The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

by Eudora Welty

Alt cover for ISBN: 0156189216

This complete collection includes all the published stories of Eudora Welty. There are forty-one stories in all, including the earlier collections A Curtain of Green, The Wide Net, The Golden Apples, and The Bride of the Innisfallen, as well as previously uncollected stories. With a Preface written by the Author especially for this edition.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Southern, Literature, Southern Gothic, American

622 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

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

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Curtain of Green certainly doesn't read like the first stories of a new writer. Except for a few in anthologies, (like the great "Why I Live at the P.O." and "Death of a Traveling Salesman," both included here) this is my first time reading her short stories, and I can't believe it took me this long to get to her. (May 10, 2008)

The Wide Net is another wonderful collection. Each story, except one (which is set in a bar in New Orleans), is set in and around the Natchez Trace, including a couple of very interesting ones with historical figures as characters (Aaron Burr in one, Audubon in another, as well as real lesser-knowns) and another (possibly my favorite) that uses Greek mythological elements and a Greek chorus for the contemporary story of the town "Queen," a Hera-like harridan. The final story is heartbreaking. (July 23, 2011)

Dense and allusive, The Golden Apples is a tour de force: a short-story cycle that could be discussed endlessly, with its references to mythology, folklore, the nature of time and gender, escaping time and gender, and much more. Perhaps I wasn't always sure of what Welty was getting at when I was in the midst of a story, but by story's end, I marveled at the brilliance.
(July 6, 2012)

Though maybe not the masterpiece the previous collection is, The Bride of Innisfallen is also the work of a master storyteller. The themes that bind this collection are perhaps subtle, but they are there, and the style of many of the stories is quite modern. Welty's way with dialogue and turns-of-phrase is impeccable. (July 23, 2012)

The two 'uncollected stories' (written in the early 60's) that end this volume say much more than they might seem to say, and are further evidence of Welty's keen eye, now trained on the changing times.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eudora Welty's writing is so magical that at times it seems like she is writing about an alternate universe. Even though most of these stories are set in the same small rural town in the American South. It's like she captures a secret cadence behind the everyday rhythms of life. My favourite story of all was The Bride of the Innisfallen, about a journey to Ireland.

[William2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the stories are keepers, but my favorites include:

"Keela, the Outcast Indian Maiden"
"A Curtain of Green"
"Old Mr. Marblehall"
"Why I Live at the P.O."
"First Love"
"A Wide Net"
"Lily Daw and the Three Ladies"
"A Worn Path"
"Music from Spain"

[Karen· · Rating 5 out of 5]

The richness of such talent resists a summing up... Maureen Howard might be a likely candidate for a gold medal in stating the patently obvious for her blurb on the back of this collection. After all there are forty one stories here, written over a time span of around thirty years: naturally they defy summing up, duh. But I'm being uncharitable towards Ms Howard: any quote on the back of a book takes the quotee's words out of context. And in fact I'm twisting what she says, as she never claims that the stories resist summary, but rather that Welty's talent cannot be pigeon-holed. How right. The range of these stories is truly remarkable: not just the diversity of plot, character, voice, but also of genre, which goes from high comedy in a delight such as "Why I live at the P.O." to poignant desolation in "Death of a Traveling Salesman", from whimsical pastiche in "Asphodel" to gritty social realism in the final two stories. She's not a writer that can be summed up, it's true. If there is a unifying element in these magnificent stories, then it might be found in the oblique, indirect style. Some might even be called mystifying. Few will allow the reader to get inside a character, follow their thoughts and feel with and for them. Welty chooses to keep us always slightly at a distance, always on guard, watching our backs. Perspective fades and shimmers, the surface dissolves into liquid depths beneath;often it's not clear if this is fantasy or the 'real' world, workaday or myth, fairy tale or the family next door. Maybe that's how to sum up Ms Welty: she never has the arrogance to believe that she knows. She observes, she imagines, she invents. But the essential mystery remains.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty won the 1982 National Book Award. There are forty-two short stories in this lengthy 622 page book. I enjoyed the earlier stories in the book but not many of the later ones. Welty’s stories feel quite dated reading some seventy years later. Here are some of the ones I liked.

1. Why I Live at the Post Office. Sister alienates family by making too many assumptions but is able to get the family on her side by telling blatant lies and manipulating others.
2. Old Mr Marblehall. He lives a double life with a son by each wife. The sons even look alike. The author dreams of how one day Marblehall’s secret will be exposed. Maybe one of his young sons will follow their dad to the other house.
3. Flowers for Marjorie. Creepy story. Man kills pregnant wife.
4. The Wide Net. Husband thinks young pregnant wife has drowned herself. He spends all day dragging the river to find her body. She was just hiding the whole time seeking attention.
5. Livvie. Husband is old and sickly and dying. Livvie brings a young man home who is her age. They watch the old man die and begin dancing

3.5 stars. I didn’t love these stories as much as I anticipated since I previously read Welty’s novel called The Optimist’s Daughter and enjoyed it.

[Meredith Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was introduced to this book by a smooth-talking, cool, British professor, who mentioned it was his favorite . . . collection of short stories? Book? It’s difficult to remember now. That was years ago. And it wasn’t the first time I had heard of the collection. I think in college I even recorded a friend reading Why I live at the P.O. in a funny voice for a theater class. Or maybe just selections from the story. So, anyway, I was on a short-story-reading kick, and after loving Cather’s and Hemingway’s and Katherine Mansfield’s, I thought I would give these a chance.

