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Eudora Welty Reads: Why I live at the P.O., Powerhouse, Petrified Man, and Other of her Stories
Eudora Welty, one of America's great storytellers, relates, in her sweetly vibrant Mississippi drawl, five of her finest stories. from the uproariously irreverent Why I Live at the P.O. and the quieter, richly perceptive A Memory and A Worn Path to spontaneous Powerhouse and the insightful voice of women's truth's in Petrified Man, Welty opens up her stories and invites the listener in.
Recorded in 1956.
Description: 2 sound cassettes (1 hr., 38 min.) : analog, Dolby processed.
Recorded in 1956.
Description: 2 sound cassettes (1 hr., 38 min.) : analog, Dolby processed.
2 pages, Audio Cassette
First published June 1, 1956
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About the author
Eudora Welty
244 books1,018 followersEudora 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 3, 2025
Petrified Man by Eudora Welty
9 out of 10
This is a narrative from The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, a magnificent work that has won the 1983…
- National Book Award for Fiction
The main protagonists are Mrs. Fletcher and Leota, even if, although not present in person, Mrs. Pike is almost as important to the account.
We first read about Mrs. Fletcher and Leota in the first sentence of the story, where Leota is giving her client
- “a shampoo-and-set”
When she mentions Mrs. Pike, the name is unfamiliar to the customer and Leota has to explain that this is her new tenant.
Actually, she is also a friend of some sort, for the two women have become very close, the beautician telling almost all there is to say about herself.
As she works with the hair of Mrs. Fletcher, the hair is falling off and when she remarks upon it, the explanation first found is…”the perm’nent you gave me that did it”.
This was unfamiliar to me, but Leota goes on to talk about another customer that said that “you was p-r-e-g”
As a consequence, the hair “do awful funny”, the manner of speaking of the hairdresser being both funny and incorrect.
Mrs. Fletcher is very surprised and about this personal detail of hers being discussed in the open and wants to know who the lady was.
There is a child, Billy Boy in the hairdressing salon and he is the son of Mrs. Pike, who has a job where he cannot accompany her.
After pretending she does not recall who mentioned the pregnancy, Leota explains it was actually Mrs. Pike.
One day, as they were waiting in their cars for their husbands, who had gone fishing, Mrs. Fletcher was taking a prescription from the pharmacy and the hairdresser pointed her out to the new friend from New Orleans.
This is when Mrs. Pike said with certainty that she can tell not just about pregnancy, but that it is into the third month.
The woman can’t “sit still a minute” and she went with her landlady to the travelling “freak show yestiddy”.
They saw some gruesome things, including two Siamese twins that were kept in a glass recipient and horrified the expecting Mrs. Fletcher, when she heard the account from the beautician, who seemed to enjoy the exhibit.
What impressed her maybe more, was the Petrified Man from the title, who seemed to have problems digesting and becoming, well, petrified.
The two ladies went to find about their future from a fortune teller who mentioned events that can become self-fulfilling prophecies...
When they mention that one will move to a different city and one does that, it is because one has taken the skill of the often con artist for granted, making it similar to the story mentioned by Somerset Maugham:
- Appointment in Samarra- wherein a servant meets with Death at the market, asks permission from the master to travel to that city in order to avoid dying, but when the master meets Death and confronts her with questions about why did she take on his employee, she says that she was just surprised to meet the servant at the market, when she has an Appointment with him that very night, in Samarra…
“Ever’body in New Orleans believes ever’thing spooky” says Leota and since Mrs. Pike is from New Orleans she believed the fortune teller.
A week from the first discussion, Mrs. Fletcher is back at the hairdresser, but the attitude of the latter is very different.
First of all, she has had a customer that was on the verge of giving birth, but instead of concentrating on that, she came to the parlor…
In pain, with her husband waiting, the about to give birth customer insisted on having her permanent!
Anyway, the most serious trouble involves Mrs. Pike who, after making such a wonderful impression on the hair dresser, is now causing her landlady so much grief, granted, in large part on account of envious feelings.
One afternoon, as they were having a picnic, Mrs. Pike looks in the newspaper and recognizes the photograph of one of their former neighbors, who is accused of raping four women and whose catch would bring a $ 500 reward.
That means perhaps fifty or even one hundred thousand dollars in today’s currency and she is glad they will be rich.
