Flowering Judas and Other Stories

by Katherine Anne Porter

An American girl caught up in the violent cross currents of foreign politics, passion, and revolution ... A dissolute expatriate journalist working out his plan of vengeance upon his puritanical wife ... A young woman in Manhattan fighting for survival as a human being ... The explosive tensions between a Russian film crew and an American entrepreneur on a feudal ranch in Mexico ... A Mexican peasant woman who lives, loves, and kills with the terrible inexorability of a primeval force of nature ...

Here are twelve stories by a great writer - a collection that represents some of the most enduring fiction of the century.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, American, Short Story Collection, 20th Century, Read For School

190 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Katherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. She is known for her penetrating insight; her works deal with dark themes such as betrayal, death and the origin of human evil.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherin...

Reviews

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories of Porter’s first collection range from simple to extraordinary, from character studies to a first-person account that seems, at times, like old-fashioned human-interest/travel reporting. Several are set in Mexico, informed by the years Porter lived and worked there.

I was impressed by the structures of the stories, even the earliest ones. “Theft” is only one standout, as its main character is handed off from one person to another. The title story is full and rich. “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” (the only story I’d previously read) is brilliant. It holds its own against any of the best short stories I’ve ever read. And if I read it over and over, I’d be just as moved by its ending as I was the first time.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do have to thank On The Southern Literary Trail for leading me to read books that might not have occurred to me so readily to add to my list. Porter is an author I've been aware of but have not thought of in a long time. Now I can happily say that I have read a good sampling of her stories and have a feeling for the power of her writing.

Her settings vary from the American South to the Mexico of revolutionary days and multiple other places in the United States. Her characters are often poor and powerless, occasionally more prosperous, but they all seem to have an emptiness within that they are working to fill. There is also occasionally some brutality in her stories...in the way people treat each other, in peoples' fears and memories, but there is also love though it is usually understated. No one gushes over with emotion in these stories though the emotion is there.

Perhaps my favorite is "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall", a story I wish I could write. I also particularly appreciated "The Cracked Looking-Glass" and "Theft". One of my favorite segments is from this last story:


She remembered how she had never locked a door in
her life, on some principle of rejection in her that made
her uncomfortable in the ownership of things, and her
paradoxical boast before the warnings of her friends, that
she had never lost a penny by theft; and she had been
pleased with the bleak humility of this concrete example
designed to illustrate and justify a certain fixed,
otherwise baseless and general faith which ordered the
movements of her life without regard to her will in the
matter.
In this moment she felt that she had been robbed of an
enormous number of valuable things, whether material or
intangible: things lost or broken by her own fault,
things she had forgotten and left in houses when she moved:
books borrowed from her and not returned, journeys she had
planned and not made, words she had waited to hear spoken
to her and had not heard, and the words she had meant to
answer with; bitter alternatives and intolerable substitutes
worse than nothing, and yet inescapable: the long patient
suffering of dying friendships and the dark inexplicable
death of love---all that she had had, and all that she had
missed, were lost together, and were twice lost in this
landslide of remembered losses. (pp 89-90)


There was only one story in this collection of ten that I did not care for and I believe I will seek out more of Porter's work to read, starting with the 50 year old paperback of additional short stories I found in my own apartment...apparently a remainder of a college course, partly read.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s an interesting 1934 incident at Sylvia Beach’s house, recorded in Carlos Baker’s Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, where Hemingway met, for the first time, the Competition:

The women were talking when he burst in, wearing an old raincoat, and a battered hat pulled over his eyes. Sylvia introduced them. “I want the two best modern American writers to know each other, ” said she. When she went to answer the telephone, Ernest and Katherine Anne stood gazing at each other for a full ten seconds. Then Ernest turned and departed as rapidly as he had come in. Neither of them had said a word.

I find it fascinating that Hemingway, unexpectedly placed in a Fight or Flight situation, would choose Flight. Oh, I know I’m taking that a bit far, and to be fair to Hemingway, Baker records on the very next page (331) a much more gracious Hemingway & Porter meeting. But I like to think, at that moment at Sylvia Beach’s, Hemingway came face to face with a writer he “truly” respected. It was 1934, and at that point, Porter’s stories had been circulating, and her first collection, Flowering Judas was now out. It is certain, to my mind at least, that Hemingway had read some of Porter’s work.

I’ve always admired Porter, but it’s an odd admiration based on only having read a few of her stories (“Flowering Judas,” “Maria Conception,” “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” and probably a few minor stories). Her Collected Stories sits like an indictment on my bookcase. I even went through the bother of reading a biography on her several years back (I can’t remember the author or title, it was kind of dry), wanting to know more about her life. I don’t know why I’ve avoided reading her Collected Stories, though I suspect it has something to do with the intense craftsmanship that I find in the few I have read, and my anal need to finish a book cover to cover rather than just dipping into it from time to time (which is what you should probably due with "Collected" efforts). A few months ago, at a used book store, I ran across three of Porter’s short story collections. After reading the first, Flowering Judas, I’m convinced, this is the best way to read this writer. She is intense, each sentence counts, there is remarkable nuance and precision in each line. Porter is a writer’s writer. This first collection must have been intimidating to other writers, because it’s damn near perfect, leaving the reader with the sense that this is a freakish prodigy of some sort.