At first, we really hit it off. The stories in the first collection, A Curtain of Green, are really tight with surprise endings and good dialog. Then, as I got to know Welty better, it became obvious that maybe she was a friend who was fun to party with, but not someone with whom I’d want to talk about anything important. Because, I had to start to ask myself if she wasn’t kind of racist. I generally still liked The Wide Net, especially the title story. That was one of my favorites in the whole book. It wasn’t until The Golden Apples, though, that I realized Welty is boring. And then, by The Bride of the Innisfallen Welty had become just a crazy old bitty, calling to ramble nonsensically about some kids holding hands on a cruise ship. Then, there is a surprise uber-racist ending of a couple of unpublished stories.

The one story in The Golden Apples that is worth reading is Moon Lake. It starts out slow, like a lot of hers do, but it’s worth it for the way it ends. Otherwise, I would skip the last two collections entirely. The first two are still worth reading, though. Well, maybe just the first one and the title story of the second.

It took me about three years to read this collection of short stories, so I feel like I should be able to write something more profound about it. I have been reading this book since I first started my goodreads account, and finishing it is something of a milestone. Rather than feeling celebratory, though, I feel more like I just don’t ever want to think about it again. One reviewer wrote of The Golden Apples, “This book has been an albatross around my neck all freaking summer.” I’d like to echo that sentiment for the entire collection. I’ve been a lot better about it since I started this book reporting business, but usually I’m pretty stubborn about finishing books even if I don’t like them. This is a good example of that. I should have just quit when it started going bad because it did not ever get better. Stupid smooth-talking Brits. Stupid southern women writers.

[David Carrasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

¿Cuántas vidas caben en un cuento?

Si me dieran un euro por cada vez que alguien me dice que no le gusta el cuento como género, probablemente ya habría comprado una cabaña en el sur de Estados Unidos, en algún rincón de Mississippi, y estaría sentado en un porche, leyendo a Eudora Welty con un vaso de bourbon o de té helado en la mano. Y es que si hay un libro que puede convertir a cualquier escéptico en un devoto del cuento, es Cuentos completos, de Eudora Welty.

¿Por qué no hablamos más de Eudora Welty? Pues, no lo sé, francamente. Si pensamos en los grandes nombres del cuento norteamericano (y digo norteamericano para poder incluir a la gran dama canadiense), aparecen O'Connor, McCullers, Porter, Cheever, Carver, Munro… Pero, ¿por qué Eudora Welty no está en boca de todos? Leo que sí en ciertos círculos, que los críticos la veneran, que tal universidad la estudia, qué se yo. Pero Welty no solo es para expertos. Es una autora que sabe contar una historia como si te estuviera mirando a los ojos en una tarde cálida, en algún rincón olvidado del sur, donde la brisa se cuela entre las ramas y una mecedora cruje suavemente. Te habla de la vida como si te la estuviera entregando en las manos. Y eso, amigos, es algo que no se encuentra todos los días. No es de extrañar que en 1973 recibiera el Premio Pulitzer por La hija del optimista, pero, aún así, parece que siga siendo solo para los muy cafeteros.

Y es que, verás, leer a Welty es como meter la cabeza en un río que lleva siglos fluyendo. No es solo lo que cuenta, sino cómo lo cuenta. Su prosa es envolvente, sensorial, precisa pero exuberante cuando tiene que serlo. Hay en ella una especie de milagro cotidiano: historias de apariencia simple que esconden profundidades insospechadas. Sus cuentos están habitados por mujeres que desafían su destino, hombres atrapados en los márgenes de la vida, ancianos que arrastran su historia como un equipaje invisible. Y todos, absolutamente todos, parecen haber vivido antes de que nosotros llegáramos a la página.

Y aquí, en este libro, están sus cuentos completos, casi 1.000 páginas de un talento que chisporrotea entre la tradición sureña y una observación humana tan aguda que parece que sientas cómo sus personajes respiran.

Esta colección nos lleva a través de cuatro volúmenes con su propia identidad. Una cortina de follaje nos introduce a sus primeros cuentos, escritos a finales de los años treinta, donde ya muestra su maestría para meterse en la piel de sus personajes. Especialmente las mujeres: chicas que intuyen más de lo que dicen, señoras que guardan secretos en la comisura de los labios, damas atrapadas en reglas sociales que no han escrito pero deben obedecer. Ahí están La llave, donde conocemos a Albert y Ellie, un matrimonio sordo que se aferra a una ilusión: un viaje a las cataratas del Niágara podría darles lo que su vida cotidiana les niega. Pero cuando Albert encuentra una llave en la estación de tren, la ve como algo más que un objeto: es un símbolo, una promesa. ¿Será la puerta a una nueva vida con Ellie? ¿O solo una pieza de metal que no abre nada? O Muerte de un viajante (no confundir con la obra de teatro homónima de Arthur Miller), porque, ¿alguna vez te has sentido tan agotado que desearías solo dejarte ir? Eso es lo que siente Bowman, un hombre cuyo último día en la Tierra está marcado por una calma desconcertante. Welty nos lleva por la mente de este hombre que ya sabe, en lo más profundo, que está cerca del final, pero se encuentra, curiosamente, preparado para la quietud que lo espera. Los recuerdos de su abuela, la imagen de su cama de plumas, la suavidad de los movimientos que acompañan su creciente agotamiento… Todo le susurra que ya es hora de descansar. Son dos relatos donde la tensión es un perfume espeso en el aire, algo que se siente sin necesidad de describirlo. O Por qué vivo en la oficina de correos, probablemente su relato más conocido, en el que la narradora no soporta a su hermana Stella-Rondo, quien regresa con un hijo adoptivo y una historia que nadie pidió. Creyendo que el mundo conspira contra ella, se retira a la oficina de correos, donde sigue atrapada en su propia amargura. Una comedia de enredos familiares y celos, donde la narradora, totalmente fuera de foco, convierte una simple pelea en una tragedia épica… solo que en su mente. El calor y la claustrofobia del día de la independencia nunca fueron tan hilarantes ni tan angustiosos.

