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61st out of 599 books
—
1,403 voters
The Collected Stories
by
Eudora Welty
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 poin...more
Paperback, 622 pages
Published
February 1st 1982
by Mariner Books
(first published 1980)
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"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 with a mention of the Natchez Trace), is set in and around...more
The Wide Net is another wonderful collection. Each story, except one (which is set in a bar in New Orleans with a mention of the Natchez Trace), is set in and around...more
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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 wi...more
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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...more
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Lots of people look down on Eudora Welty because they think she writes "cute" stories. Her most widely anthologized stories, like "Why I Live at the P.O." are funny, definitely, but the overall effect of her work is a sort of screwball, Southern Gothic weirdness that verges into all sorts of untraditional territory - mystery, horror, quasi-religious allegory. If you like Flannery O'Connor, I'd make the case that you'll like Eudora Welty as much, if not more.
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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...more
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...more
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What can I say of Miss Welty that has not already been said? Just read the work. It will make you more a human.
Helen Hooven Santmyer said she wrote And Ladies of the Club because she was annoyed at the portrayal of small town life in Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. Eudora Welty's portrayal of small town life is a good deal more textured than either of theirs, with remarkable detail that is both confusing at times and still strongly evocative. Of course, Santmyer and Andersen were writing about Ohio, while Welty started off writing about Mississippi, and ultimately ventured to include Los Angeles, W...more
Perhaps I approached this book the wrong way. Is there a correct way to approach an author's "collected stories"? There were some suprisingly strong--and by "strong" I mean "subtly striking"--stories, here. "No Place for You, My Love" is one such story, which reads as an achingly detailed account of an affair that nearly happens but doesn't. So much of this story is about the hesitations of the pair, each of whom gets some of Welty's omniscient attention as they drive together out of New Orleans...more
What to give it 0 stars, but then people will think I just forgot to rate it. Many of the stories seem to have no direction. Others, I found and no point; I didn't care about any of the characters and then the ending was so blah I found I wasted my time.
And I never finished, only read about 50%, which was 49% too much. I am counting it as a read though because it was 375 pages and I lost over a week of reading time I will never get back.
And I never finished, only read about 50%, which was 49% too much. I am counting it as a read though because it was 375 pages and I lost over a week of reading time I will never get back.
Jun 07, 2012
Philip Nixon
marked it as to-read
"My favorite writers have been those who’ve said things well. I used to study Eudora Welty. She has the remarkable ability to give you atmosphere, character, and motion in a single line. In one line! You must study these things to be a good writer. Welty would have a woman simply come into a room and look around. In one sweep she gave you the feel of the room, the sense of the woman’s character, and the action itself. All in twenty words. And you say, How’d she do that? What adjective? What verb...more
I listened to some of the audiobook bc I wanted to improve my familiarity with this great Southern author. I love the way she describes people, the details about their appearance and manners that betray their characters.
But I didn't care for the audio version. Too many different narrators, some of them better the others. Personally I don't know why a fast-reading person with a Northern accent should be performing Welty! The stories performed by slower speakers with soft accents, or even deep So...more
But I didn't care for the audio version. Too many different narrators, some of them better the others. Personally I don't know why a fast-reading person with a Northern accent should be performing Welty! The stories performed by slower speakers with soft accents, or even deep So...more
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...more
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...more
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Years ago, I read a biography about Eudora Welty and then bought this book. We lived in the north then, and each time I picked up the book trying to read through her exquisitely crafted stories, I could not relate. I put it down. It was like she spoke a different language and lived in another world. I just didn't get it. Then, we moved to the south and as I became more familiar with the culture and history down here, I picked it up again. And, yes! I get it. I understood and enjoyed her stories...more
Jul 21, 2012
David
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
tripping-light-fantastic-escapism
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 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 boot...more
I feel like weeping tears of relief that I am I finally on the other side of this. I don't think this is the intended reaction to this tome. I don't think that Eudora Welty should ever be jammed in a single book, suggesting that it's a single serving. Each book should be taken on its own with years between. As it is, I've spent seven months listening to it in bits and pieces.
I do still think that The Green Curtain benefits wonderfully from being read aloud. The humor shines with the performance...more
I do still think that The Green Curtain benefits wonderfully from being read aloud. The humor shines with the performance...more
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 t...more
15 likes · like · see review
Sep 07, 2011
Kathryn
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2011,
national-book-award-in-fiction
This has been my bedtime reading for the past several weeks; and it was not until I started reading this book that I realized what a wonderful short story writer this Southern author was. Some of the stories I had read before, and most I had not; and I am very happy to include this book on my bookshelves.
