It also assists in preserving Welty’s home, which is one of the most intact literary houses in America in terms of its authenticity. The Eudora Welty Foundation provides a variety of resources for readers and teachers. Welty and most of her friends refused to cooperate with Waldron, whose biography, based on limited resources, is sometimes misleading or condescending.) (Note: Don’t waste your time on Eudora: A Writer’s Life by Ann Waldron. In 2020 I took an amazing online class with Suzanne, as well as Michael Pickard, covering her biography, Welty’s memoir, and Welty’s home, which is now a museum. Įudora Welty: A Biography is the definitive, authoritative biography by Welty scholar Suzanne Marrs, who spent time with Miss Welty daily for many years and had unprecedented access to her letters and papers. If you’d like a quick introduction to the life of this brilliant author, check out the short bio by Welty scholar Amelia McHaney at. Here’s an interesting interview with the Paris Review: The most complete collection is Photographs (1989). White and Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner-what a range!), and personal and occasional pieces (My favorite is “A Sweet Devouring,” about her love for reading). The Eye of the Story (1978) is a collection of her essays on writers (including Jane Austen, Willa Cather, and Anton Chekhov), essays on writing (including “Place in Fiction” and “Some Notes on Time in Fiction”), book reviews (including Charlotte’s Web by E. Welty wrote insightful nonfiction as well as fiction. The latest edition includes an introduction by Ann Patchett. Or go straight to the complete collection, The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. If you want a book with a sample of her stories over her career (including the three in the audio above), check out Thirteen Stories. My favorite way to get started with her stories is the audio version, Essential Welty, of Welty reading “Why I Live at the P.O.” (hilarious!), “Powerhouse” (based on her experience at a Fats Waller concert), and “The Petrified Man” in her charming Mississippi drawl. It’s one of my top ten favorite books!Īfter that, I suggest her Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel, The Optimist’s Daughter (1974), where you’ll notice autobiographical influences. I always recommend starting with Welty’s memoir, One Writer’s Beginnings (1984), which provides a delightful look at the influences that taught her to listen, to see, and to find a voice. I’d love for you to join us! Find out more at Readers often ask me where to start reading Welty, and that’s a question I love to answer. In my upcoming American literature classes for 2022-23, I’ll be teaching One Writer’s Beginnings for both high schoolers and adults, as well as The Optimist’s Daughter for adults. She turned out to be Welty’s long-time next-door neighbor, who then became my dear friend. As we left the cemetery, a woman noticed the baby and struck up a conversation. My fourth son, a nursing infant at the time, traveled with me (and a babysitter) to Jackson. I did have the privilege of attending Eudora Welty’s funeral in 2001 and writing about it for Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, as well as writing several other articles about her, which are listed at the end of this post.
An important reminder for everyone-not just artists. For the artist to be unwilling to move, mentally or spiritually or physically, out of the familiar is a sign that spiritual timidity or poverty or decay has come upon him for what is familiar will then have turned into all that is tyrannical” (“Place in Fiction”). to go out and see what is to be seen of the world. This quote from Welty supplemented my confession: “Naturally, it is the very breath of life. A few years later I did get to meet her very briefly and have her sign one of my books in person, but I still regret letting fear hold me back from that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a real conversation with her (107). He got to chat with her for half an hour-and I could have been there. I settled for sending a couple of my books with Dad for Miss Welty to sign. Only a few people would be there, and he said I could go with him, but I was afraid the crew wouldn’t want me tagging along. She was an alumna of the university where he worked, and he was going to a video interview with her. When I was just out of college and working a secretarial job while my husband was in seminary, my father had the opportunity to spend time with Eudora Welty, one of my favorite writers. These are two of the choices I’ve regretted most. Twice in my life I have let irrational fears hold me back. In fact, I wrote about her in my 2014 book, Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms, in the section on bidding farewell to fear: Fellow Mississippian Eudora Welty (Ap– July 23, 2001) is one of my favorite authors.
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