Luego llega el segundo volumen, La red grande, con cuentos de los años cuarenta donde Welty coquetea con la fantasía sin dejar de anclarla en el suelo polvoriento del Mississippi. No es realismo mágico exactamente, pero hay algo brumoso, un juego entre lo tangible y lo imaginado que te obliga a releer, a buscar lo que se esconde entre líneas. Destaca el cuento del mismo título, La red grande donde Eudora Welty nos lanza una historia de amor, poder y engaño entre William y Hazel, donde nada es lo que parece. William, convencido de que su esposa se ha suicidado, organiza una búsqueda desesperada, solo para descubrir que… Otro cuento destacado de este libro es Livvie, una pequeña joya que explora la liberación de una mujer atrapada en el rol de cuidadora, destinada a vivir a la sombra de Salomón, su marido moribundo. La transformación de Livvie empieza cuando una mujer con nombre bíblico le abre los ojos a un futuro que nunca imaginó. Con la llegada de Cash, el hombre que representa todo lo que Solomon no es, la historia toma un giro hacia la esperanza y la pasión.

En el tercer volumen, Las manzanas doradas, el foco se amplía: Morgana, un pueblo ficticio del sur, se convierte en un microcosmos donde las familias se entrelazan en una red de amor, supervivencia y silencios cargados de significado, un poco à la Faulkner. Se trata de siete relatos entrelazados, que en su conjunto podrían formar una novela. Menos etéreo que el libro anterior, pero con la misma habilidad para capturar la vida en su versión más desnuda. Aquí destacaría Los errantes, la última historia de este libro, que es una despedida nostálgica pero cargada de significado. Con la muerte de Katie Rainey, todo el pueblo se reencuentra para reflexionar sobre el pasado y lo que los ha llevado hasta aquí. Este cuento, que recoge lo que quedó pendiente en los anteriores, es también un viaje emocional propio, lleno de dolor, memoria y la pérdida de rumbo de una mujer que aún busca respuestas. Lirismo puro con un impacto real. Es un cierre perfecto para un libro que no es solo una colección de relatos, sino una celebración de la vida misma, con sus pérdidas y recuerdos.

Finalmente, el último de los libros que componen esta colección es La novia del Innisfallen, que nos saca un poco de su entorno habitual. El fuego es un cuento histórico impecable, tan abrasador como su título. Es un relato desgarrador ambientado en el sur durante la Guerra Civil. A través de un diálogo tenso nos presenta la caída de dos hermanas aristocráticas cuya vida se desmorona cuando un grupo de soldados de la Unión llega a su casa. Con una atmósfera de desesperación y resentimiento, Welty trata temas de racismo, humillación y la desolación de un mundo en ruinas. Un relato impactante que deja una huella profunda. Viaje a Nápoles muestra a una Welty que prueba otros escenarios sin perder su esencia. Y, por fin, ¿De donde viene la voz, uno de los relatos más impactantes, que te estremece desde la primera palabra, escrito tras el asesinato del activista de derechos civiles Medgar Evers. Narrada en primera persona por el asesino, la historia revela, con una intensidad aterradora, la banalidad y el vacío detrás de la violencia racial. Lo que hace que te revuelvas por dentro es la forma en que Welty captura la vacuidad aterradora de un odio que no tiene justificación. Un verdadero acto de ventriloquismo, donde la autora se mete en la piel del odio más puro, desnudando la banalidad de la violencia racial. Es un relato tan agobiante como necesario, que deja claro que no hay nada más peligroso que el silencio detrás de la barbarie.

¿Dónde ponemos a Welty en el mapa del cuento sureño? Pues mira, si Flannery O'Connor es el bisturí que corta sin anestesia, Welty es el escalpelo que abre con suavidad hasta que te das cuenta de que estás sangrando. Si Katherine Anne Porter es la maestra del subtexto, Welty es la artista del detalle que, al principio, parece cotidiano pero luego revela todo un mundo de significados. Si McCullers nos ahoga en la soledad de sus personajes, Welty nos muestra cómo la comunidad y el entorno dan forma a la identidad.

La suya es una literatura de jerarquías sociales, de blancos y negros conviviendo en un orden que ella nunca muestra como neutro. Sus personajes a menudo están en los márgenes: enfermos, lisiados, inadaptados que la sociedad empuja a la sombra pero que ella ilumina con su prosa. Porque sí, la prosa de Welty tiene luz. No la cegadora de la revelación, sino la cálida de una lámpara encendida en medio de la noche.

¿Por qué hay que leer este libro? Pues porque es un mapa de la vida en el sur de Estados Unidos en la primera mitad del siglo XX, pero también de las emociones humanas en cualquier época y lugar. Porque sus personajes parecen sencillos hasta que te das cuenta de que son más complejos que muchos protagonistas de novelas de 500 páginas. Porque Welty escribe con una mezcla de lirismo y economía que deja huella. Y porque, cuando terminas el último cuento, sientes que has vivido cien vidas y aún te quedan preguntas por hacerte.

De modo que sí, como decía son casi 1.000 páginas de cuentos. Pero si alguna vez has sentido que la vida es una sucesión de momentos inesperados, de encuentros que te marcan sin que lo sepas, de conversaciones que parecen triviales hasta que te persiguen años después… entonces este libro es para ti.