Flowering Judas is a death haunted collection. But Revolution (the Mexican, the Russian) and Betrayal (personal and political) also play their parts in many of these stories. It is a collection that is dominated by Porter’s Mexican experiences as a journalist. The “Mexican” stories are, to my mind, the strongest in the collection, and she wisely has the collection bookended with them (“Maria Concepcion,” “Hacienda”). A few comments on the stories below:

“Maria Concepcion.” I believe this was Porter’s first published story. If so, it’s one of the most remarkable opening acts in American fiction. It’s a story of a young Mexican woman betrayed by her husband, who runs off with another woman to join the revolution. Love, pride, murder, madness, ancient cultures and modern revolution. There’s so much going on in this story, that the best thing I can say is “read it.”

“Virgin Violeta.” On surface, a slighter effort than the collection’s opening effort. Betrayal is the dominant theme here, with each gesture, each word, playing a part in the story’s careful construction. This is a Mexican story that focuses on the traditional Do’s and Don’ts of courting a sleazy cousin.

“The Martyr.” Another Mexican story, but this one is about an artist who has lost his lover. Yeah, betrayal is the surface theme, but also Gluttony. (I believe Porter was Catholic, so Deadly Sins may have been on her mind here.) What a sap this guy is.

“The Rope.” A lot of people really admire this story, but I felt it was one of the most gimmicky of the bunch. A young (and poor) couple arguing over the unnecessary purchasing of some rope, and the need to get some coffee. The argumentative exchanges between the two strongly suggest other stuff is going on. Just jealousy or perhaps adultery? I wasn’t totally sure. I need to re-read this one.

“He.” A depression era kind of story that takes place on a declining farm somewhere in the south, involving a mother’s attempt to protect her mentally challenged son from the family’s downward spiral of fortune. Reminded me a bit of a Bob Dylan song (when he was in his Woody Guthrie period). Heartbreaking. Naturalism 101.

“Theft.” This one was a bit gimmicky as well, but handled better. On surface, a young woman returning to her apartment encounters several disappointments (some personal). A maid steals her purse, and they argue over who should have it. The maid (in full People Power mode) feels she has more need. The young woman agrees (which puzzled me), but it’s because the purse was a gift from a former lover. I need to read this one again. If it was me, I would of called the cops. All of that said, I enjoyed the details and the period dialogue in this story.

“That Tree.” An American journalist and poet wannabe living the good life down in Mexico, at least until his prissy American wife shows up. Great detail writing, and a funny take on bohemian bullshit.

“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.” An old woman dying recalls her life. Outstanding story, and one of the most realistic fictional portrayals of someone nearing the end that I have ever read. As I recall, Porter nearly died of pneumonia. That hazy, feverish experience surely impacted this story. It’s also a story about the need to let go, and forgive.

“Flowering Judas.” One of the greatest American short stories – ever. A devastating indictment of revolutionaries, involving a young American woman who has become disillusioned with the Mexican revolution, and those who call the shots. The story is filled with a nearly unbearable sexual tension, so much so that you can cut the threatening atmosphere with a knife. This is one of the “Mexican” stories.

“The Cracked Looking Glass.” Set in New England, a married couple not well matched due to age (he’s getting really old, she’s about 30 years younger), trying to get along with each other. She tells big whopper lies, and he grins and bears it. This is a somewhat funny story, and a necessary relief after "Flowering Judas." But there’s a wise sadness to this story as well.

“Hacienda.” This one is the longest story in the collection, and more a novella than a short story. Actually, there are times I thought the story bordered on a journalistic piece. Basically, it’s about an unnamed female journalist (clearly Porter) visiting the set of a Russian filmmaker in Mexico. This is a thinly disguised tale of Eisenstein’s disastrous attempt to film a movie in Mexico. This one reminded me a lot of a Robert Stone type of story (see Children of Light). The woman is clearly disillusioned with this bunch. There was a time when she probably had hopes for the Revolution, but now all she sees in hypocrisy and decadence. And this story has it all: adultery, murder (or accidental death – you’re never really sure), drunken banquets, a whiff of lesbianism, a whiff of incest, graft, and so on. Porter’s eye and pen are used to devastating effect. I tried reading this one years ago, and had trouble with it. But this time around I loved it, and placed within the context of the preceding stories, seemed a perfect endpoint for the collection.

[JimZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were very good...some stories were OK....some stories I did not like for one reason or another. I preferred her collection of short novels, ’Pale Horse, Pale Rider’ quite a bit over this collection of short stories. I read this collection because it was in an omnibus collection that included all of her stories and short novels. Hopefully I’ll get around to reading the final book in this collection, ‘The Leaning Tower and Other Stories’ one of these years... Overall rating for this collection was 2.7.

1. Maria Concepción — 4 stars | A word to the wise...don’t fool around with Maria Concepción ‘s husband! If you like living that is!
2. Virgin Violets — 2 stars
3. The Martyr — 4 stars | Actually a funny story.
4. Magic — 2 stars
5. Rope — 3.5 stars | A man goes to a general store and buys a length of rope instead of coffee, and his wife is pissed off.
6. He — 3 stars
7. Theft — 2 stars | A dated story and not so good to boot. Janitress steals a purse form a woman with some weird-ass excuse for doing so.
8. That Tree — 1.5 stars | Sucked. A lazy man and a woman are married for 4 years, wife leaves him. He gets remarried two times. He takers back his wife at the end of the story. Blech! Yuck!’
9. The Jilting of Granny Weatherall — 3.5 stars | A woman on her deathbed surrounded by her children. As she is passing away, she remembers how she was stood up at the altar by a man many years ago. Supposedly this is a story that a lot of kids are required to read in high school. I never heard of it up until reading it. It’s a good story to be sure.
10. Flowering Judas — 2 stars. About revolutionary Mexico. I didn’t get it.
11. The Cracked Looking-Glass 4 stars | Weird, bittersweet. For a long story, it was good.
12. Hacienda — 1 star | terrible and boring. But I learned that maguey is an alcoholic drink.

Reviews:
• https://cannonballread.com/2021/02/fl...
• https://bookchase.blogspot.com/2008/1...
• https://www.gradesaver.com/flowering-...

[Mark André · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. Slow close reading required. Strange almost disconnected ending. Mostly a character study: the virgin and the slime ball. I’d try another.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Texas native Katherine Anne Porter worked as a singer, an actress, and a journalist before she went to Mexico City after the Mexican Revolution. Published in 1930, many of the short stories in this book have colorful Mexican settings.

The titular short story "Flowering Judas" is about Laura, a young female teacher who is also helping the revolutionary cause. She is being courted by Braggioni, a powerful revolutionary leader, and other younger men. As the title suggests, betrayal and religious imagery are important in this story. There are conflicts about the revolutionary cause, about religion, and about love and fidelity. Laura is loosely based on a friend that Porter knew in Mexico.

I also enjoyed "The Rope" about a married couple in an argument, and empathized with both points of view. "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" features an old woman dying, remembering her first love who jilted her at the altar, and wondering who she will meet in heaven. Inspired by a woman Porter met in Mexico, "Maria Conception" is a fable about a woman who wants love but also needs to be an independent woman. The villagers protect her when she takes justice into her own hands. In "The Cracked Looking-Glass" a younger woman is married to an aging man and missing her stimulating life when she was young in New York City. She is overlooking the good things she has in her life now. "The Hacienda" shows the cultural differences between a Russian film crew on location, and the Mexican villagers. There is a merging of real and fictional events. The book also included "Magic," "He," "Theft," and "That Tree."

This was the first time I read Katherine Anne Porter's work, and I was glad to be introduced to this author.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

These short stories are masterfully written. The lack of 2 stars is from my reaction, not their composition. The prose is dripping with meaning and often beautiful.

But somehow, her people feel so lacking of a lighter side that I have difficulty in connecting and in interpreting their actions. Both. It happened that I got a very old yellowed library copy with many footnotes and underlines- plus some questions and comments scratched into the margins. I must say, they did help. I must not be the only one.

But to me, they don't entertain as much as they do for others. And I am left with a kind of depressive reaction. No, not kind of- more than depressive. Almost a futility to fight fate kind of feeling of "what's the use!" Bordering on hopelessness for her characters to get beyond their emotional fixations or some core idea that has stopped their growth. And always stopped their joy, especially in the Mexican locations.

I have read many latter short stories of hers that I appreciated more than these. I like her better than Sylvia Plath, if that makes the Porter fans feel better.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the first by Porter that I have read but I have heard that she was a master at short stories. Maybe that made me expect too much or maybe her style wasn't one that I admire. Some aspects of the writing appealed to me and reminded me of Willa Cather and Katherine Mansfield (mostly the descriptions) but the stories themselves struck me as pointless and bleak (the sort of thing that made me dislike O. Henry). I am glad I tried this but I won't be in a hurry to read more.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katherine Anne Porter is a master of the short story form. All of these pieces were excellently done, entering immediately into the action, into the emotions of the characters, and ending with the reader getting to decide what happens next. My favorites were "Rope" and "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall". Porter has some sentences and descriptions that border on genius, for instance, "No, her sense of humor never worked for salvation."Now that tells you all you need to know about that character. The two stories mentioned were the ones with southern locales, the Mexican stories were less familiar, but equally well told. She's an author you won't regret getting to know.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never read anything by Porter before but if this story is any indication of her style, I will enjoy more of her stories when I get around to them. She had a way with an occasional sentence that made me chuckle.

