Katherine Anne Porter (152 page)

Six journalistic pieces written by Porter in 1920–22 are collected in this volume under the heading “Reports from Mexico City.” “The New Man and The New Order” first appeared in
The Magazine of Mexico
(March 1921) and was reprinted in
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993). The text from
Uncollected Early Prose
is used here. “The Fiesta of Guadalupe” first appeared in
El Heraldo de México
(December 13, 1920). It was revised for inclusion in
Collected Essays
(1970) and the original
Heraldo
text was reprinted in
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993). The text from
Collected Essays
is used here, with an emendation suggested by the editors of
Uncollected Early Prose:
at
page 883.3
the words “Over that painted and carved bit of wood,” from the original
Heraldo
text, replace the words “They have parted a carved bit of wood” in the text published in
Collected Essays
. “The Funeral of General Benjamín Hill” first appeared in
El Heraldo de México
(December 17, 1920) and was reprinted in
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993). The text from
Uncollected Early Prose
is used here. “Children of Xochitl” first appeared in
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993); it is based on an 11-page typescript in the Katherine Anne Porter Papers, Archives and Manuscripts Department, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, Maryland, and was given its title by the editors of
Uncollected Early Prose
. (A variant of the piece appeared, as “Xochimilco,” in
The Christian Science Monitor
, May 31, 1921.) The text from
Uncollected Early Prose
is used here. “The Mexican Trinity” first appeared in
The Freeman
(August 3, 1921); it was revised for inclusion in
The Days Before
(1952) and was reprinted in
Collected Essays
(1970). The text from
Collected Essays
is used here. “Where Presidents Have No Friends” first appeared in
The Century Maga
zine
(July 1922) and was revised for inclusion in
Collected Essays
(1970). The text from
Collected Essays
is used here.

“In a Mexican Patio” first appeared in
The Magazine of Mexico
(April 1921) and was reprinted from
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993). The text from
Uncollected Early Prose
is used here.

“Leaving the Petate” first appeared in
The New Republic
(February 4, 1931); it was revised for inclusion in
The Days Before
(1952) and reprinted in
Collected Essays
(1970). The text from
Collected Essays
is used here.

“The Charmed Life” first appeared in
Vogue
(April 15, 1942); it was revised for inclusion in
The Days Before
(1952) and was reprinted in
Collected Essays
(1970). The text of
Collected Essays
is used here.

“Corridos” first appeared in
Survey Graphic
(May 1924) and was reprinted in
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993). The text from
Uncollected Early Prose
is used here.

“Sor Juana: A Portrait of the Poet” first appeared, as “To a Portrait of the Poet,” in
Survey Graphic
(May 1924) and was reprinted in
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993). The text from
Uncollected Early Prose
is used here, under a title supplied by the editor.

“Notes on the Life and Death of a Hero” first appeared as the introduction to Porter’s translation of
The Itching Parrot (El Paraquillo Sarniento)
by José Joaquín Fernández de Lizárdi (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran, 1942). It was revised for inclusion, under its present title, in
The Days Before
(1952) and was reprinted in
Collected Essays
(1970). The text from
Collected Essays
is used here.