Así que, en serio, ¿por qué no estamos hablando más de Eudora Welty? Tal vez va siendo hora de empezar, ¿no te parece?

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, awe-inspiring story collection that spans Welty's career. Reading it with friends, as I've done here, has added to my enjoyment of the stories themselves and to my knowledge of Welty and understanding of the influences behind her writing.

As to what are my favorite? Hmmm. Of course there is "Why I Live at the P.O.." Then there is the whole book "The Golden Apple". I recall scenes from "The Death of a Traveling Salesman". There are too many. And I know I will be dipping into this book in the future to sample these stories again at my leisure and will have more to say about favorites then too.

Thank you to Teresa, Mikki, Karen (and Cynthia at the end) for making this such a great reading experience.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having cut my literary teeth on Flannery O'Connor, I pshawed "Miss Eudora" whenever she entered the conversation regarding short story writers, assuming (without having actually read her, mind you) that she wrote polite little stories of Southern manners that didn't belong on the same shelf with Flannery. I freely admit now that attitude belonged to an ignoramus of embarrassingly shallow depths. It took just one story, "The Petrified Man," to straighten me out. In fact, her entire first collection, A Curtain of Green, is as tough as anything Hemingway produced in his stories, and I dare say, she has more range that Hemingway and O'Connor (who can seem a trifle deterministic and predictable over the course of several stories in comparison). Keela, the Outcast Indian Maiden; The Hitch-Hikers (which makes nice companion with O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find), A Curtain of Green, Clytie, and Powerhouse have a wry toughness and compassion that I've not encountered elsewhere (on the other hand, Why I Live at the PO and A Worn Path, stories that get anthologized ad nauseum, are lesser works, in my opinion).
Over the course of her career, Welty's stories become more lyrical and ambiguous, and while I have favorites from all points of her output, nothing can top one of her final stories, No Place for You, My Love, in probing the mysteries that govern the human heart. It ranks up there with Melville's "Barleby the Scrivener," Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River," O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find," and Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," as the one of the greatest of American short stories. This entire collection confirms Borges' statement that "Unlike the novel, the short story may be, for all purposes, essential."

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some of her stories, Welty’s adeptness at getting you into a character’s frame of mind, while also giving you backstory through dialogue, is spellbinding.

Papa-Daddy woke up with this horrible yell and right there without moving an inch he tried to turn Uncle Rondo against me. I heard every word he said. Oh, he told Uncle Rondo I didn’t learn to read till I was eight years old and he didn’t see how in the world I ever got the mail put up at the P.O., much less read it all, and he said if Uncle Rondo could only fathom the lengths he had gone to to get me that job!

Yes, you have met the character, Sister, in Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.,” the unappreciated one of the family who is paranoid that everyone is turning someone against her.

In most of her stories, Welty creates imagery using similes and personification—though some stories seem to drown in them (i.e.: “The Whistle”). Her prose is so vivid in its appeal, especially at the beginning of some stories (“The Key” for example), that I found myself meandering in the mystery and satire.

She would not feel anything now except the rain falling. She listened for its scattered soft drops between Jamey’s words, its quiet touching of the spears of the iris leaves, and a clear sound like a bell as it began to fall into a pitcher the cook had set on the doorstep.

My collection has four volumes. Oddly, I mostly enjoyed Welty’s first collection (1941): A Curtain of Green And Other Stories: Short, sweet, sensational lyrical prose. The Wide Net (her 1943 collection) was my least favorite: non-memorable.

[Lowry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty contains all the best of her life's work as a writer. Welty was not temperamentally a novelist, though her short novel The Optimist's Daughter is totally worth reading. The short story was the right form for her. This book, besides containing within it The Golden Apples (see my separate review), holds other masterpieces that will repay many re-readings. Her work gets deeper and deeper as you contemplate it. Here are some stories I particularly hope people will try:

"A Piece of News"
"The Hitch-Hikers"
"A Curtain of Green"
"Death of a Traveling Salesman"
"Powerhouse"
"The Wide Net"
"The Winds"
"At the Landing"
"No Place for You, My Love"
"The Burning" (if this and "At the Landing" don't dispel the image of Eudora Welty as the harmless little Southern lady, nothing ever will)
"The Bride of the Innisfallen"
"Ladies in Spring"
"Where Is the Voice Coming From?"
"The Demonstrators"

[Ronald Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been told, both in approval and in accusation, that I seem to love all my characters. What I do in writing of any character is to try to enter into the mind, heart, and skin of a human being who is not myself. Whether this happens to be a man or a woman, old or young, with skin black or white, the primary challenge lies in making the jump itself. It is the act of a writer’s imagination that I set most high.

-Eudora Welty

This collection covers 25 years (the entirety) of Eudora Welty's short story writing. It is arranged chronologically, sectionally separated into the original collections as they were published.

It is apparent from the start the talent and voice that Welty brought to the short story. She is firmly entrenched in the southern literary tradition, and brings to it a lightness of prose, and a gentleness of regard that closely embraces the characters she is writing. This embrace is provided regardless of worth - there are couples in love and adulterers; there are weddings to be had and separations to follow; there is tenderness and there is murder; there are caresses and there are abuses. That's not to say that all are treated equally, but it is to say that Welty presents each scene in a light that demands restraint, if not understanding, on the part of the reader.

And her skill grows throughout the collection. The early stories are full of life, but short in a way that shows a writer still feeling out her talents, afraid to hold a note too long less the bend of the string give away the strain. As the collection progresses this hesitancy disappears, and stories stretch out into multi-sectioned affairs, and the characters are allowed room to grow and thrive.

