Then read Pale Horse, Pale Rider, a trio of short novels that draws heavily on Porter’s Texas roots. Her biographer Joan Givner says that Noon Wine is the most accurate picture of Porter's family in her work. Likewise, the character of Miranda, in the other two novellas, is said to be her most autobiographical character, though the affluent childhood depicted in Old Morality is completely invented. (See a biographical sketch of Katherine Anne Porter for more on her life and her tendency to self-mythologize.)
After reading her work, delve into Joan Givner’s biography, Katherine Anne Porter: A Life. From a writer’s point of view, it’s useful to see how Porter’s work evolved in the course of her life: what events influenced her work, how that influence manifested itself in the fiction, and what her writing process was like. It’s heartening, for example, to know that Porter often put stories and novellas aside for years before going back to revise them.
For a sense of Porter’s personality, if not a factual account of her life, also read the Paris Review interview.
