Scope and Content Note
The papers of Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) span the years 1935-1974 and chiefly consist of autograph and typescript letters written and signed by Porter to Marcelle Sibon, her French translator. The letters begin in 1935 which finds Porter living in Paris where she resided until October of the following year as part of the American expatriate literary community. From then until 1974, Porter wrote regularly to Sibon, who became not only Porter's associate but also her friend and confidante. A letter to Sibon, September 21, 1946, includes as an attachment a copy of the quarterly review Accent containing Porter's story "The Stranger," described as a passage from her novel in progress "No Safe Harbor," later retitled Ship of Fools. Throughout the correspondence, Porter keeps Sibon posted on the progress of her stories and writings from original idea to publication often disclosing her artistic frustrations with all aspects of the creative process, including the long period of gestation until her only novel, Ship of Fools, was published in 1962.
Porter was personally acquainted with some of the major writers and poets of her time, lending an authentic quality to her personal opinions and critical observations of their work. In addition, the letters cover a wide range of other topics including Porter's political beliefs, current events and the state of world affairs, domestic routines and private grievances, and various travel plans and agenda. Despite her public appearances as a major American literary figure and accomplished short story writer, Porter bristled at the daily distractions which deprived her of the solitude she needed to write and voiced a constant desire for ". . . solitude and silence, my old faithful allies who never failed me yet!" With the publication of Ship of Fools and Collected Stories, 1965, Porter suffered a new level of discomfort at the service of fame and complains that it ". . . brings out the most contemptible traits in human nature--those people whose sole interest in anybody is their fame or notoriety." Known for her penetrating insight into human nature in her stories and writings, she was equally adept at analyzing her own acclaim. The letters provide a rich and honest examination of the private and working life of a major literary artist.
In addition to Porter's letters to Sibon, the collection also contains several items of miscellaneous correspondence addressed to both Porter and Sibon from various publishers and four photocopied letters from Porter to Gerald Ashford and Mrs. Thomas F. Gossett which provide biographical details of her early life in Texas, memories used as source material for her 1937 novella Noon Wine.
A small collection of miscellany includes printed matter, photographs, and a copy of a section from Ship of Fools published in Mademoiselle, 1958, with a promise that the book would be forthcoming later that year.