This volume collects ten book reviews written by Porter in 1920–43 under the heading “A Mexican Chronicle.” “Blasco Ibanez on ‘Mexico in Revolution’” first appeared in
El Heraldo de México
(November 22, 1920) and was reprinted in
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993). The text from
Uncollected Early Prose
is used here. “Paternalism and the Mexico Problem” first appeared in
New York Herald Tribune Books
(March 27, 1927) and was reprinted in
“This Strange, Old World”
(1991). The text from
“This Strange, Old World”
is used here. “La Conquistadora” first appeared in
New York Herald Tribune Books
(April 11, 1926); it was revised for inclusion in
The Days Before
(1952) and was reprinted in
Collected Essays
(1970). The text from
Collected Essays
is used here. “¡Ay, Que Chamaco!” first appeared, as “Ay, Que Chamaco,” in
The New Republic
(December 23, 1925) and was reprinted, as “Ay, Que Chamaco,” in
“This Strange, Old World”
(1991). The text from
“This Strange, Old World”
is used here, under a title revised by the editor. “Old Gods and New Messiahs” first appeared in
New York Herald Tribune Books
(September 29, 1929) and was reprinted in
“This Strange, Old World”
(1991). The text from
“This Strange, Old World”
is used here. “Diego Rivera” collects two reviews of books about the artist and his work. “These Pictures Must Be Seen” first appeared in
New York Herald Tribune Books
(December 22, 1929) and was reprinted in
“This Strange, Old World”
(1991). The text from
“This Strange, Old World”
is used here. “Rivera’s Personal Revolution” first appeared, as “Rivera’s Personal Revolution in Mexico,” in
New York Herald Tribune Books
(March 21, 1937) and was reprinted, as “Rivera’s Personal Revolution in Mexico,” in
“This Strange, Old World”
(1991). The text from
“This Strange, Old World”
is used here, under a title revised by the editor. “Parvenu. . .” was commissioned by
The New Republic
in 1931 but unpublished during Porter’s lifetime; it first appeared in
Uncollected Early Prose
(1993). The text is based on a 4-page typescript in the Katherine Anne Porter Papers, Archives and Manuscripts Department, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, Maryland, and was given its title by the editors of
Uncollected Early Prose
. The text from
Uncollected Early Prose
is used here. “History on the Wing” first appeared in
The New Republic
(November 18, 1936) and was reprinted in
“This Strange, Old World”
(1991). The text from
“This Strange, Old World”
is used here. “Thirty Long Years of Revolution” first appeared, as “Mexico’s Thirty Long Years of Revolution,” in
New York Herald Tribune Books
(May 30, 1943); it was reprinted, as “Mexico’s Thirty Long Years of Revolution,” in
“This Strange, Old World”
(1991). The text from
“This Strange, Old World”
is used here, under a title revised by the editor.

A
UTOBIOGRAPHICAL
: “About the Author” first appeared, as “Katherine Anne Porter, 1894–,” in
Authors Today and Yesterday,
edited by Stanley J. Kunitz with Howard Haycraft and Wilbur C. Hadden (New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1933). The text from
Authors Today and Yesterday
is used here, under a title supplied by the editor.

“The Land That Is Nowhere” first appeared, as “You Are What You Read,” in
Vogue
(October 1974). The text from
Vogue
is used here, under Porter’s preferred title as evidenced by a typescript of the essay in the Katherine Anne Porter Papers, Archives and Manuscripts Department, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, Maryland.

This volume presents the texts of the printings chosen for inclusion here but does not attempt to reproduce nontextual features of their typographic design. The editor has supplied headnotes to the book reviews, introductions, and symposium questions, datelines to the reports from Mexico City, “Notes on the Texas I Remember,” and “The Land That Is Nowhere,” and the titles, headings, and rubrics
noted above; otherwise, the texts are printed without change, except for the correction of typographical errors. Footnotes, and datelines except those mentioned above, are Porter’s own. Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are often expressive features, and they are not altered, even when inconsistent or irregular. Except for clear typographical errors, the spelling and usage of foreign words and phrases are left as they appear in the original texts. The following is a list of typographical errors corrected, cited by page and line number: 88.27, Cornalia; 97.5, a a very; 102.21, Zócolo,; 128.22, Missus; 138.31, sittling; 149.17, rawidhe; 164.16, beach.; 168.33, Doña; 173.4, fly-brown; 178.6, better the; 186.17, Eve; 190.35, me. He; 205.4, jocky; 209.36, exactly if; 235.18, Swede.”; 243.7, “You’re; 258.26, an he; 291.29, strait jacket; 307.16, ouf; 337.17, Grandchildren; 395.15, splender; 399.28, ballons; 421.37, Old; 470.27, tones, with; 481.39, of; 483.10, steer’s; 491.5, it?; 487.20, his agony; 501.6, them!”; 523.26, on; 559.21, miniscule; 587.18, live; 590.1,
Wingéd;
593.29, highfalutin’; 594.14, wingéd; 619.15, how; 623.4,
Chatterly’s
; 624.4, bestwritten; 634.6–7, man-and-yet and-yet-; 637.9, into here.; 656.6, lykewake; 658.21, tardily he; 659.34, (her); 662.7, male,; 665.34, dreams. . .” the; 686.4, fas; 687.7, Stendahl; 687.11, Stendahl; 687.17, Stendahl; 687.19, Stendahl,; 689.30, Steven; 696.38, by C.; 702.29, Whitman,; 704.18,
advertising in
; 709.30, system the; 712.21, foundation; 773.11, Gardens; 773.20, kind in; 774.13, of Jerico.”; 778.25, victim*; 809.24, Popocatepetl which; 814.8, Weston; 816.17, Weston’s; 833.25, 1691,; 842.16, O’Lochlain; 845.36, O’Lochlain; 853.18, person; 855.34, O’Lochlain; 859.36, Hayes,; 861.3, Hayes; 878.3, man either; 881.8, dusty drinks; 881.32, kind must; 883.10, Cut; 898.33, furnishing; 903.14, Villareal,; 939.10, “edgy”; 959.36, painly; 965.14, Crux; 976.1, capitol; 991.23, wearing; 996.9, beginning;; 1011.19, Moires.

