Isabel Bayley, editor
Letters of Katherine Anne Porter
(New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990)
Katherine Anne Porter is an American writer who has achieved the priceless heights in the literary world. She has won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Letters of Katherine Anne Porter is an autobiography that was compiled and selected by Isabel Bayley. This book is very interesting because it consists of letters that Katherine Anne Porter wrote throughout her life. The correspondents the she keeps with her friends and families are about everyday life and human nature. She has traveled extensively, in addition to the fact that she has lived in many places around the world.
The Letters of Katherine Anne Porter is an account of life itself.
This is true for several reasons. Even though all these letters were written by Katherine Anne Porter, the accounts of her life are down to earth and can be related to all human beings. This autobiography does not dwell on specific facts, instead it goes on day to day as human beings live their daily lives one day at a time. The letters that I viewed dealt with the period from 1930 to 1963. These were the years that she was most productive in terms of the literary works that she produced. She was a writer that lived life to the fullest extent. She lived a full life. She lived through relationships and environments through out the world. She lived in New York NY, Paris France, New Orleans LA, Southbury CT and Washington D.C.. She also had to deal with personal tragedies of family and friends. For example the death of her father and brother. On the other hand she was equally grateful for her all her experiences and interactions throughout the years. In her letters she show the appreciation for the simple aspects of life such as the air we breath, the sun, the sound of a persons voice and other intricacies that we take for granted.
Katherine Anne Porter seemed to have written everyday and had almost a seamless account of all that she was thinking. It was very difficult for me to fathom the extensive detection needed to write so much on a consistent basis. This book has given me a greater appreciation of letter writing and the importance of the accounts in letters as a viable source of historical information.
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