In the notes below, the reference numbers denote page and line of this volume (the line count includes headings). No note is made for material found in standard desk-reference books. Biblical quotations are keyed to the King James Version. For references to other studies, and further biographical background than is contained in the Chronology, see Katherine Anne Porter: Conversations, edited by Joan Givner (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1987); Katherine Anne Porters Poetry, edited by Darlene Harbour Unrue (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996); Letters of Katherine Anne Porter, edited by Isabel Bayley (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990); Mae Franking’s “My Chinese Marriage,” by Katherine Anne Porter: An Annotated Edition, edited by Holly Franking (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991); “This Strange, Old World” and Other Book Reviews by Katherine Anne Porter, edited by Darlene Harbour Unrue (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1991); Uncollected Early Prose of Katherine Anne Porter, edited by Ruth M. Alvarez and Thomas F. Walsh (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993); Robert H. Brinkmeyer Jr., Katherine Anne Porters Artistic Development: Primitivism, Traditionalism, and Totalitarianism (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1993); Jane Krause DeMouy, Katherine Anne Porters Women: The Eye of Her Fiction (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983); Joan Givner, Katherine Anne Porter: A Life, revised edition (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1991); George and Willene Hendrick, Katherine Anne Porter (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988); Kathryn Hilt and Ruth M. Alvarez, Katherine Anne Porter: An Annotated Bibliography (New York: Garland, 1990); Enrique Hank Lopez, Conversations with Katherine Anne Porter, Refugee from Indian Creek (Boston: Little, Brown, 1981); Janis Stout, Katherine Anne Porter: A Sense of the Times (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995); Mary Titus, The Ambivalent Art of Katherine Anne Porter (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2005); Darlene Harbour Unrue, Truth and Vision in Katherine Anne Porters Fiction (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985), Understanding Katherine Anne Porter (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988), and Katherine Anne Porter: The Life of an Artist (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005); Thomas F. Walsh, Katherine Anne Porter and Mexico: The Illusion of Eden (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992).
1 And the greatest . . . charity.] 1 Corinthians 13:13.
2 Ruin hath taught . . . away.] See Shakespeare’s Sonnet 64 (“When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced. . .”).
3 Vita Nuova] La Vita Nuova (“The New Life,” 1295) by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), collection of poems with prose commentary centered on Beatrice Portinari, the idealized object of Dante’s unrequited love.
4 Wedding Song of Spenser] “Epithalamion” (1595) by Edmund Spenser (1552–1599).
5 Her tantalized spirit. . . roses. . .”] Cf. “For Annie” (1849) by Edgar Allan Poe.
6 Mother of God. . . Child;] Madonna and Child on a Grassy Bench (1505–7), woodcut by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528).
7 Death. . . knight;] The Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), engraving by Dürer.
8 Sir Thomas More’s household,] Painting (1593) by Rowland Lockey (1565–1616) in the style of Hans Holbein the Younger.
9 play with Mary. . . in it] Maria Stuart (1800) by Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805).
10 Sic semper tyrannis,”] Latin: “Thus always to tyrants,” motto of the state of Virginia.
11 melancholy farewell. . . Granada] “La Golondrina” (“The Swallow”), Mexican song of farewell by Narciso Serradel Sevilla (1843–1910).
12 Proteus Ball] The Krewe of Proteus, a New Orleans social club that parades during Mardi Gras, sponsors an annual masquerade ball.
13 Tod Sloan] American jockey (1874–1933) who, in the 1890s, revolutionized riding technique by leaning forward in his stirrups, out of his saddle, and onto the neck of the horse. His “forward mount,” or “monkey crouch,” is used by all jockeys today.
14 Over the River”] “(Let Us Cross) Over the River” (1876), song by Septimus Winner (1827–1902).
15 serpent’s teeth] See Shakespeare, King Lear, I.iv.287–88: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child!”
16 Whoa, you heifer] Song (1904) by New Orleans ragtime musician Al Verger (1879–1924).
17 Elysian Fields] Street in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gentilly, in the northeastern quadrant of the city.