All this stated, there was no single story in here that truly blew me away; just a steady growth and presentation of exceptional talent - Welty was undeniably an incredible writer, but I was surprised (having read all of her novels last week), that a writer so known for her short fiction would have presented some of her best prose in the longer form (the actual prose of Delta Wedding is stronger than mostly anything here, in spite of its flaws).

What this collection does, just as reading all of her early novels did, is highlight the triumph of her last work, The Optimists' Daughter, and continue to frame how it combined all of the elements that made Welty such a talent, and why her regard is earned and deserved.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a truth that I should recognize about myself. I just don’t enjoy short stories as regular fare. I think every now and again I want one as a condiment, to add a bit of flavor to what I consume. But a steady diet just dulls my senses.

It took me quite awhile to get through Welty’s The Collected Stories. Some were amusing. Others probably had more depth than I perceived. I just didn’t enjoy reading them one after another.

I only read the first series, A Curtain of Green, which might be half of the volume of stories. My favorite was “Why I Live at the P.O.” There were a couple of others that made impressions, but I think I should create a rule for myself to take them just one at a time, and space them out. Otherwise, I am apt to space out!

[Shawn Mooney (Shawn Breathes Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

No one is more surprised than me that I’m bailing just over halfway through this mammoth collection. I absolutely worship Welty’s novel Delta Wedding, but I detested almost all of the stories I read and I did read more than 25. But for a few classic ones early on in the book—for example, Why I Live at the P.O— they left me cold, confused, or mind-numbingly bored. I’m so glad to give up now rather than trudge my way through to the end. I get that many take to her short fiction, but you couldn’t pay me to read another Eudora Welty short story so long as I live.

[Mackey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eudora Welty is the epitome of the Southern Female Writer. She and Flannery O'Connor brought a realism to southern literature that few of their male counterparts ever mastered. Through their writing, readers all over the world captured a glimpse of the poor, the struggling, the different, the proud, the hard-working, the true Southerner that other writers only envisioned in their imaginations. Gone was the verbosity of Faulkner and replaced in its stead the stark reality of what it was to be a "southerner." In her short story,"The Worn Path," a simple tale of an elderly Mississippi woman, Welty encapsulated a wealth of imagery and symbolism that still is the topic of debate for students, writers and philosophers world wide. Once, when I was a young university student, I had the honor of meeting Welty and being awarded a literary prize for my paper on her work, The Worn Path. She was and will remain one of America's finest writers.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Contains the following stories:

A Curtain of Green and Other Stories:
Lily Daw and the Three Ladies -
A Piece of News
The Petrified Man
The Key -
Keela, the Outcast Indian Maiden -
Why I Live at the P.O. -
The Whistle -
The Hitch-Hikers -
A Memory -
Clytie -
Old Mr. Marblehall -
Flowers for Marjorie -
A Curtain of Green -
A Visit of Charity -
Death of a Traveling Salesman -
Powerhouse -
A Worn Path -

The Wide Net And Other Stories:
First Love -
The Wide Net -
A Still Moment -
Asphodel -
The Winds -
The Purple Hat -
Livvie -
At the Landing -

The Golden Apples:
Shower of Gold -
June Recital -
Sir Rabbit -
Moon Lake -
The Whole World Knows -
Music from Spain -
The Wanderers -

The Bride of the Innisfallen and Other Stories:
No Place for You, My Love -
The Burning -
Bride of the Innisfallen -
Ladies in Spring -
Circe -
Kin -
Going to Naples -

Uncollected Stories:
Where Is The Voice Coming From? -
The Demonstrators -

[Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes for delightful teaching. Students really respond well to the stories, showing a lot of compassion and generosity to characters. In 41 Welty was erroneously tagged as a "grotesque" by Katharine Ann Porter, and that reputation is hard to avoid in the early, famous stories like "Petrified Man" and "Why I Live at the PO." They're funny tour-de-forces, innovative in voice and form. My own preference is for the later stuff; "The Bride of the Innisfallen" is one of those long, seemingly plotless stories (sort of like "The Dead") in which nothing happens until right at the end. Suddenly, you realize what a ride you've been on the entire twenty pages. There are also two previously uncollected stories, including "Where is the Voice Coming From?", a fictionalization of the murder of Medgar Evans. For a writer whose most famous essay is about why writers don't need to crusade, it's a hell of a crusading piece.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read the short story, The Petrified Man, for class and it didn't seem so bad. At least, not at first.

I did get to the point where it felt like it could have been a lot shorter than it was. But part of it could have been the narrator I became weary of listening to.

Maybe one day I'll try more of Eudora Welty's stuff, but that day isn't coming anytime soon.

[Lynn Lipinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

TikTok’s a goldmine for Amazon shopping blunder videos. People order stuff without a care, and then, surprise! You just spent a hundred dollars on a doll’s chair when you thought you were buying something for humans to sit on.

Here’s my literary version. I had casually tossed Eudora Welty The Collected Stories onto this year’s Christmas Amazon wishlist, thinking it would be a cozy, curated little sampling of Southern stories. My favorite writer, Ann Patchett, gushes so much about Welty’s talent, I wanted to get a taste beyond what I’d read in anthologies in college.

I didn’t bother to inspect the fine print. So when my wonderful sister gifted me the book, it turned out to be a whopping 622-page literary brick, containing four separate short story collections and two additional stories. This thing could moonlight as a dumbbell!