Her bones felt loose and floated around in her skin.

It was like Cornelia to whisper around doors. She always kept things secret in such a public way.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reason I love joining groups like On the Southern Literary Trail - the opportunity to read authors I am unfamiliar with and then talk about them. Katherine Anne Porter is quite a character, and I'd like to read her biography too.

Overall, these stories often focus on dysfunctional relationships, sometimes showing both sides. Her characters are complicated and imperfect.

My favorite two stories were Rope and The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.

A few more words on each story behind the break

-Maria Concepcion - and her husband comes back

-Magic - "I know a charm.. In seven days they come again very happy to stay and they cannot say why."

-Rope - this is why you should make sure your wife always has coffee *smiles sweetly*

-He - less about the son and more about what the neighbors think

-Theft - "I was right not to be afraid of any thief but myself, who will end by leaving me nothing."

- That Tree - another marriage out of sync, but I had to laugh at "Hail, Hymen! What next?"

-The Jilting of Granny Weatherall - the best so far, brought tears to my eyes, the power a person can have 60 years later

-Flowering Judas - resistance to a revolutionary.... or is it betrayal?

-The Cracked Looking-Glass - a woman who has maker her life by lying and her long suffering husband.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a long review because I have commented on each of the short stories in the collection. At the end of the many words I dip into my lurking fear that Katherine Anne Porter is going to become, for me, one of those religious southern writers. I am not a fan of religion so my bad attitude muddies my anticipation in spite of my initial delight with some of the stories written by this author. Feel free to skip towards the end if you would rather not hear about the stories one by one!

Maria Concepcion is said to be Porter's first published story, written in 1922 when she was 32 and dividing her time between NYC and Mexico. Can anyone talk about her politics and role as a feminist? She evidently preferred to avoid that label but she was one, right? Say more about Juan, GR friends. Are we supposed to take his character seriously? Isn't he just a foil for Maria? The humor pointed at the American archeologist is also interesting.

I have now read the second story, Virgin Violeta, and it does make me want to know more about the life of the author. Here we have the youthful but awakening sexuality of the younger sister that leaves her terrified by the Lothario-like older cousin. Reading Porter is such a delight. (Or is that simply because she is immediately following Faulkner?) Are all her male supporting actors rakish?

The Martyr is a romp to a gorging buffoon and it is mercifully short, a mere five pages. It is another view of unrequited love bringing ruination. Katherine Anne Porter’s indirect commentary about the color of good fortune being green and orange is inscrutable. I am reminded why I am so fond of many stories that are so brief: it can be a positive jolt, a ponderous thought or a sine qua non of a happy life. It can also be a total flop – but it does not really matter since you can be on to the next story with hardly a pause or struggle.

Magic is barely three pages and barely comprehensible. Can someone tell me what is the meaning here and what is the point of this story? It is a strangely told story of a conflict between a madam and a girl who worked in the house and was “well-liked by all the men who called.” There is a hex and “after that she lived there quietly.” I am sure as I read that there will be more said about this later but I am unsettled as I await some clarification as yet unoffered. But I set it aside and read on.

Rope is a loose loop of domestic life not quite neatly tied or carelessly bunched up as far as I can tell. The surprise is not that it has a happy ending or that some of the issues will certainly arise again with a new morning. Two pounds of coffee will carry them a stretch. There is a humor here that is common to social relationships in enclosed spaces. “She simply slowed down everything and made double work on the place with her insane habit of changing things around and hiding them.“

This is another short story with a very short title: He. We are in a different era from Porter’s early 20th century for dealing with people who are “differently abled”. But the personal issues for a poor family with a “special child” may not have changed that much. How we deal with people with disabilities is filled with controversy and trial and error and embarrassment. We have passed major laws in our lifetime to ease the lives of people like the family in the story. From what we know about her struggles with early life, Katherine Anne Porter must have been keenly sensitive about being different. This story reminds us that we have come a long way but still have a long way to go.

I wonder if the short story That Tree represents some kind of an actual goal that Porter imagined for herself as a successful writer? Living the life of ease as an artist resting under a tree in Mexico as the poet in this story daydreams. Writing bad poetry, it should be noted. “He never got to that tree he meant to lie down under. If he had, somebody would certainly have come around and collected rent for it, anyhow.” Although she had some success as a writer, she did not have real financial security until she sold the film rights to her book Ship of Fools in the 1960s.