This collection contains all of the author’s published short stories, from her short story collections published at various times, plus two previously uncollected short stories. Among these stor...more
This collection contains all of the author’s published short stories, from her short story collections published at various times, plus two previously uncollected short stories. Among these stor...more
Jul 13, 2011
Larry Bassett
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who live in the "South" of the U.S.
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....more
So
I picked up this collection for my December book club, and I was excited because I hadn't read any Welty, but for a woman living in the South (and a community college librarian), I SHOULD have read her. So we picked 3 stories--including her most famous one (I think)--"Why I live at the P.O.", and read them.
I discovered I don't really like short stories. It's not Welty's fault. I respect the talent it takes to write them, and how you have to have the skill to immediately put the reader in a parti...more
I discovered I don't really like short stories. It's not Welty's fault. I respect the talent it takes to write them, and how you have to have the skill to immediately put the reader in a parti...more
Dec 14, 2010
Sparrow
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
short-story-collections,
classic-or-cannonical
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 Hemi...more
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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 collecti...more
This was a very painful read.
It was given to me by a friend as a gift, so I was determined to finish it. Each week, I would read one of the short stories and once I finished that week's story, I felt like I had been set free.
Of the 40+ stories in this collection, there is not one I liked. A couple that were bearable, but her writing style is just so difficult. She is very vague in the way she describes scenes and characters...and she flits around from scene to scene without any transition.
Readin...more
It was given to me by a friend as a gift, so I was determined to finish it. Each week, I would read one of the short stories and once I finished that week's story, I felt like I had been set free.
Of the 40+ stories in this collection, there is not one I liked. A couple that were bearable, but her writing style is just so difficult. She is very vague in the way she describes scenes and characters...and she flits around from scene to scene without any transition.
Readin...more
I have read some of the stories before, but I finally knocked off the entire "collected stories". Mostly rural settings and ordinary life events in the south including funerals, local portrait photography sessions, and quirky but not really gothic characters. As with all story collections, it is best to read over some time to let the ambiance soak in. My favorite stories tended to be the earlier ones, but there is much pleasure to be had from the entire book.
Wow. The characters were so messed up and so believable. I truly enjoyed the pure humanity in this classic southern literature. Favorite lines:
1. "Happiness . . . is something that appears to you suddenly, that is meant for you, a thing which you reach for and pick up and hide at your breast, a shiny thing that reminds you of something alive and leaping" (35).
2. "All kinds of things would rise and set in your own life, you could begin now to watch for them, roll back your head and feel their ray...more
1. "Happiness . . . is something that appears to you suddenly, that is meant for you, a thing which you reach for and pick up and hide at your breast, a shiny thing that reminds you of something alive and leaping" (35).
2. "All kinds of things would rise and set in your own life, you could begin now to watch for them, roll back your head and feel their ray...more
I am currently listening to the audio version of these stories. I re-read these from time to time. I love this author - her style is both understated and startling at times. Without pointedly stating her opinions, she conveys her them via language and syntax, even taut comments and even omissions. The readers are terrific, translating her dry humor and poignant observations for the listener.
Norma
Norma
You need to clear your head and prepare to go back in time in order to thoroughly enjoy this amazingly talented writer. She describes her locale with an elegant prose that provides startling insights into her characters and their surroundings. You need to soak it in like the hot sun. She makes it seem easy, like the best ballet dancers.
People are going to hate me for this. There's no denying the woman is brilliant, and her writing is as well. But god was I bored out of my mind. It is so wordy and so full of nature which is great in its own right, but you completely lose track of the stories. too meandering for me.
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.
I just heard a story on NPR about Anne Tyler in which the reporter said that Tyler was inspired to write by a line from Welty's "The Wide Net." I'm not a big fan of Welty's novels, but her short stories are almost all jewels. Read them!
These are awesome. Some of them describe aspects of Welty's time that we wish weren't so, but each of these stories is engrossing and so warm and well drawn. Each word and phrase is well chosen so the stories march along apace.
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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 sig...more
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Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived a sig...more
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“Then the light changed the water, until all about them the woods in the rising wind seemed to grow taller and blow inward together and suddenly turn dark. The rain struck heavily. A huge tail seemed to lash through the air and the river broke in a wound of silver.”
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