Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1980.
Description
Fiction. Short Stories. HTML: With a new introduction from bestâ??selling author Ann Patchett, the National Book Awardâ??winning story collection that is one of the great works of twentiethâ??century American literature Eudora Welty wrote novels, novellas, and reviews over the course of her long career, but the heart and soul of her literary vision lay with the short story, and her National Book Awardâ??winning Collected Stories, written when it was first published, confirmed her as a master of short fiction. With a new introduction by best-selling author Ann Patchett, the forty-one pieces collected in this new edition, written over a period of three decades, showcase Welty's incredible dexterity as a writer. Her style seamlessly shifts from the comic to the tragic, from realistic portraits to surrealistic ones, as she deftly moves between folklore and myth, race and history, family and farce, and the Mississippi landscape she knew so well, her wry wit and keen sense of observation always present on th… (more)
Media reviews
I was nineteen years old in 1981 when I first read Eudora Welty. It was an experience characterized by a sense of immediate recognition and also by the shock young people sometimes feel at the realization that their elders are far less concerned with good behavior than they themselves are.
User reviews
LibraryThing member revslick
In a time where I see 800+ page novels as common and editing has become a lost art, Eudora's short stories are truly counter cultural. She say more in 3-500 words than most writers can in 3-500 pages. Less is definitely more. I remember the first time I read one of her stories. I drove the next day
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to Jackson, MS and knocked on her door. She invited me in to talk. I'm sure we were a spectacle. She looked like a classic, Southern school marm and I was in ripped up jeans, punk t-shirt, combat boots and piercings. The whole of the Southern struggle and angst is wrapped up wonderfully inside these stories. Treat them with respect, and they'll envelope you like warm blankets on a cool night. Show Less
LibraryThing member delphica
(#37 in the 2005 Book Challenge)
No doubt, this is a metric ton of short stories. I like Ms. Welty quite a bit, although one thing that was rather alarming is that early on in this mammoth volume, I realized I love, oh, 90% of her early stories, when her writing is more straightforward, and then
Grade: A
Recommended: Very much, although you'd need to be very committed to the idea of Eudora Welty to read this straight through. Upon reflection, this might have been better if I read some, and then went back later to read others.
No doubt, this is a metric ton of short stories. I like Ms. Welty quite a bit, although one thing that was rather alarming is that early on in this mammoth volume, I realized I love, oh, 90% of her early stories, when her writing is more straightforward, and then
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increasingly smaller percentages of her later stories (with the noted exception of the Maclean series). Which are still good, but not luuurve on my part per say. Grade: A
Recommended: Very much, although you'd need to be very committed to the idea of Eudora Welty to read this straight through. Upon reflection, this might have been better if I read some, and then went back later to read others.
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LibraryThing member TRHummer
I can't count the number of times I've read these stories. Some of the greatest writing ever committed to the page is in this book.
LibraryThing member booksfordeb
This is a very nice collection of stories. Welty is a classic storyteller. While many of her characters are hard to like they are interesting. Welty explores a great deal of life. Quality short stories. I give it a 4 out of 5.
LibraryThing member Alezanne
Eudora Welty uses metaphors and similes in her writing that take your breath away. Each one is startling, stunning, and oh so apt. Great writer.
LibraryThing member William345
Finished Welty's first collection, A Curtain of Green and Other Stories, published in 1941. Highly recommended. My favorite stories include "Keela, the Outcast Indian Maiden," "A Curtain of Green," "Old Mr. Marblehall" and "Why I Live at the P.O." Of the 17 stories here the only one that doesn't
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seem to work is "Powerhouse"--perhaps because of all the dialogue rendered in dialect. Everything else has held up remarkably well. Show Less
LibraryThing member dreamingtereza
Don't get me wrong - Welty is a top-notch writer. However, I find that so many of her characters, particularly in her short fiction, rub me the wrong way. While Flannery O'Connor creates similar characters (She calls them "grotesques."), she seems to have a gift for tempering their annoying
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qualities with a humor that Welty lacks (or that I just don't get). Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
I found this collection to be a mixed bag. I loved some of the stories, disliked a few, and found some too long. I preferred the first set 'A Curtain of Green and Other Stories' and the last set 'The Bride of the Innisfallen and Other Stories'; in particular, I would recommend the stories "Why I
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Live at the P.O.", "Circe", "Kin", and "Lily Daw and the Three Ladies". Show Less
LibraryThing member AnneSteph
Cannot get into her stories. I don't know what is wrong with me. My grandmother loved them. I loved Delta Wedding, but have not been able to stay the course with any short stories...??
LibraryThing member mlake
I picked this book up for Why I live at the P.O.
LibraryThing member homeschoolmimzi
I'm reminiscing about college days... when I first discovered some brilliant southern writers. So I'm looking again at Eudora Welty, hoping I can find this book used somewhere.
LibraryThing member mahallett
difficult to get through. i had nothing in common with her characters. mostly i couldn't remember who the characters were or maybe she never told us,