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall is stream of consciousness writing at its very best and most appropriate for end-of-life mortal meanderings. It is about reviewing people from your life and mixing the past thoroughly with the present. My experiences with death have been very limited, mostly with people at an age that you expect to die, not too many too young. In spite of her age, I didn’t expect my mother to die and she sort of snuck out of the world on me. As I left her finally peacefully dead in the hospital bed, the obligatory minister reminded me that this would be the last time I would see her. She must have meant the last time I would see her body. I wonder if the eventual death of my father will likewise surprise me although at his going-on-ninety-four years our talk is filled with the verbal acknowledgement that he is approaching the close of life – even though it may be still several years away. So the passing of Granny seems real to me and a good reminder of a full life. I combined this short story with the viewing of a YouTube video interview with Katherine Anne Porter when she was eighty years old, the same age as Granny.

Flowering Judas is a short story of Mexico and revolution, a place and event both dear to Porter. It is about unrequited love and unrealized love. Laura is an American immersed in both types of love as well as the revolution. As an observer of the Mexican revolution, KAP soaked up the details. Although she did not consider herself a snoop or prying, her apparently casual intake of people and places always informed her writing. She was not prolific by any means but she could pack a lot of detail into a short story. I always wonder how one title is selected for the front cover of a collection of short stories. Did KAP have a special relationship with this particular story – or was the book title choice made by the publisher? “Judas Tree is a common name for a flowering tree, Cercis siliquastrum, from which Judas Iscariot is reputed to have hanged himself.” (Wikipedia) An entire book edited by Virginia Spencer Carr, part of the “Women Writers: Text and Context” series, titled Flowering Judas is likely as complete a source for this story as you will find.

The final two stories in this book are considerably longer than the others, what KAP might have called “long stories”. The Cracked Looking-Glass is about a May-December marriage, something with which I have personal experience. If you are Irish you might especially like this story. Given Porter’s evidently constant search for love and companionship, I wonder how much here is autobiographical.

Hacienda revolves around the filming of a movie about change and the Mexican revolution. We are taken into the mindset of “being three quite superior persons of the intellectual caste of the ruling race at large” in a country of inferiors. We have a foreshadowing of the superiority of the ugly Americans of the later decades courtesy of Katherine Anne Porter. The combination of Hollywood and revolution and traditional Mexican sensibilities about the image of their country make for fascinating dynamics and an undercurrent of humor that has something of an approach to slapstick. The rustic setting of the ancient native cultural making of pulque, Mexican beer, at the hacienda is the backdrop with graft, a shooting death involving one of the actors and infidelity being some of the spice of the story.

This book has made me want to get to know more about Katherine Anne Porter. One way that I have already tried is with the casebook Flowering Judas mentioned earlier in this review. Another book that is still on tap for me is the KAP biography Katherine Anne Porter: A Life . This book has gotten mixed reviews but the best thing to be said about it may be that it deals with the author honestly. KAP seems, at first glance, to be a hard author to pin down with facts. To put it too bluntly, she was a liar. She made up stories about herself. She stretched the truth. Now, I may have to modify some of this bluntness as I learn more about Porter, but she does seem like a bit of a chameleon. Did she have a screw loose? I wonder. The GR intro to the biography says, in part:

My life has been incredible, Katherine Anne Porter used to say, "I don't believe a word of it." Author of the best-selling novel, Ship of Fools, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for her short stories, Porter was both the first lady of American letters and a woman whose indomitable will forged a life that, as biographer Joan Givner makes clear, was not only incredible but may have been her most creative fiction of all.

Generally, I am not a fan of writers who lean on religion. I am afraid that Katherine Anne Porter has a pretty thick substratum of religiosity. I mostly enjoyed the short stories in this book at a relatively superficial level. As I dug deeper into some of her longer stories I was not particularly enamored about what I found. In “Flowering Judas” you do not have to dig at all to see the hallmarks of Christianity. I have her book The Collected Stories so expect to experience more of her “longer” stories as I delve into her life and work. I am giving this book of short stories, her first, 3.5 stars and rounding it up to four because her religiosity has not beaten me over the head. Yet. But I have my hardhat ready.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Source and Journey by Katherine Anne Porter

Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:

- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... and http://realini.blogspot.ro/`

These are two exquisite short stories from The Old Order.
They seem to have been included in other collections and they certainly help make the case for The Pulitzer Prize.

And the praise heaped by scholars and critics.
Penn Warren said that the stories of Katherine Anne Porter are

-"at the top level"

Indeed, the writing is enchanting, the plot is vibrant, the characters complex and mesmerizing and the themes powerful and thought provoking.

In these two I am thinking of slavery, equality, women's rights and fabulous grit and power, courage and more.

Sophia Jane and her African American servant, friend and slave to begin with- Nannie- are the protagonists of these two accounts.

