1933
Marries Pressly, March 11; couple moves to seventh-floor apartment at 166 Boulevard Montparnasse. Attends classes at the Cordon Bleu cooking school. Sits for portraits by photographer George Platt Lynes. Meets Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and Alice B. Toklas. Visited by publisher Donald Brace, who offers contracts for “Many Redeemers” and an expanded trade edition of Flowering Judas. Katherine Anne Porters French Song-Book, a bilingual anthology of traditional French songs with translations and headnotes by Porter, published by Harrison of Paris, a fine press founded by Wheeler and Harrison. Harcourt, Brace rejects the Pressly-Porter translation of The Itching Parrot but offers to buy Boni & Liveright’s contract for “The Devil and Cotton Mather.”
1934
Rewrites “Hacienda” as a long story, printed by Harrison of Paris in an edition of 895 copies. “A Bright Particular Faith,” a chapter of the Cotton Mather biography, appears in Hound & Horn. Story “That Tree” published in The Virginia Quarterly Review. In April sends Brace six stories that form part of “Many Redeemers”: “The Grave,” “The Circus,” “The Grandmother” (“The Source”), “The Witness,” “The Old Order” (“The Journey”), and “The Last Leaf.” Exhausted and ill by May, spends six weeks at the Parksanatorium in Davos, Switzerland. Feels betrayed by Josephine Herbst upon reading her story “Man of Steel,” a thinly disguised account of the Porter-Stock affair, published in The American Mercury. “The Circus” accepted for inaugural issue of The Southern Review, founded by Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks at Louisiana State University. Moves with Pressly to 70 bis rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, a spacious cottage once the home of Ezra Pound.
1935
Publishes three stories in The Virginia Quarterly Review: “The Witness,” “The Last Leaf,” and “The Grave.” Sets aside anger to comfort a desperate Josephine Herbst, whose husband has abandoned her for another woman; is surprised and disturbed by Herbst’s lesbian advances. Expanded edition of Flowering Judas (now also including “Theft,” “That Tree,” “The Cracked Looking-Glass,” and “Hacienda”) published by Harcourt, Brace. Begins developing short novel from material explored in “Wiener Blut”; calls this work-in-progress “Promised Land.” On November 29, addresses the American Women’s Club in Paris on the process of writing fiction and launches speaking career. Depressed by repeated bouts of bronchitis and the darkening atmosphere of prewar Europe, resolves to “go home” to Texas the following spring.
1936
Harcourt, Brace supplements advance for Cotton Mather biography, making possible a February departure for the U.S. Stops in Boston to do research for Mather book. Visits family in Texas and is drawn to teen-aged nephew Paul and niece Anna Gay (“Ann”). Travels with father and sister Baby to Indian Creek to visit mother’s grave, and is moved by verse on tombstone written by father; spontaneously writes short poem for mother (later revised as “Anniversary in a Country Churchyard”) and buries it under soil at the grave. Removes from tombstone a memento: the glass-encased photograph of her mother that her father had affixed there in 1892. Returns to Paris, quits cottage, and moves with Pressly to the U.S. in October. Acknowledging that “Many Redeemers” is not a novel but instead a series of shorter pieces, signs new contract with Harcourt, Brace for collection of five short novels: “Noon Wine,” “Old Mortality,” “The Man in the Tree” (a story about a lynching), “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” and “Promised Land.” Lives in New York for a few weeks until Pressly leaves for temporary assignment in Washington, D.C. Stays at inn in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and there completes “Noon Wine” and “Old Mortality.” Story “The Old Order” (“The Journey”) appears in The Southern Review. Returns to New York in December and lives with Pressly at 67 Perry Street.
1937
When Pressly accepts job with an oil company in Venezuela, Porter regards their separation as permanent. Visits Texas for father’s 80th birthday. Receives Book-of-the-Month Club Prize for literary achievement ($2,500). Writes story “A Day’s Work.” Socializes with Glenway Wescott, George Platt Lynes, and Lynes’s brother, Russell, an editor at Harper’s. Briefly resumes friendship with radical and communist friends: marches in May Day parade; co-sponsors Second Congress of American Writers, June 4–6, in New York City; contributes a translation to. . . and Spain Sings: Fifty Loyalist Ballads Adapted by American Poets. Suddenly distances herself from left-wing social circle and embraces Southern friends Robert Penn Warren, Andrew Lytle, Caroline Gordon, and Allen Tate. Participates in Olivet (Michigan) Writers’ Conference with Gordon and Tate, and returns with them to “Benfolly,” their Tennessee estate. Meets Cleanth and Edith Amy (Tinkum) Brooks and 26-year-old Albert Russel Erskine Jr., a graduate student at Louisiana State University and managing editor of The Southern Review. Moves to attic apartment in the Lower Pontalba, New Orleans, and there begins a love affair with Erskine. Completes “Pale Horse, Pale Rider.” Visits family in Texas.