Never one to back down from a challenge, I decided to read the damn thing from start to finish. No reading it in parts, as I assumed it wouldn’t come back to it. Three weeks later, I turned the final page. Here’s what I thought of my unintentional Eudora Welty short story binge.

Eudora Welty The Collected Stories is one big dose of literary jambalaya, a mix of everything from comedy to tragedy, all seasoned with a heaping helping of Southern spice and lots of time for navel-gazing. It’s one heck of a ride through the Deep South of olden times with side trips to San Francisco, New York, Ancient Greece, and Europe. The stories were written between the 1930s and mid-1960s and contain negative depictions and mistreatment of people or cultures, and use of racist language and phonetic dialogue.

Eudora Welty, much like Ann Patchett, is quite the maestro when it comes to capturing life's little quirks in her writing. Both sprinkle that special writer's fairy dust that sucks you right into their fictional worlds.

However, Eudora's storytelling takes a distinct turn down the time-travel lane. Her narratives are deeply immersed in the raw ambiance of the 1930s-1960s, resembling a well-preserved time capsule that can, at its best, transport you back in time. At its worst, though, it serves as a stark and discomforting reminder of the prevalent racist and sexist attitudes that persisted not too long ago.

Her characters, on the other hand, are nothing short of intense, occasionally veering off into the realm of eccentricity and, dare I say, the derangement zone.

But here's the twist: sometimes, it feels like you're watching sunlight shine through a tree instead of a story unfolding. I had my notepad out, jotting down notes like "not much happens" more times than I care to admit. Those super introspective, dialogue-light stories? They weren't exactly my cup of sweet tea.

But don't get me wrong; there's a lot to appreciate in Welty's writing. In that sea of "not much happening," I managed to find plenty to admire.

To truly appreciate this collection, it's best to delve into each section individually. So, let's dive in and explore the compelling world of Eudora Welty's storytelling.

Let's kick off with the first story, "Lily Daw and the Three Ladies," a promising and lively start in which the dialogue zips faster than a mosquito dodging a swatter. It's about three busybodies trying to ship Lily Daw off to the Ellisville Institute for the Feebleminded of Mississippi (this really existed), but plot twist: the xylophone player Lily met at a tent show the night before makes good on his promise to marry her. It's like the church ladies and Aunt Bea from The Andy Griffith Show got their own episode. A good start.

Next, let's talk about "A Piece of News." Brace yourself for the thrilling action: a young wife twiddles her thumbs at home, waiting for her husband, and leafing through a newspaper. Lo and behold, there's a story about a woman with the exact same name as hers getting shot in a different town. What does she do? Spend her time fantasizing about her own demise, then her husband comes home and she tells him about it. A real adrenaline pumper, right? Okay, moving on.

Read my full review of each collection here: https://lynnlipinski.me/gift-that-kep...

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I was in New Orleans it occurred to me via Paul Theroux's musing on Southern literature in Deep South that I haven't really explored the work of Eudora Welty. Since most of her stories take place in Mississippi and New Orleans I decided to read The Collected Stories Of Eudora Welty (1982). The book contains the short story collections A Curtain of Green, The Wide Net, The Golden Apples, and The Bride of the Innisfallen, as well as previously uncollected ones. These forty-one stories show the virtuosity in which Welty can inhabit people of all ages, gender, and walks of life. A Curtain of Green is most notable for containing her most anthologized short story, "A Well Worn Path," which I can remember reading in high school and college. I was surprised to see some Southern Gothic in"Petrified Man" and "Keela, the Outcast Indian Maiden." I found that two of her more comic stories were among my favorites: "Lily Dew and the Ladies" and "Why I Live at the P.O." The title story of her collection The Wide Net was the standout story of a small rural community and the distinctive types of personalities that peopled a small Mississippi town. I was also entertained by the crime-noir atmosphere of "The Purple Hat." The first story "First Love" is notable for being historical fiction where a deaf mute witnesses meeting between Aaron Burr and Harman Blennerhassett. The next collection, Golden Apples, has a list of Main Families in Morgana, Mississippi and a note explaining that it is a fictional place. This suggests the influence of William Faulkner, who has created his own imaginary Mississippi as well. Generally speaking, these stories were denser and more allusive than her earlier stories. The stories are interconnected by recurring characters and events. There is a sense of solemnity in the stories and my favorite in this collection was "Moon Lake," which recounts the drowning and saving of a young girl. My favorite collection in this book might be The Bride of Innisfallen. The title story recounts a group of people traveling from London to Fishguard where they will take a boat to Cork. Welty lets the characters reveal themselves in the conversation that take place on the way. In another standout story, "The Burning" is her only story about the Civil War and how two women are told that there house will be burnt down by Sherman's men. This event haunts the two women and brings to the surface a family secret that they unwilling to face. "No Place for You, My Love" is a love story that unfolds slowly and results in the realization that it must be unrequited. "Going to Naples" is another charming traveling piece that gives Welty an opportunity to gather several different characters together for an ocean long voyage from New York to Italy. There are there are two uncollected stories ("Where Is the Voice Coming From?" and "The Demonstrators") that were written in the 60s and confront the changes that were coming to the South as the Civil Rights movement that was wrecking havoc all over. This collection felt like a chore at times, but it clearly shows that Welty is a masterful short story writer and worthy to be in the canon of great American authors.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eudora Welty found her genre in the short story, withut a doubt. It was nice to read stories with continuity again, something with which modern authors seem unfamiliar or perhaps they have discarded the practice in the dubious name of art.
Her descriptions are sometimes sparce but always evocative. She brings in the reader as one would a close friend, speaking about things we have in common. Before long, you are smiling and nodding, remembering the time you never spent down by the old tire swing in that big persimmon tree. You can see the fields worked by negroes and whites, a slow cadence in the hot sun, hear the cicadas in the cool of the evenings as you sip cool mint tea and sit on the front porch. the children collected some fireflies and even little Annabelle has a jar with some in them, thanks to her brother jorry's generosity. Tthe travelling salesman came by just last week and you should have the new kitchen things any time now. Everyone is anxious to see them.
Of course everything is not sweetness and light in these stories and Welty masterfully doesn't look for causes as much as she shows how people function. We laugh or shrink in horror sometimes as the parts oflife we want to know the least emerge from the characters, and seemingly, in ourselves. People run around doing funny things and ultimately, well most all you can do is tell the story in the porch tonight and listen to mother cluck her tongue and watch for father's sly grin.
In many ways. it's the kind of life you never knew, but somehow cannot leave...at least not until we sneak off and go swimming later tonight in the creek!