Sophia Jane is a grandmother now, albeit the narrative will change perspective.
Miranda, the heroine from Pale Horse, Pale Rider is not yet born or relevant in these tales.

But as they say in E-notes on the net, in a Freudian manner, in the coming stories we will explore the childhood and evolution of that little girl.

Sophia Jane is the epitome of the strong woman, even if, because of the moeurs of the age, she gives in, first to her husband and then their sons.

They nearly ruin their businesses and it takes the grit, skills, hard work and special abilities of this extraordinary woman to avoid complete destitution and even famine.
Two of her sons run away, age ten, because they were hungry, basically.

Sophia Jane had to let her spouse venture into all kinds of risky, failed ultimately enterprises.
It was inconceivable for the age to have a woman manage businesses.

Nevertheless, with the death of her husband, she had to take the reins.
Her evaluation of this partner is accurate.

He was a man that would start a project only to abandon it, had the feeling that all around are there only to please him, a small version of The Donald perhaps.

As a young woman, Sophia Jane receives as a sort of gift, the property of two slaves, Nannie and her husband.
From there on, there lives would be intertwined.

She would not act as a slave owner, even when her attitude provoked outrage among the racist community of that time.
They were shocked to see the African American listed in the family bible as a relative.

When old, the two women share the same conviction that the young are acting badly.
They are worthless, Nannie says.

But both women have had a lot of children, eleven and thirteen respectively.
In the first place, it was the African American mother who took care of both her babies and the white offspring.

She gave precedence to the white ones.
But when she became very sick, Sophia Jane was kind enough to treat the African American boy who would become her favorite on the same footing with her own child.

With this occasion she discovered the immense joy of motherhood and she declared:

From now on, I will take care of my own children and you will care for yours.


A great pleasure to read.

[FrankH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Club Read: On the Southern Literary Trail

Comments:

Had no idea what to expect from KAP, having read before not so much as one word from this acclaimed writer. It seems to me the closing pieces -- especially 'Flowering Judas', 'The Cracked Looking Glass' and 'Hacienda' -- reflect a marked change in her style and craft from the earlier tales.

Of her domestic stories, 'Cracked' moves beyond the orderly development of the single premise you find in 'Rope' or 'That Tree' to an approach that's more open to ideas that are somewhat off-center, if not off-beat. With Rosaleen, we get a lot of Irish blarney from a woman trying to reconcile the hopes of the past with her current, drab life tending to the aging Dennis. She'll never find contentment by looking at herself in the cracked mirror because, despite its appearances, the mirror will always reflect back the faultlines in her life. Near the end, though, Porter inserts an account of the neighbor boy and the dark spectre he meets on the road. For Rosaleen, it's the Evil presence she first encountered back in the old country and that now roams the countryside in Connecticut, spreading 'bitter lies' and tarnishing her good name. You can dismiss this as superstitious folklore but I think the author's coloring here is a tad sinister. At the end, as Rosaleen voices her fears of her husband passing, what are we to make of her final words to Dennis: "For I could cry if you crooked a finger at me"?

In 'Flowering Judas', Porter dispenses altogether with development and relies entirely on detail and attribution for the story conceit. Nothing really changes much in this piece and it doesn't have to: Etched in bold colors, 'Judas' is a brilliant portrait of a monster, Braggioni, and of the abject creatures in his orbit. Though he is controlling and cruel, his most salient feature is a self-love so powerful it throws off a bright glow admired by his followers. As we first meet him, KAP pulls out all the stops, describing Braggioni less as a stern tyrant than a grotesque, tone-deaf balladier left too long at the dinner table:

Balancing his paunch between his knees...His mouth opens round and yearns sideways, his balloon cheeks grow oily with the labor of song. He bulges marvelously in his expensive garments. Over his lavender collar, crushed upon a purple necktie, held by a diamond hoop: over his ammunition belt of tooled leather worked in silver, buckled cruelly around his gasping middle: over the tops of his glossy yellow shoes Braggioni swells with ominous ripeness....When he stretches his eyelids at Laura she notes again his eyes are the true tawny yellow cat's eyes

For Laura, under the thumb of a man who thinks 'one woman is as good as another', the divided psyche is one that succumbs to evil. Her idea of being 'betrayed irreparably by the disunion between her way of living and her feeling of what life should be' does not begin to convey the condition of her compromised spirit. At the end, Porter makes us feel the true nature of Laura's accommodation with her brute benefactor: First, by giving us the monster in the comfort of his home where the obsequious and clueless Mrs. Braggioni, in a mocking burlesk of Christ and Mary Magdalene, washes his feet and begs his forgiveness; Second, by showing us that Laura's spiritual pain that cannot be quieted. There's no more of the framing word 'disunion'; instead Laura's sub-conscious creates a nightmare from the living hell of her wakeful life, invoking another Christian element -- the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot. We see her in the dream 'greedily' eating the flowers of the Judas tree and as the ghost of Eugenio leads her off to the netherworld, her concept of betrayal -- to herself and to her departed friend -- now resonates with the harsher judgment of 'Murderer...Cannibal'.