1938
Files for divorce from Pressly, January 11. Works on “The Man in the Tree” and “Promised Land.” Becomes more deeply attached to nephew Paul and niece Ann. On April 19, ten days after divorce from Pressly, marries Albert Erskine; couple takes temporary lodging in Baton Rouge, where Erskine continues graduate study and editorial work for The Southern Review. Returns to Olivet for writers conference and meets Robert Frost (an “old bull-headed bore” but a “great poet and a good man”). Moves with Erskine to apartment at 901 America Street, Baton Rouge. “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” published in The Southern Review.
1939
Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels (“Old Mortality,” “Noon Wine,” and title story) published by Harcourt, Brace. Visits New York for opening of the Museum of Modern Art, and is feted on 49th birthday by friends and admirers. Renews friendship with cousin Lily Cahill, a successful Broadway actress. In constant demand as speaker after appearances at Vassar, Bennington, Bryn Mawr, and Shipley. Moves with Erskine to house at 1050 Government Street, where they take separate bedrooms. Meets young Eudora Welty, whom she encourages in her writing and sponsors for fellowships. Returns at the end of July to Olivet, where she meets Sherwood Anderson. Story “The Downward Path to Wisdom” published in Harper’s Bazaar.
1940
Separates from Erskine at beginning of year. Accepts extended residency at Yaddo, an artists’ colony near Saratoga Springs, New York. Story “A Day’s Work” published in The Nation. “A Goat for Azazel,” a chapter from the Cotton Mather biography, published in Partisan Review. In the summer, “Notes on a Criticism of Thomas Hardy” appears in The Southern Review and “Notes on Writing—From the Journals of Katherine Anne Porter” in New Directions. Lectures at Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College, Vermont. Meets Carson McCullers and is offended by her eccentricities. Recognizes that “Promised Land” will be a long novel; changes title to “No Safe Harbor.” The Modern Library publishes new edition of Flowering Judas and Other Stories, for which she writes an introduction. On December 2, makes first of several appearances on CBS radio program Invitation to Learning, hosted by Mark Van Doren. Has brief reunion, but no reconciliation, with Erskine. Receives the first gold medal of the Society of Libraries of New York University.
1941
Story “The Source” appears in Accent. Inducted as member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Purchases house at Ballston Spa, near Saratoga Springs; names it “South Hill” and begins extensive remodeling while continuing to live at Yaddo. In June signs contracts with Doubleday, Doran for a biography of Erasmus and an account of a murder trial in 15th-century France, neither ever realized, and an abridged version of The Itching Parrot. Friendship with Eudora Welty, a summer resident at Yaddo, deepens. Becomes mentor to nephew Paul, an aspiring writer, and artistic patron of niece Ann, a professional ballet dancer. Writes introductions to The Itching Parrot and to Welty’s debut collection, A Curtain of Green. Story “The Leaning Tower” published in The Southern Review.
1942
Fa
ther dies, January 23. At Erskine’s request, takes the six weeks’ residency in Nevada required to obtain a Reno divorce; marriage dissolved on June 19. Interviewed by F.B.I. agent about anti-American activities of friends and possibly herself. Participates in writing conference at Indiana University; meets Dr. Alfred Kinsey, who interviews her as part of his research for Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). The Itching Parrot published by Doubleday, Doran. “Affectation of Praehiminincies,” a chapter of the Cotton Mather biography, published in two installments in Accent. Attends Rocky Mountain Writers’ Conference in Boulder, Colorado. Lives at Yaddo in July and August while remodeling of South Hill is completed. Lonely and miserable during fall and harsh winter. Worries about nephew Paul, who is stationed with the U.S. Army in Europe.