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rich buffet of southern cooking, almost too rich to be read one after another. She's the standard and hard to top.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mighty reading list (entry - assorted stories to be read - non-genre - Letter "W" ) pointed me here with a handful of Welty stories noted. With one notable exception (see the end of this review) I don't believe I've ever read any Welty before, although I do have a dim memory of hearing a story by her read in audio... "Why I Live At The P.O.", maybe?

This is the kind of fine, human-scale writing that reminds you why Lit writing is important as an approach - in this particular case moments in time captured in prose, a sensibility of a place and era, a subtle ear for local dialect and character, all painstakingly laid down in little cut-gem short fictions.

I'll start with an oddity - a piece that does not actually appear here: "Acrobats In The Park" was possibly Welty's first piece of fiction, published much later in life and, thanks to Google Books, capable of being read online before random chance throws in a "missing page". It depicts a family of traveling acrobats resting in a park, mulling over their familial inter-relationships, an unplanned pregnancy and a failed stunt that night before that broke an arm. It's interesting but a little unsure of itself.

"Keela, The Outcast Indian Maiden" has a nervous young man relating to a tavern owner his tale of, years before, carnival barkering for a geek show featuring a savage outcast Indian Maiden who would eat live chickens and frighten the rubes for a dime - until the day the young man observed the truth of the situation and saw his act liberated from virtual slavery by a stranger. Although unaware of the truth, the young man has finally come to present his apologies and discover what has happened to his charge. Nicely done, this story contains realistic language and attitudes of Mississippi in the 1930s so, those of you who find such things impossible to deal with are forewarned. An oddly touching story with a mildly uplifting end.

"Lily Daw And The Three Ladies" concerns a local young woman, known as a simpleton, who has been taken as kind of the ward of small town. Her caretakers (the titular 3 ladies) have just been informed by mail of their success in getting her placed at the prestigious "Ellisville Institute For The Feeble-Minded of Mississippi", and attempts to tell her the news but instead find that she has told other townsfolk that she is engaged to be married. Can they get her on the train in time? Has Lily sinned with the xylophonist from the traveling tent revival show? This is a delightful little misadventure of a story.

"Petrified Man" is told mostly through gossipy dialogue between a customer at and the owner of a hair salon and concerns a surprise pregnancy, another freak show (this time starring pygmys and the so-called "Petrified Man") and the accidental discovery of a wanted criminal; all occurring during two trips to the salon. Again, lighthearted and charming, with closely observed characters and dialogue.

"Death of a Traveling Salesman" starts off strongly as a salesman, just recently recovered from an illness, finds himself lost and feverish driving some back-roads (really excellent writing here). From there, as he seeks help from a rural couple, it turns into a powerful rumination on life, loneliness, love, humanity and assumptions filled with wondrous little details of humor (a donkey looks in a window - that's all I can say) and stirring imagery (fire is fetched from a neighboring farm, the torch blazing in the night-time darkness as it is run back over the hilltop to the farmstead).

"The Wide Net" seems to start as another relationship tale - a new husband fears his pregnant wife has drowned herself (as she'd threatened in a note) because he stayed out all night - but the piece blooms from a closely observed slice of real life as it is cast into fiction and the husband leads a group of townsfolk down to the Pearl River to drag it for the body (with "the wide net", natch). Although all the characters seem like real people (and, yes again, there are some honest racial politics of the time preserved in the language), an impressive dream-like quality accrues to their actions as they gather, move through the October dawn down to the bank of the river and spend the day dragging the depths, eating fish, dodging alligators and sheltering from a heavy thunderstorm. The dreamy, magical quality of the piece, for a moment, even slides into the near-mythic with a quick appearance from the "King Of The Snakes", whom the husband faces down. At first it may seem that the presumably dead wife has become the least important part of the story, as instead we come to realize how integral the river is in the lives of the people, but, by the end, she proves most important of all. A really excellent story and a great piece of Southern writing.

Also in this collection, but previously read by me in The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, is "Clytie", a fine slice of Southern Gothic featuring another simple-minded young lady and the travails of her previously-respected (but now fallen into disrepute and decadence) "fine family." Good stuff.

and a few more...

"The Purple Hat"- Three men in a New Orleans bar during a thunderstorm (a bartender and two drinkers). One of the drinkers begins to floridly tell of a woman who visits his place of employment (The Palace of Pleasure - a gambling establishment) every day at a certain time for decades, always met by a young man. The storyteller (who works as armed security from the dome overlooking the action) swears the woman in the purple hat must be a ghost, as she never ages, and he has seen her murder twice under his watchful gaze... Very atmospheric. Would make a good short film.