As good as these stories are, my favorite in the bunch is 'Hacienda'. In this story of a movie shoot on location in Mexico, there are elements that can be likened to a thirties screwball comedy (w/o the romance), even to gonzo journalism (w/o the drugs). But the real draw is the cool detachment of the narrator, a female writer whose character sketches of the production ensemble and the Mexican natives are models of brevity and droll wit. The first sentence is something Dorothy Parker might well have penned, at the top of her form: 'It was worth the price of a ticket to see Kennerly take possession of the railway train among a dark inferior people'. Much of the comedy springs from the clash of nationalities -- odd Russians mixing with the Americans, the Mexican peasants and the aristocracy -- and from the eccentricities of those with inflated egos (which is just everyone in this story). But KAP's insightful language does not always serve the interest of broad humor. There's occasionally something darker, reminding you that underneath the daffy proceedings at the hacienda can be found the silent suffering of the indigent:

In the Indian, the love of death had become a habit of the spirit. It had smoothed out and polished the faces to a repose so absolute it seemed studied, though studied for so long it was not held without effort; and in them all was a common memory of defeat. The pride of their bodily posture was the mere outward shade of passive, profound resistance; the lifted arrogant features were a mockery of the servants who lived within.

Not sure this collection reflects a sensibility I would call 'Southern' but it's well worth the read.

[rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you happen to see a photo of Katherine Anne Porter looking all regal and made-up (and maybe a little sassy) before reading her work for the first time, you might expect to find a world like Fitzgerald’s: garden parties, outwardly delicate women and wayward men, rendered all precise and jewel-like. And a lot of her stories here do focus on relationships between husbands and wives, albeit of a different class and place than Fitzgerald’s men and women.

But while Flowering Judas definitely shares the hopeless wistfulness for the better past of, say, The Great Gatsby, her work also has a surprisingly sinister edge to it. Check out “Rope” or “That Tree,” and you’ll see what I mean. Not by coincidence, those were my two favorite stories of this collection. KAP is, to borrow a word from Tyra Banks, fierce. And not just because she sort of looks like a model. (I’m pretty sure that this duality of outward classically feminine beauty/inward fire in the blood is a great deal of why I’m obsessed with her. In addition to how fantastic her writing is, of course.)

Four stars for this book only because the last story, “Hacienda,” was a total slog of boring. It was also the longest story in the collection, clocking in at over 60 pages. So boo to that.

[Jaqueline Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

No había leído nada de Porter, pero sin duda me ha maravillado. En sus cuentos podemos encontrar temas como la traición, la muerte y el origen de la maldad humana. Con ese estilo sureño tan caracteristico, nos presenta mujeres, matrimonios y relaciones entre familia, con una penetrante perspicacia.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories explore corruption, betrayal, and loss, using religious imagery. Yet, they reject faith and instead end with doubt and emptiness.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I must confess I personally did not like Katherine Anne Porter’s writing style. In the story ’The Flowering Judas’, The reader watched Laura commit to social justice, but through Porter’s beautiful writing, we could her her inner struggle and questioning of self as she committed to the social cause. Throughout the short story Laura struggled most with betrayal of her true self as she committed to the cause. It was fascinating to watch Laura’s inner dynamics.

[Oisín · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most inconsistent short story collections I’ve ever read: “He,” “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” and “Flowering Judas” are fantastic stories; the last two are amongst the best I’ve ever read. A select few stories, however, are less fortunate; “Rope” suffers from a soap opera level of subtlety; “Magic” and “That Tree” are more concepts for stories than stories in and of themselves. There is something both entirely alien about Porter’s stories, particularly the more impressionistic ones, but they rarely lose sight of their own entertainment value - the best of this book combines her dry sense of humour with her unique experimental form.

[Steven Schrader · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite passages:

"Glittering epithets tumbled over one another like explosions of a rocket. All the scandalous analogies from the animal and vegetable worlds were applied in a vivid, unique and personal way to the life, loves, and family history of the officer who had just set him free."