18 St. Charles] Grand hotel on Canal Street, New Orleans, a center of the city’s social and political life from 1837 to 1974.
19 Calcasieu Parish] Parish (county) in southwestern Louisiana, on the Texas border; its seat is Lake Charles.
20 stranger. . . land] See Exodus 2:21–22.
21 roup and wryneck] In poultry, roup is a respiratory illness, wryneck a congenital deformity in which the bird’s neck is twisted at an angle to the body.
22 meeching] Cowardly, retiring.
23 hand-runnin’] In unbroken succession.
24 Halifax] A creek in Hays County, Texas.
25 gallus] Suspender.
26 Pale Horse, Pale Rider] See Revelation 6:8: “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
27 Liberty Bond] Bond issued by the U.S. Treasury during World War I to help finance the war effort.
28 Lusk Committeeman] Member of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities (1919–20), headed by State Senator Clayton R. Lusk (1877–1959). For a year the so-called Lusk Committee, working with police and private investigators, raided the headquarters of suspected radical organizations in search of evidence that they advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government.
29 Belleau Wood] The four-week Battle of Belleau Wood, near Chateau-Thierry, France (June 1–26, 1918), was the first in which chiefly American forces suffered heavy casualties.
30 Boche] Derisive French slang term for the German Army.
31 sapping party] Group of combat engineers that advances with the front-line infantry and prepares the field of battle by digging trenches, building bridges, clearing mines, etc.
32 The Angel of Mons] According to a legend fabricated by the Welsh writer Arthur Machen in his tale “The Bowmen” (1914), St. George and an angelic army assisted the British Expeditionary Force at Mons, France, during its first engagement with the German Army (August 22–23, 1914).
33 Hut Service] One of many civilian support groups that provided comfort and entertainment to servicemen during World War I, establishing the model for the modern USO.
34 explosive. . . pits] Peach pits are a rich natural source of hydrogen cyanide, the gas of which, when mixed with air at concentrations over 5.6%, is a powerful explosive.
35 Stella Mayhew] American singer and comic actress (1875–1934) often paired, in blackface, with Al Jolson.
36 O the blues. . . disease] First line of “Ev’rybody’s Crazy ’bout the Doggone Blues” (1918), popular song by Turner Layton, words by Henry Creamer.
37 Over There] The European front in World War I, a usage made popular by George M. Cohan’s song “Over There” (1917).
38 Big Berthas] Series of six powerful howitzers manufactured by Krupp arms works and used by the German Army at the outset of the war. Each fired a 420-mm. shell and had a range of about eight miles.
39 In Flanders Field. . . row”] Cf. “In Flanders Fields” (1915), poem by Canadian Army surgeon Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae (1872–1918).
40 “Tipperary” or “There’s a Long, Long Trail”] Popular anthems of World War I: “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” (1912), British music-hall song by Harry Williams, words by Jack Judge; “There’s a Long, Long Trail A-winding” (1915), song by Yale undergraduates Alonzo “Zo” Elliott and Stoddard King.
41 Pack Up Your Troubles”] “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag (And Smile, Smile, Smile)” (1915), marching song by “Charles Asaf” (the English Brothers Felix and George Henry Powell).
42 Madelon”] “Quand Madelon” (1918), French popular song by Camille Robert, words by Louis Bosquet, about a Breton barmaid who refuses to kiss any one soldier because “she is true to the whole regiment.”
43 Mumm’s Extry] Mumm Carte Classique, an extra-dry white Champagne.
44 I confess. . . Paul] The Confiteor (“I confess”), spoken by the celebrant at the beginning of the Roman Rite of Mass.
45 Blessed. . . mild] Cf. “Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild,” in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) by Charles Wesley (1701–1788).
46 Armistice] On November 11, 1918, at Compiègne, France, the Germans signed an armistice agreement prepared by the Allied powers, ending World War I.
47 Bois d’Hiver] “Winter wood,” a heavy, spicy French perfume.
48 Lazarus, come forth] See John 11:43.