Eudora Welty

1. Eudora Welty Biography and Criticism

2. Birth • Born on April 13, 1909 ; Jackson, Mississippi • Father - Christian Webb Welty; an insurance company president • Mother - Chestina Andrews; a teacher in West Virginia  • Parents provided Eudora with a loving home, a strong family, and a love of reading • Raised in a middle class family

4. Childhood • Spent her childhood days in Jackson, Mississippi • Loved to read • Checked out two books each day at the Andrew Carnegie Library: “I cannot remember a time when I was not in love with [books].”  This library was later renamed the Eudora Welty Library. • Played with her brothers • Learned how to play sports such as baseball and golf • Rode her bicycle around town 

6. Education • Attended Mississippi State College for Women (now Mississippi University for Women), 1926-27 • Attended the University of Wisconsin, B.A., 1929 • Attended Columbia University Graduate School of Business, 1930- 31

8. Adult Life • Demonstrated an early interest in painting and photography • Returned to Jackson, MS during the Depression after father’s death • Worked for newspapers and radio stations in Mississippi during early depression years • Worked as a publicity agent for the state office of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) – took photographs of places, studied troubled juveniles, interviewed people • "It took me all over Mississippi, which is the most important thing to me, because I'd never seen it. . . . [The experience] was the real germ of my wanting to become a real writer, a true writer.“

10. Adult Life (cont.) • Was briefly a member of the New York Times Book Review staff, in New York, NY. • Was made an honorary consultant in American letters, Library of Congress, beginning 1958. • Loved photography and gardening. Maintained a huge garden with/for her mother, and later in memory of her mother.

12. Significant Works • Wrote many novellas, novels, and short stories. • Listed below are the most noteworthy titles: • “A Curtain of Green” 1941 • The Robber Bridegroom (novella), 1942 • Delta Wedding 1946 • Ponder Heart, 1954 • Losing Battles (novel) 1970 • The Optimist’s Daughter, 1972 • The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty 1980 • One Writer's Beginnings 1984 (autobiography)

14. Awards and Recognition • Won many awards, including the list below: • O. Henry Award 1942, 1943, 1968 • National Book Award for fiction (Losing Battles) 1971 • Pulitzer Prize in fiction for The Optimist's Daughter 1973 • National Medal for Literature 1980 • French Legion of Honor-(highest civilian honor) 1996 • First living writer ever to be included in the prestigious Library of America series 1999

16. Positive Criticism/Accolades 1 • “If there is any key to her importance, it exists in the faithful exercise of a creative imagination.” • Welty uses her imagination to see, hear, and celebrate different aspects of the human experience; she effectively conveys this imagery to readers so that they too can experience the situations in her writing. Welty will sometimes focus on a character who must suffer through a problem, work through a mystery, and/or understand the reality of a life experience. Welty takes these very real experiences and transmutes them into the language of fiction. Critics enjoy this aspect of her work.

17. Positive Criticism/Accolades 2 • “Local customs of speech and language have also had a marked influence on her fiction” as well as her consistent use of the “southern settings.” • Her stories/novels are often set in Mississipi. This attachment to place allows Welty to draw upon her life experiences and strengths with dialect; however, she uses this familiar setting to delve into the depths of universal human experience, so her works are not simply regional. Welty tries to imitate the Southern dialect in her work. She loves to listen to people speak, and she tries to effectively reproduce that in her writing. She also believes that Southerners are "born reciters" and "great memory retainers,” meaning that Southerners like herself are effective story tellers; they also have vivid memories which help to enhance the stories.

19. Negative Criticism/Perceived Flaws 1 • “In the 1960s, an objection flared up which had first been kindled among a few liberals with the publication of Delta Wedding: They found it a hopelessly regional exercise in nostalgia for the lost life of the southern plantation.” • Race relations were heated in the 1960s. Welty, as a prominent southern author, was expected to “employ her talents in the cause of civil rights,” which she did not do in this book. Welty’s response to this review also garnered great criticism. Welty said “there is the relationship between the races. How can one kind of relationship be set apart from the others? Like the great root system of an old and long-established growing plant, they are all tangled up together." The critics felt that Welty lacked awareness of social issues that were painfully obvious.

20. Negative Criticism/Perceived Flaws 2 • Some critics believe that her “fiction is notably lacking in villainous characters and behavior.” • Welty tends to show tolerance for all of humanity, so the characters – even negative ones – tend to be shown in a forgiving light. This element takes away from the realism of her work. Critics also compare and contrast Welty to other Southern writers like William Faulkner and Robert Penn Warren who DID focus on the darker side of southern history. Considering this darker view of southern life which did exist in literature of the time, Welty seems to be naively positive.

22. Death • Died on July 23, 2001 in Jackson, Mississippi • Died from pneumonia