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In her collected letters, Katherine Anne Porter cites James Joyce as an inspiration. This work analyzes Porter´s Pale Horse, Pale Rider collection in relationship to Joyce´s Dubliners primarily through Porter´s use of Joycean paralysis in the three stories Old Mortality, Noon Wine, and Pale Horse, Pale Rider. Her characters´ states of hopelessness reflect a similar paralysis to those found in Dubliners´ The Dead, Grace, and Eveline. Porter´s collection of stories is not an imitation of Joyce´s work; her voice and story settings remain distinct. However, a thread can be found between the two writers´ selected works through the oppressiveness of the societies in which the characters in the Pale Horse, Pale Rider series and Dubliners live. This analysis illuminates the hopelessness found in Porter´s characters, while surveying the connections that exist between her and Joyce´s stories. These connections forge a bridge between Porter and Joyce´s literary techniques and highlight the authors´ brilliant and socially reflective works of literature and should be especially useful for anyone studying Modern literature.

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Jamie Colwell, MA: Studied English at Clemson University. Doctoral Student and Graduate Research Assistant in Curriculum and Instruction, Clemson University.

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