Από πού έρχεται η φωνή;

by Eudora Welty, Τούλα Παπαπάντου (Translator)

"Γεμάτα με τους ρυθμούς και τους ιδιωματισμούς του Νότου, τα διηγήματά της αποτελούν ένα πλούσιο δώρο στους κατοίκους του, συλλαμβάνοντας με έξοχο τρόπο τον τόνο της φευγαλέας στιγμής και αποκαλύπτοντας το αναπάντεχο φορτίο της." (Lettie Ransley, The Guardian)

"Η ειρωνική τρυφερότητα του Τσέχοφ, το οξύ πνεύμα του Μωπασσάν, η παντογνωσία του Πόε, η λεπτή δύναμη του Χένρυ Γκριν. Είναι η τελειότερη στυλίστρια σε ύφος Μότσαρτ που γράφει στην αγγλική γλώσσα στον αιώνα μας." (Mary Lee Settle, Saturday Review)

"Ο πλούτος ενός τέτοιου ταλέντου είναι δύσκολο να συνοψιστεί... Είναι πάντα έντιμη, πάντα δίκαιη. Και απείρως διασκεδαστική. Υπέροχα διηγήματα". (Maureen Howard, New York Times Book Review)

"Διηγήματα το ίδιο καλά από μόνα τους όσο και στην επιρροή που ασκούν στις φιλοδοξίες άλλων από την εποχή του Χέμινγουευ... Το εύρος της προσφοράς της Γουέλτυ είναι τελικά πιο ορατό όχι στην ποικιλία των τύπων -φάρσα, σάτιρα, τρόμος, λυρισμός, βουκολικό μυστήριο- αλλά στη σαφήνεια και τη στιβαρότητα και την απόλυτη εντιμότητα ενός δια βίου οράματος." (Reynolds Price, New Republic)

Περιλαμβάνει τα διηγήματα:
- "Η σφυρίχτρα", "Μια είδηση", "Ο θάνατος του πλασιέ" και "Πολυπερπατημένο μονοπάτι" από τη συλλογή A curtain of green,
- "Λίβι" και "Το μωβ καπέλο" από τη συλλογή The wide net and other stories,
- "Χρυσή βροχή" από τη συλλογή The golden apples,
- "Δεν υπάρχει χώρος για σένα, αγάπη μου" και "Η νύφη του Ιννισφέλλεν" από τη συλλογή The bride of Innisfallen και
- "Από που έρχεται η φωνή;" από τη συλλογή Uncollected stories).

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Race, American, Historical, Crime

166 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 1963

About the author

Eudora Alice Welty was an award-winning American author who wrote short stories and novels about the American South. Her book The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America.

Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived a significant portion of her life in the city's Belhaven neighborhood, where her home has been preserved. She was educated at the Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women), the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Columbia Business School. While at Columbia University, where she was the captain of the women's polo team, Welty was a regular at Romany Marie's café in 1930.

During the 1930s, Welty worked as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration, a job that sent her all over the state of Mississippi photographing people from all economic and social classes. Collections of her photographs are One Time, One Place and Photographs.

Welty's true love was literature, not photography, and she soon devoted her energy to writing fiction. Her first short story, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," appeared in 1936. Her work attracted the attention of Katherine Anne Porter, who became a mentor to her and wrote the foreword to Welty's first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green, in 1941. The book immediately established Welty as one of American literature's leading lights and featured the legendary and oft-anthologized stories "Why I Live at the P.O.," "Petrified Man," and "A Worn Path." Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

In 1992, Welty was awarded the Rea Award for the Short Story for her lifetime contributions to the American short story, and was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, founded in 1987. In her later life, she lived near Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, where, despite her fame, she was still a common sight among the people of her hometown.
Eudora Welty died of pneumonia in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 92, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson.

Excerpted and adopted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult story to read. Where is That Voice Coming From, written in 1961, is Eudora Welty’s reaction to the murder of Medgar Evers. The murder committed in the story is a parallel to the Evers murder and is written from the point of view of the murderer himself.

The story is a stark condemnation of the societal view in Mississippi at the time and illustrates the underlying emotions that are used to justify the racism of the white man who commits the murder of his black neighbor. He is clearly motivated by jealousy and resentment and a feeling that he may be, not superior, but inferior to this man.

