Two of my recent reads have been set during pandemics: They Came Like Swallows and Death in Venice. They were of interest because they recorded details
about how people reacted to health crises a century ago absent effective drug
treatments, against how we as “a people” have been facing the challenges posed
by Covid-19 today. I have now added Pale Horse, Pale Rider a short story by Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) to this genre.
Porter’s story is based on her own experience as a victim of
the 1918 Spanish Influenza. A survivor, her
recovery was never certain, and very painful physically and mentally. She was hospitalized for months.
In the book, the protagonist is a young
newspaper reporter named Miranda who has fallen in love with Adam, a young soldier temporarily on leave awaiting orders to ship out for Europe to do
his part in World War I. Their
relationship cannot help but be impacted by the threat of death from influenza,
or on the frontline of battle. Miranda
falls ill and is hospitalized. Adam is
not able to see her because the hospital has barred all visitors during the epidemic. When Adam is shipped
out, he can only notify her with a letter left with hospital staff, a letter he
does not even know for sure Miranda will ever see.
Porter’s personal pain and near death as a patient is apparent
in every thought the character Miranda has. It is equally clear the author has
experienced the kind of pain only love can cause.
Pale Horse, Pale Rider is the first work of Porter’s I have
read. It was published in 1939. In 1962 her only novel Ship of Fools
was the top-selling book of the year. Three
years later, with the publication of her Collected Short Stories, Porter won
both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Recommendation: Yes. Though this was my introduction to Porter, it
definitely will not be the last of her stories that I will read.
