That's such an interesting comment about the pre-Raphaelites. Porter does use symbolism in a painterly way, at least painterly for that era (which makes sense given that her husband was such a good painter). Thank you!

Did you ever read the Spanish novelist Felipe Alfau, who was a National Book Award Finalist at the age of 88? I haven't, but his shortlisting probably had more attention than Porter's, perhaps because of the Dalkey Archive imprimatur.