Mr. Pike is not so happy to turn in a man that he considered to be nice, but his wife is determined and will get the money…I will not say who the character is.
You can read this tale here: http://www.scott.kyschools.us/userfil...
9 out of 10
This is a narrative from The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, a magnificent work that has won the 1983…
- National Book Award for Fiction
The main protagonists are Mrs. Fletcher and Leota, even if, although not present in person, Mrs. Pike is almost as important to the account.
We first read about Mrs. Fletcher and Leota in the first sentence of the story, where Leota is giving her client
- “a shampoo-and-set”
When she mentions Mrs. Pike, the name is unfamiliar to the customer and Leota has to explain that this is her new tenant.
Actually, she is also a friend of some sort, for the two women have become very close, the beautician telling almost all there is to say about herself.
As she works with the hair of Mrs. Fletcher, the hair is falling off and when she remarks upon it, the explanation first found is…”the perm’nent you gave me that did it”.
This was unfamiliar to me, but Leota goes on to talk about another customer that said that “you was p-r-e-g”
As a consequence, the hair “do awful funny”, the manner of speaking of the hairdresser being both funny and incorrect.
Mrs. Fletcher is very surprised and about this personal detail of hers being discussed in the open and wants to know who the lady was.
There is a child, Billy Boy in the hairdressing salon and he is the son of Mrs. Pike, who has a job where he cannot accompany her.
After pretending she does not recall who mentioned the pregnancy, Leota explains it was actually Mrs. Pike.
One day, as they were waiting in their cars for their husbands, who had gone fishing, Mrs. Fletcher was taking a prescription from the pharmacy and the hairdresser pointed her out to the new friend from New Orleans.
This is when Mrs. Pike said with certainty that she can tell not just about pregnancy, but that it is into the third month.
The woman can’t “sit still a minute” and she went with her landlady to the travelling “freak show yestiddy”.
They saw some gruesome things, including two Siamese twins that were kept in a glass recipient and horrified the expecting Mrs. Fletcher, when she heard the account from the beautician, who seemed to enjoy the exhibit.
What impressed her maybe more, was the Petrified Man from the title, who seemed to have problems digesting and becoming, well, petrified.
The two ladies went to find about their future from a fortune teller who mentioned events that can become self-fulfilling prophecies...
When they mention that one will move to a different city and one does that, it is because one has taken the skill of the often con artist for granted, making it similar to the story mentioned by Somerset Maugham:
- Appointment in Samarra- wherein a servant meets with Death at the market, asks permission from the master to travel to that city in order to avoid dying, but when the master meets Death and confronts her with questions about why did she take on his employee, she says that she was just surprised to meet the servant at the market, when she has an Appointment with him that very night, in Samarra…
“Ever’body in New Orleans believes ever’thing spooky” says Leota and since Mrs. Pike is from New Orleans she believed the fortune teller.
A week from the first discussion, Mrs. Fletcher is back at the hairdresser, but the attitude of the latter is very different.
First of all, she has had a customer that was on the verge of giving birth, but instead of concentrating on that, she came to the parlor…
In pain, with her husband waiting, the about to give birth customer insisted on having her permanent!
Anyway, the most serious trouble involves Mrs. Pike who, after making such a wonderful impression on the hair dresser, is now causing her landlady so much grief, granted, in large part on account of envious feelings.
One afternoon, as they were having a picnic, Mrs. Pike looks in the newspaper and recognizes the photograph of one of their former neighbors, who is accused of raping four women and whose catch would bring a $ 500 reward.
That means perhaps fifty or even one hundred thousand dollars in today’s currency and she is glad they will be rich.
Mr. Pike is not so happy to turn in a man that he considered to be nice, but his wife is determined and will get the money…I will not say who the character is.
You can read this tale here: http://www.scott.kyschools.us/userfil...
August 13, 2016
Eudora Welty hypmotizes the Reader as an invisible character in to each short story. Like a good dream throughout the day The Reader will wish for more of a memory of that dream of that Welty Stpre. And finally The Welty Reader will research and beg every library and literary institution and ask for more Welty Short Stories to take in, to digest. To enjoy and to never forget.
Paul Edelstein
Memphis
Paul Edelstein
Memphis
July 28, 2020
Audio version, read by the author. A real treat.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews