Pale Horse, Pale Rider (1939) By Katherine Anne Porter

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.