I believe the title is very apt, because I think this story is truly about whether it is the individual or the society which is most to blame for such acts. Welty does not attempt in any way to excuse the individual, but his words and attitude clearly reflect that he has been carefully steered to his way of thinking by the society in which he lives.

This is a time period that is difficult to look back on, but it is nice to remember that there were also voices, like Welty’s, standing up immediately to be counted on the side of those so unjustly treated.

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, but rather difficult story to read. I actually didn't read it myself, instead I listened to Joyce Carol Oates read it on the New Yorker fiction podcast, and she does a good job at it.

Eudora Welty manages to express the hate that was behind a real murder committed in the 1960s quite well. I'll go as far as to say it is interesting story, and a forceful depiction of the situation, but I can't exactly say that I liked it.

My problem may simply be the fact that she does such a good job at expressing hate, that it becomes very difficult to swallow. But the thing is, this is of course a real issue that sometimes seems unsolvable, and Welty expresses that situation very well.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/19...

A powerfully disturbing tale written immediately after the 1963 murder of Civil Right's activist Medgar Evers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_...

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for college. This story, inspired by real life events, shows, in an (obviously) upsetting way, racial hatred and its extreme consequences.

[Steve Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about racism and the nature of evil. Not an easy read.

[ola! · Rating 3 out of 5]

it got a lot better for me after analysing it in class

[eva ⚘ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐

( read for uni again lmao. it was difficult to understand without its historical context imo. )

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

only word i can really think of is "interesting." obviously an interesting concept, but also interesting ethical duty of a writer questions arising. a white author, in reaction to a black civil rights activist being murdered, writes a short story from the perspective of the white murderer. it's like, yes, that is the only perspective for welty to take that makes sense; it's some processing of the environment in which one was raised but now abhors; but also there's the journalist in me who says there is nothing ethical about publishing this story (in the new yorker no less!) at this time. also, of course: should she be allowed to use the n word in the first person perspective of the murderer?

within the story, i find the voice very specific and consistent, even within the in-story universe as shown by the narrator's wife and the other townspeople, which makes sense given what welty said about having grown up in this environment. if the point was to make us understand more the entrenched racist environment that makes a murder like this happen, though, there should've been more of the narrator's reasoning. but i'm not really sure what the point was, as above. also there's a strange switch from first to second person in paragraph 6-7 which i honestly can't believe an editor didn't force fix.

[Nazish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A first person racial slur about a successful assassination of a black NAACP leader by a white Southern which is sure to scare the bejesus out of a reader or leaves one utterly disgusted!
Revised:
*Be ready for the Tarantino touch while you're at it. This is much like an improvised version of a bloodhound Samuel L.Jackson and his much oppressed but civilized Django.

[Cheryl Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

📚🌸Reread for the Welty At Home virtual book club. Their next series starts 09/11/2023, and will cover stories, poetry, and music inspired by the Medgar Evers assassination. Artists to be covered are - Eudora Welty, Margaret Walker, Bob Dylan, and Frank X Walker. 📚🌸

📅Information on this series, from the Eudora Welty House & Garden:

Starting Monday, September 11, we will spend several weeks reading and discussing a selection of works inspired by Medgar Evers, including Eudora Welty's "Where Is the Voice Coming From?," Margaret Walker's poem "Micah," and Frank X Walker's collection of poems TURN ME LOOSE. This series takes place in the sixtieth year after Evers' assassination, and closely follows the June 2023 unveiling of the new permanent exhibit at the Eudora Welty House & Garden titled "Out of Outrage: Processing the Murder of Medgar Evers." Discussions will be led by Suzanne Marrs, professor emerita at Millsaps College and Welty's friend and biographer.
If you received emails for previous Welty at Home book clubs, you are already registered for this free event and will begin receiving emails for this series weekly on Fridays starting Friday, September 8. Otherwise, please email info@eudoraweltyhouse.com to register and receive the emails with the Zoom links and recordings.
Please note that for "Where Is the Voice Coming From?" and "The Demonstrators," we will be referencing page numbers in the Library of America volume EUDORA WELTY: STORIES, ESSAYS, AND MEMOIR; however, these works are also available in THE COLLECTED STORIES OF EUDORA WELTY. Check your favorite public library or independent bookstore for Frank X Walker's 2013 collection of poems, TURN ME LOOSE. Other texts will be provided during the course of the class in the #WeltyatHome newsletter.
***
Reading Schedule:
September 11: "Where Is the Voice Coming From?" by Eudora Welty. (Out of her own outrage and drawing on the tradition of the unreliable narrator, Welty chose to tell this story in the voice of an assassin. That character’s language is racist and hate-filled. Please take care while reading.)
September 18: "Micah" by Margaret Walker and "Only a Pawn in Their Game" by Bob Dylan
September 25: TURN ME LOOSE by Frank X Walker
October 2: TURN ME LOOSE by Frank X Walker
October 9: "The Demonstrators" by Eudora Welty
October 16: OFF
October 23: Placing works by Welty, Margaret Walker, Bob Dylan, and Frank X Walker in conversation 
See less

