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The Collected Stories
With a preface written by the author especially for this edition, this is the complete collection of stories by Eudora Welty. 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 ones, these forty-one stories demonstrate Eudora Welty's talent for writing from diverse points-of-view with “vision that is sweet by nature, always humanizing, uncannily objective, but never angry” (Washington Post).
A curtain of green and other stories.
Lily Daw and the three ladies --
A piece of news --
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 --
The bride of the Innisfallen --
Ladies in spring --
Circe --
Kin --
Going to Naples --
Uncollected stories.
Where is the voice coming from? --
The demonstrators.
A curtain of green and other stories.
Lily Daw and the three ladies --
A piece of news --
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 --
The bride of the Innisfallen --
Ladies in spring --
Circe --
Kin --
Going to Naples --
Uncollected stories.
Where is the voice coming from? --
The demonstrators.
622 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
About the author
Eudora Welty
226 books906 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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
October 30, 2019
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.
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.
February 20, 2024
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"
"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"
August 12, 2022
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.
July 28, 2012
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.
June 14, 2019
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.
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.
December 14, 2010
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.
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.
July 28, 2012
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.
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.
June 24, 2008
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."
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."
August 31, 2007
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"
"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"
March 29, 2016
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.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.
-Eudora Welty
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.
July 18, 2013
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.
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.
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.
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.
October 5, 2023
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!
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!
August 26, 2021
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.
June 18, 2018
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.
February 29, 2008
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.
Want to read
September 29, 2023Contains 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 -
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 -
January 7, 2024
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...
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...
April 30, 2023
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.
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.
October 26, 2016
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.
June 25, 2009
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!
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!
March 18, 2018
A rich buffet of southern cooking, almost too rich to be read one after another. She's the standard and hard to top.
May 13, 2022
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.
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.
April 9, 2014
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.
Maybe when I'm older, I'll appreciate these more? Oh, wait. I am old, now.
March 31, 2019
I started the second book and Welty’s short stories are just not my thing at this point in my life. Her early works at least. Planning to take some time off and visit her later works to see if it’s the style or me.
I just couldn’t find a way to engage with any of the characters. I felt it took a long time for the stories to get to the conflict. It was all just word soup to me; after reading 6 pages, I would stop and realize I didn’t recall anything that had happened.
I just couldn’t find a way to engage with any of the characters. I felt it took a long time for the stories to get to the conflict. It was all just word soup to me; after reading 6 pages, I would stop and realize I didn’t recall anything that had happened.
January 21, 2010
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.
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.
March 6, 2014
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Barbara Barnes reads Eudora Welty's Southern Gothic tale about unrequited love and loneliness
Barbara Barnes reads Eudora Welty's Southern Gothic tale about unrequited love and loneliness
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2012
What can I say of Miss Welty that has not already been said? Just read the work. It will make you more a human.
February 26, 2013
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.
Watery parallels to Greek mythology, as life gets too much for a woman in Mississippi. Barbara Barnes reads Eudora Welty's tale.
July 10, 2021
I read this book on and off for like 5 months, so I feel like I should say some things. Welty is an undeniably great writer. Place and setting are emphasized so much in her writing that you really do feel like you’re breathing the same air as her characters. Most of the time though, this means that not a whole lot happens. And what does happen is usually buried far beneath the subtext. Definitely do not read this if you’re looking for an exciting page-turner or anything like that. That being said there are a select few that I would describe as somewhat exciting, but those are sort of exceptions. As far as my personal enjoyment goes, I REALLY loved some of the stories, but quite a few were absolute slogs. Though, even when her stories are boring (they usually are) they’re still pretty enjoyable most of the time. It’s one of those cases where even if I’m not into the story, it’s more due to me and my preferences than her lacking skill as a writer.
September 30, 2023
I did not spend nearly as much time on these as they deserve. Here are a few thoughts, though.
- Had the feeling I was reading somewhat above my grade level! Any of these would be great to dive into and dissect. People talk about what a great short story writer Chekhov was, but Welty could give him a run for his money.
- I was surprised by how many stories were set in Natchez and/or the Natchez Trace. What a great evocation of place.
- I was also surprised by the feeling of magical realism many of these had. And maybe a Southern Gothic vibe. Her novels seem comparatively more mundane and did not prepare me for this. Some of this is down to just how she writes, I think, in a highly visual manner. As if the story is an eyeball and the reader has to transmit image into meaning by herself. Like instead of saying a fellow was shot, describing him falling and the bloom of dark color on his shirt. You kind of have to think a minute to realize what has happened.
- I definitely only skimmed some of the longer stories. If I'm reading a short story, I want it to be short, dadgumit!
- Had the feeling I was reading somewhat above my grade level! Any of these would be great to dive into and dissect. People talk about what a great short story writer Chekhov was, but Welty could give him a run for his money.
- I was surprised by how many stories were set in Natchez and/or the Natchez Trace. What a great evocation of place.
- I was also surprised by the feeling of magical realism many of these had. And maybe a Southern Gothic vibe. Her novels seem comparatively more mundane and did not prepare me for this. Some of this is down to just how she writes, I think, in a highly visual manner. As if the story is an eyeball and the reader has to transmit image into meaning by herself. Like instead of saying a fellow was shot, describing him falling and the bloom of dark color on his shirt. You kind of have to think a minute to realize what has happened.
- I definitely only skimmed some of the longer stories. If I'm reading a short story, I want it to be short, dadgumit!
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