Books: Promise Kept

PALE HORSE, PALE RIDER—Katherine Anne Porter—Harcourt, Brace ($2.50).

Not many writers can sustain a literary reputation on the strength of one short story. But for almost ten years that has been the achievement of Katherine Anne Porter. Probably no U. S. writer has been praised so highly while writing so little. The story that made her reputation was Flowering Judas, a sensitive, finely-grained piece of prose, but hardly a lifework in itself.

Critics threw their hats in the air, hailed Miss Porter as one of the most promising American writers when it first appeared in...