felicitous phrases. This is what makes their letters a treat to read. Ms. Porter is no exception. ". . . Sometimes I am amazed to find how many years have passed, how long we have been good friends, because in that steady climate without seasons which is the nature of my love, time seems to have stood still." Her prose is elegant, which is to say it expresses complex matters in simple words. To own such a book as this is to have bought virtue at a bargain price.
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