[Shani Greene-Dowdell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently, my English professor asked the class if the usage of the N-word was appropriate from Eudora, a white author with Mississippi roots.

Here's my reply: http://blackloveisbeautiful.blogspot....

[Michelle, Reader of the best books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such strong, clear voice. The snapshot of hatred and self-justification and the observations layered with the weight of the atmosphere in the South is vivid and grounded.

[Rosewater Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Бледнолицый реднек с ружьишком пристрелил темнокожего борца за права (а за чьи же права мог тот бороться, а? :) ), а Юдора Уэлти представила рассказ под видом (весьма правдоподобных, следует заметить) рассуждений (размышлениями это было бы сложно назвать) добровольного убийцы. Газеты, конечно, учитывая соотношение в среде служащих бледнолицых по отношению к, назовём их так, "кеннедийцам" - перевернули историю таким образом, будто Национальная ассоциация содействия цветному населению является единственным виновником гибели активиста, подстроив оную таким образом, чтоб уличить можно было население "бесцветное" (а как их ещё назвать-то, если одни - "цветные"? :) ).
Язык уместен, впечатление от персонажа полное - семейство предстаёт реалистично нелепым (диалог об оставленном валяться в бурьяне ружье вполне раскрывает натуру), не сознающим даже и возможности истолкования действий их как преступных - создаётся впечатление, что убийца руководствовался единственным стремлением - попасть в газетные полосы; таким образом, о противодействии освобождению негров говорить не приходится - лишь о невежестве глубинки, которую всякий волен похвалить (рукводоствуясь известными принципами и мотивами) за трудолюбие, хотя представить каким образом последнее может "оправдать" первое - задача неблагодарная, и приводит ни к чему иному, согласно Платону *слышится звук соскальзывающей по надколу половины головы античного бюста, после чего раздаётся слегка глуховатый звук удара при падении и отбрасываемых в стороны осколков* , как "обожествлению черни".

[Phil Syphe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read this a part of my MA degree.

Thought it lacked depth and it failed to engage me. Glad it's so short.

[Leon Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

SS5H2 The student will analyze the effects of Reconstruction on American life.
Explain how slavery was replaced by sharecropping and how African-Americans were prevented from exercising their newly won rights; include a discussion of Jim Crow laws and customs.
SS5H8 The student will describe the importance of key people, events, and developments between 1950-1975.

Explain the key events and people of the Civil Rights movement; include Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and civil rights activities of Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

A great story that is basically an re-enactment of Medgar Evers's murder. A good story that describes hard times for white southern farmers during Reconstruction. Students could compare and contrast the actual murder of Medgar Evers and the story by Eudora Welty. Ask students to use background information to explain why the white man killed the black man and support answers? What are the forces that have the white southerner trapped? Explain and support answer. Draw a picture representing the black and white southerner.

[Tehreem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick and interesting read. They say Welty, Pulitzer prize winner, surfaced out unscathed while she too was a victim of the Great Depression. Also, they say this short story was published soon after the murder of Mudgar Evers. Welty from Mississippi could relate to what the murderer would have felt, jotted down this good piece of writing. Sourthern touch prevails intensifying not only the ambiance but the thrill too.

[The Half-blood Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for college.

[Amy "Mrs. V" Velasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

So dark and haunting but so brilliant.

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story. Dark and interesting.