[Vel Veeter]

This is the second time I've read this collection, and for a few of the stories like "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" and "Flowering Judas" half a dozen or more. Katherine Anne Porter has a strange place in American literature, partly because of her placement in time--she was born around the turn of the century--and partly because she only wrote the one novel. She's an absolute force in terms of the short stories, which predate figures writing somewhat similar stories like O'Connor (to a small degree), Welty (to a larger degree), and Paul Bowles (to a moderate degree). She also has a little bit of the American waywardness, so she often turns to contrasting places like Mexico to try to figure out what America is, especially with the stories "Flowering Judas," "Hacienda," and "Concepcion." The stories in this collection are taken from a pretty big range of Porter's life, 1923-1935, where she would have been about 25-38 or so, and so you can imagine the range of stories is quite larger. The early stories are often short sketches or vignettes, and the later stories are much longer, even for a short collection like this one. The title story is probably the one that is the star here, evidenced not only by being the title story, but also being a very well anthologized story (I read it for an intro to American lit class), and that's partly because it's story full of vague menace, and partly because it's use of present tense is pretty stark and energizing (especially for a story where you get the sense that something bad is going to happen), and because the lead character is a young person, and while it might be true that young people love to read about young people, teachers love to assignment stories about young people to young people. For me, now reading it years later, I find the "Jilting of Granny Weatherall" to be the best story in the collection and certainly the most fun to read.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flowering Judas is a short story I read as part of a book group.

It is the tale of Laura; an American teacher living in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) Laura plays an active part in the war assisting Socialist revolutionaries by visiting them in prison and passing on important messages to different factions. Laura seems to empathise with the poor of Mexico teaching peasant children how to speak English.

I liked Laura as a character, probably because she is brave and defies the conventions of the age for lots of different reasons. Firstly she is an independent woman during a period of time when women tended to stay at home and be shackled by marriage as soon as they were old enough (whether they wanted to or not) she has travelled to a country wracked by bloody civil war where she barely speaks the language all by herself just to help a cause she believes in. America as a nation sided with the government forces so Laura risked arrest and, at the very least, censure from her own people in the US.

Although the story is short I felt I got to know Laura well. A leader in the revolution is staying at her house temporarily and he is not shy about voicing his opinions of her. He cannot understand why she remains single. It is never explicitly stated why and I must admit any view I have on the matter would be guesswork. Any ideas Lesa?

As with most short stories I felt it had the potential to be more and would have loved to have read another 20 to 30 pages but alas such is the nature of short stories. I will definitely be looking to read more Katherine Anne Porter books in the future.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice Munro's recent death somehow led me back to KAP's short stories. I see connections, but they are very different, too.
My copy was rescued from our high school library years ago when there was a time of culling. It's a Modern Library edition, a "little" book. I loved the feel of it in my hands.
Whether or not KAP embellished details of her life doesn't really matter to me. She was a fine, pointed, lyrical and perceptive writer (and journalist and other things). Her 1940 Introduction is instructive. In it she speaks of her "first fruits...though I had no plan for their future and no notion of what their meaning might be to such readers as they might find." She saw this time as one in which the voices of individual artists were being muted and then calls for the voices to speak. She claims faith in the power of individual writers and works because they "outlive governments and creeds and the societies, even the very civilizations that produced them."
I've long loved Granny Weatherall with all its mystic movements and "Flowering Judas," one of DAP's most deftly wrought stories. "Maria Concepcion," "The Cracked Looking Glass," and "Hacienda" are also well worth reading and thinking about.
The fruits of love and war and betrayal, the unfolding and death of relationships, and the myriad detailing of places and sights and smells - very powerful indeed.

[Sean]

I'll need to sit on this awhile. Having finished Porter's book Pale Horse, Pale Rider and believing I had found a genius who never missed, whose variety in stories and writing is rarely matched, I was left disappointed. Many stories seemed to resist getting into, while others, once immersion occurred were brilliant. Because of this, I'm not sure if it was my own reading and understanding that prevented me from enjoying some of these short stories, or if I truly did not like them.

Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed The Martyr, Rope, He, Theft, That Tree, and The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.

The others, I had difficulty understanding some hidden meaning or conflict that was driving the story. So, I will have to revisit.

[Greg Fanoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story collections can be difficult to rate. In any event, there are two genuinely great stories here ("Flowering Judas" and "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"), and a lot of the rest was kind of boring. Those great stories are enough to make me, eventually, go back and read the rest of Porter, but for now I'm taking a break.

[Carsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Porter's 12 early short stories from the 1920s and 30s, many set in Mexico and told from the points-of-view of ordinary Mexicans and American expats caught up in the Mexican Revolution. The stories are beautifully written and richly detailed. I enjoyed the unexpected historical insights as much as the prose.

[Dov Zeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories, like those of Alice Munro, seem to enter the reader into a stifling and complex world with uncanny speed, not to mention dexterity. But Porter's stories are moodier, work less with family histories, and weigh more heavily with vivid and menacing imagery.

[Kenny Thomson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was like listening to my favorite type of albums. There is the audacity to speak on a wide range of subjects and areas and people, and the fascination with them to provide a new clear voice each time. Katherine Anne Porter rules.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think her later stories are much better. Her Mexico stories don't do much for me, either.

[GW · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent writing, I read the book fast one story after the other. Everything seemed so well written that it was an intense pleasure to read this.