Looking at her characters from above, through a glass - K A Porter

Old Mortality is the least known (and read?) of the three novellas in Katherine Anne Porter's collection "Pale Horse, Pale Rider," which I'm reading in an ancient Modern Library edition - the novellas are all from the '30s. I'll withhold final judgment of Old Mortality till I finish, but from the start it's very promising: kind of like William Faulkner meets J.D. Salinger - a family saga, mostly about the eccentricities of a deceased aunt and others of her generation, as told or recollected by two (preteen?) sisters - the story recollected in fragments, out of chronological order, that gradually cohere into a full picture of a wealthy old Southern family. We'll see how it develops. The title story is pretty well-known, at least for its fabulous title, and it's beautifully written, but it does seem to be a period piece - it was a period piece even in the '30s in fact - looking back on life on the home front during World War I, the guilt that young men or even older men felt if they weren't serving, the thuggish pressure that the guys selling war bonds put on the women at home - who were being paid a pittance - these guys trying to look and act tough, as compensation. Story focuses on young woman reporter and her brief and sad relationship with a guy headed for the front - story takes some surprising tragic turns at the end. It's very evocative of a long-ago era, but ultimately feels a little cold and remote: the heroine suffers deeply, but Porter is a cold and unemotional writer, as if she's looking at her characters from above, through a glass. Perhaps that's why she's not as well known today as some of her contemporaries.