1943
Resigns from the National Institute of Arts and Letters to protest its practice of identifying certain candidates as “Negro.” (Will resume membership when practice is dropped.) With the financial support of friends Glenway Wescott and Barbara Harrison, secludes herself at Harbor Hill Inn near West Point to work on “No Safe Harbor” and other books-in-progress.
1944
Accepts appointment at the Library of Congress as Fellow of Regional American Literature; boards with portrait painter Marcella Comés Winslow in her house on P Street in Georgetown. “Portrait: Old South” published in Mademoiselle. Begins yearlong love affair with painter Charles Shannon, an Army corporal stationed near Washington. The Leaning Tower and Other Stories (“The Source,” “The Witness,” “The Circus,” “The Old Order” [“The Journey”], “The Last Leaf,” “The Grave,” “The Downward Path to Wisdom,” “A Day’s Work,” “The Leaning Tower”) published by Harcourt, Brace. Returns to Yaddo. Excerpt from “No Safe Harbor” published in The Sewanee Review. As vice president of the National Women’s Committee, makes re-election speeches endorsing President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hospitalized in Saratoga Springs with pneumonia.
1945
Signs contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to work as scriptwriter at $1,500 a week; relocates to Santa Monica. Meets Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, and playwright Clifford Odets. Signs contract with Paramount Pictures to write screen adaptation of Victorien Sardou’s Madame Sans-Gêne at $2,000 a week. Excerpt from “No Safe Harbor” appears in Partisan Review.
1946
Sells South Hill to friends George and Toni Willison. Buys, then relinquishes, 80 acres of mountain property in High Mojave Desert. Welcomes nephew Paul, who visits California after tour of duty in France. Excerpt from “No Safe Harbor” published in Accent. Memoir “A Christmas Story” appears in Mademoiselle. In desperate financial straits due to unwise management, moves into guest wing of Hollywood house of George Platt Lynes.
1947
Works briefly for Columbia Pictures on adaptation of Chekhov’s story “La Cigale.” Excerpt from “No Safe Harbor” appears in The Sewanee Review. Meets Christopher Isherwood and Texas novelist William Goyen. Negative critical essay on the life and work of Gertrude Stein (“The Wooden Umbrella”) published in Harper’s.
1948
Friendship with Josephine Herbst suffers final rupture when Herbst publishes an attack, “Miss Porter and Miss Stein,” in Partisan Review, and Somewhere the Tempest Fell, a novel featuring barely disguised, unflattering portraits of Glenway Wescott, Monroe Wheeler, George Platt Lynes, and Porter. Speaks at the University of Kansas; meets Isabel Bayley, who will become a lifelong friend. Begins yearlong appointment at Stanford, and is insulted and angry that her classes will carry no credit; becomes friends with faculty members Richard and Ann Scowcroft, Janet Lewis, and Yvor Winters. “Love and Hate” (“The Necessary Enemy”) appears in Mademoiselle.
1949
Receives Litt.D. from the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, the first of many honorary doctorates. As a Fellow in American Letters of the Library of Congress, is member of the jury that awards Bollingen Prize to Ezra Pound. Teaches summer courses at Stanford. Returns to New York, where she shares an apartment with her niece Ann.
1950
Speaks at colleges and universities, and at the 92nd Street Y. “The Flower of Flowers” and “A Note on Pierre Joseph Redouté” appear in Flair. At Manhattan cocktail party encounters a drunken Dylan Thomas, who lifts her to the ceiling in apparent tribute. Three excerpts from “No Safe Harbor” published in successive issues of Harper’s, October through December. Becomes close friends with protégés J. F. Powers, Peter Taylor, and William Humphrey. Begins two-year term as co-vice-president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
1951
Begins yearlong affair with William Goyen. Signs contract with Harcourt, Brace for “The Days Before,” a selection from 30 years of essays, book reviews, and other short prose; in lieu of advance accepts in-house position as literary adviser. Speaks at Millsaps College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the Mississippi State College for Women. “‘Marriage Is Belonging’” appears in Mademoiselle.
1952
Joins American delegation in Paris for five-week International Congress for Cultural Freedom and speaks at opening session. Retreats to secluded inn in Pont-Aven to write introduction to “The Days Before” but, tired and unconfident, finds she can manage only a brief foreword. “Reflections on Willa Cather” published in Mademoiselle. Returns to Paris and enjoys reunions with her French translator, Marcelle Sibon, and bookseller Sylvia Beach. Returns to New York, and moves into apartment at 117 East 17th Street. The Days Before published by Harcourt, Brace.