In the notes below, the reference numbers denote page and line of this volume (the line count includes headings). No note is made for material found in standard desk-reference books such as
The Columbia Encyclopedia
or the eleventh edition of
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
. Biblical quotations are keyed to the King James Version. For references to other studies, and further biographical background than is contained in the Chronology, see
Katherine Anne Porter: Conversations
, edited by Joan Givner (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1987);
Katherine Anne Porters Poetry
, edited by Darlene Harbour Unrue (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996);
Letters of Katherine Anne Porter
, edited by Isabel Bayley (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990);
Mae Franking’s “My Chinese Marriage,” by Katherine Anne Porter: An Annotated Edition
, edited by Holly Franking (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991);
“This Strange, Old World” and Other Book Reviews by Katherine Anne Porter
, edited by Darlene Harbour Unrue (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1991);
Uncollected Early Prose of Katherine Anne Porter
, edited by Ruth M. Alvarez and Thomas F. Walsh (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993); Robert H. Brinkmeyer Jr.,
Katherine Anne Porters Artistic Development: Primitivism, Traditionalism, and Totalitarianism
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1993); Jane Krause DeMouy,
Katherine Anne Porters Women: The Eye of Her Fiction
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983); Joan Givner,
Katherine Anne Porter: A Life
, revised edition (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1991); George and Willene Hendrick,
Katherine Anne Porter
(Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988); Kathryn Hilt and Ruth M. Alvarez,
Katherine Anne Porter: An Annotated Bibliography
(New York: Garland, 1990); Enrique Hank Lopez,
Conversations with Katherine Anne Porter, Refugee from Indian Creek
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1981); Janis Stout,
Katherine Anne Porter: A Sense of the Times
(Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995); Mary Titus,
The Ambivalent Art of Katherine Anne Porter
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2005); Darlene Harbour Unrue,
Truth and Vision in Katherine Anne Porters Fiction
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985),
Understanding Katherine Anne Porter
(Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988), and
Katherine Anne Porter: The Life of an Artist
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi,
2005); Thomas F. Walsh,
Katherine Anne Porter and Mexico: The Illusion of Eden
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992).

3.29
Carl Van Doren] Van Doren (1885–1950) was literary editor of
The Century Magazine
from 1922 to 1925.

12.8
fig-cactus] Prickly pear
(Opuntia).

17.25
informal] The Spanish
informal
means “unreliable,” “irresponsible.”

17.33–34
I say to her. . . she goes quickly.] Cf. Matthew 8:9.

18.38
Death and Resurrection” pulque shop] The death and resurrection of Christ is a common subject for murals decorating
pulquerías
, or shops dispensing pulque, a milky alcoholic beverage made from the juice of the agave plant.

20.21–22
shrine at Guadalupe Villa] The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (erected 1532–1709), in the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, north of Mexico City, is sited on Tepeyac Hill, where it is said the Virgin Mary appeared to the humble Indian Juan Diego in December 1531. The shrine that houses Juan Diego’s
tilma
(cloak), miraculously imprinted with an image of Mary, is the most-visited Roman Catholic pilgrimage site in North America.

21.2
Belén Prison] Mexico City prison (1880–1935) legendary for its brutality.

21.17
brasero] Small grill with a coal box underneath.