"Powerhouse" has Welty capture the joy and energy of a Fats Waller (here, renamed "Powerhouse") concert played for a white audience, and the life of black folks, even respected travelling musicians, in the Deep South of the time, as she follows the titular character during his intermission to a small cafe in "Negrotown". Really strong stuff.

"Flowers For Marjorie" - Howard, down on his luck and without a job, verbally takes out his frustration on his pregnant wife. But Henry is distraught and has visions - did he really take that rash action before leaving their room and wandering the town, wracked by misery and drunkenness, and odd luck? This is a powerful fever dream of a narrative, near noir in its' darkness.

"A Piece Of News" has a barely educated backwoods girl find a newspaper with a story about her in it. A story that her husband shit her in the leg. But he didn't... Odd little character piece, I guess.

"A Curtain Of Green" - Mrs. Larkin tends her fertile garden faithfully since the death of her husband in an accident, and it runs riotously unplanned, becoming a kind of jungle. And one day, just like all the others, the rain comes... A moving, if familiar, story.

[G. Munckel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desde hace un tiempo tenía ganas de leer a Eudora Welty. Veía su nombre junto al de Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers y Katherine Anne Porter, así que me daba curiosidad y, por lo mismo, mis expectativas eran altas. Pero creo que Welty no es para mí, o al menos no ahora.

No es que sea mala (que no lo es), pero me costó mucho leerla, me costó conectar con sus personajes. Su prosa, aunque puede ser bella, es muy lenta y carente de énfasis. Daba lo mismo si describía un paisaje o un accidente. Me perdía con facilidad, me costaba prestarle atención. Que sus historias fueran tan lentas y sutiles (algo que en general no me molesta, o incluso me gusta) no ayudaba. Y tampoco que sus cuentos fueran tan largos.

En sus mejores momentos, me daba la sensación de estar frente a una pintura enorme. Pero otras veces me dejaba aletargado, como resbalando en un sueño borroso.

En todo caso, de los cuatro libros que integran este volumen, me quedo con Las manzanas doradas, en el que sigue a los habitantes de Morgana, Mississippi, a lo largo de sus vidas, con personajes que entran y salen de sus cuentos, lo que permite conocerlos a fondo y verlos evolucionar. Y también porque contiene “La lluvia de oro”, uno de los pocos cuentos en que hace algo diferente en cuanto a su tipo de narrador.

Creo que Welty escribe bien y tiene mucho que ofrecer, pero quizás sus Cuentos completos, de casi mil páginas, no sean el mejor primer acercamiento. Quizás sea mejor leerla más dosificada. De todos modos, me quedo con O’Connor y McCullers.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had actually effectively read this book in the individual books of which it is comprised 10 years ago and given the individual books 2 and three stars. This time I listen to the audible version of the book which was created in 2010 while following along with the kindle edition. I would not recommend that it is probably best to experienced this book from the beginning to the end in the approximately 32 hour audible version. One of the disabilities of the audible version is the difficulty in selective reading, finding a place and reading an individual story that you might desire to experience. So I did in this case actually plow through the entire book.

After you listen to this much of one author in a concentrated period of time it seems like you would have a whole lot to say. Eudora is not an author who gives you a lot of action in her stories for the most part. This is not absolutely true but she is definitely an author who can make a short time span into multiple pages. She is amazing in describing locations and her character studies are legend. Most of her stories are in the United States south and specifically in Mississippi which is her home. Most are probably in the 30s and 40s.

This book of collected stories is short stories and novelettes. I very much preferred her short stories and would probably give those four stars as Stand alone literature.

—————

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her book, The Optimist's Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty 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. Her house in Jackson, Mississippi, is a National Historic Landmark and open to the public as a museum.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_W...

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty is comprised of the books: A Curtain of Green and Other Stories, The Wide Net and Other Stories, The Golden Apples and The Bride of Innisfallen and Other Stories .

The URL of my GR review of A Curtain of Green and Other Stories : http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

URL of my GR review of The Wide Net and Other Stories: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Eudora Welty began writing in the 1930s. I read that Eudora Welty's central themes include the oppression of blacks and women, and the stupefying religiosity of the south. She portrays life in rural Mississippi. She shows the heart and the beauty but also the dysfunction and even violence lurking just below the surface of seemingly normal families and towns.

I need an annotated version of Eudora Welty to understand all her references. The more you bring to your reading, the more you will take away. Welty writes her stories chock full of meaning but you can also just try to enjoy the words, the cadence, the moods established. Or you can rely on Google to help you see behind the words.

[Thing Two · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really, really, really wanted to like these stories, but it was like watching paint dry for me trying to get through these. For the one or two gems in the story - Petrified Man, Why I Live at the P.O., and Livvie were great! - there were twice as many that I read with eyes propped open, trying not to fall asleep.

Maybe when I'm older, I'll appreciate these more? Oh, wait. I am old, now.

[Sara Jane Blackman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I am not smart/motivated enough to find the point in these stories, but I felt like I was just getting to the climax when.

Yeah, exactly like that last sentence. There were certainly some interesting, realistic characters and dialogue, but it was like listening in on other people's conversations at the salon and having your haircut finished before you get to the good part. Sigh.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

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Barbara Barnes reads Eudora Welty's Southern Gothic tale about unrequited love and loneliness

[Mark Spano · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say of Miss Welty that has not already been said? Just read the work. It will make you more a human.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 Extra - A Short Story of Gothic:
Watery parallels to Greek mythology, as life gets too much for a woman in Mississippi. Barbara Barnes reads Eudora Welty's tale.