1953
Speaks at several colleges and universities. Visits Ezra Pound at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. In a talk at the Corcoran Gallery, speaks out against congressional inquiries into communism on college campuses. Reads poetry on NBC radio network. Begins yearlong appointment as writer-in-residence at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Excerpt from “No Safe Harbor” published in Harper’s.
1954
Suffers attack of angina while teaching class. “A Defense of Circe” published in Mademoiselle. Meets and is charmed by Seymour Lawrence, editor at The Atlantic and The Atlantic Monthly Press, an imprint of Little, Brown. Receives Litt.D. at the University of Michigan. Begins appointment as Fulbright Fellow in Liège, Belgium. Reads “The Circus” on BBC radio. At Christmas, makes first visit to Rome.
1955
Hospitalized for three weeks with influenza; relinquishes remainder of Fulbright assignment and returns to New York in February. “Adventure in Living” (“St. Augustine and the Bullfight”) published in Mademoiselle. Paperback selection of previously collected material, The Old Order: Stories of the South, published by Harcourt, Brace. Leases secluded house on Roxbury Road in Southbury, Connecticut, to work on “No Safe Harbor.” Brother Paul dies, September 19. After death of Donald Brace, leaves Harcourt, Brace for Atlantic–Little, Brown, where Seymour Lawrence is her new editor.
1956
Changes title of “No Safe Harbor” to “Ship of Fools.” Objects to Lawrence’s calling her “woman writer” in catalog copy. Excerpts from “Ship of Fools” published in The Atlantic Monthly and Mademoiselle. Rests at Jefferson Hotel in Washington, D.C., before embarking on 15-college lecture tour. Meets Barbara Thompson, who interviews her for The Washington Post and becomes trusted friend. Essay “Noon Wine: The Sources” published in The Yale Review. Endorses Adlai Stevenson for president.
1957
With financial support from Atlantic–Little, Brown, works with few distractions on “Ship of Fools.” Reads at the 92nd Street Y, New York City.
1958
Discusses Henry James on CBS television program Camera Three. Receives Litt.D. from Smith College and meets commencement speaker, Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy. Vacates Southbury house. Excerpt from “Ship of Fools” appears in Mademoiselle. Retreats to Outpost Inn in Ridgefield, Connecticut, for a month’s work on “Ship of Fools.” Spends fall semester as writer-in-residence at the University of Vir
ginia. Meets Flannery O’Connor. Speaks at Auburn University, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Texas at Austin.
1959
Spends spring semester as writer-in-residence at Washington and Lee University. Lectures on Mark Twain at the University of California, Los Angeles. Excerpt from “Ship of Fools” published in Texas Quarterly. Receives $26,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to complete “Ship of Fools.” Rents house at 3112 Q Street in Georgetown.
1960
Continues to work on “Ship of Fools.” Story “The Fig Tree,” written in the 1920s, published in Harper’s. Returns to Mexico to speak under auspices of the U.S. Department of State. Participates with Flannery O’Connor and Caroline Gordon in “Recent Southern Fiction,” a panel discussion at Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia. “Holiday,” another story written in the 1920s, published in The Atlantic Monthly.
1961
Accepts invitation from President-elect John F. Kennedy to attend inauguration. Presents Regents lecture at the University of California, Riverside. Withdraws to Yankee Clipper Inn on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, to finish “Ship of Fools”; dates completed manuscript “Yaddo, August 1941-Pigeon Cove, August 1961.” Seymour Lawrence launches publicity campaign for novel by selling bookclub rights to the Book-of-the-Month Club.
1962
Ship of Fools published by Atlantic–Little, Brown to positive reviews and great commercial success. Movie rights sold to United Artists for $400,000. Turns over literary representation and business affairs to agent Cyrilly Abels, formerly her editor at Mademoiselle. Takes month-long vacation in Italy and Sicily with niece Ann. Purchases designer clothes and 21-carat emerald ring encrusted with diamonds. Awarded the Emerson-Thoreau Medal by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Deposits papers temporarily at the Library of Congress. Receives Litt.D. from LaSalle College. Long negative review of Ship of Fools by Theodore Solotaroff appears in Commentary, occasioning heated debate among readers, critics, and literary journalists. Leaves for yearlong stay in Europe.