What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell

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What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 62 ratings · 22 reviews

For over fifty years, Eudora Welty and William Maxwell, two of our most admired writers, penned letters to each other. They shared their worries about work and family, literary opinions and scuttlebutt, moments of despair and hilarity. Living half a continent apart, their friendship was nourished and maintained by their correspondence.

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Hardcover, 512 pages

Published May 12th 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Aug 06, 2011 J.M. Cornwell rated it 4 of 5 stars

There is no more joyous find than the exchange of true friends and great minds, such is the gift of Bill Maxwell and Eudora Welty’s letters.

The art of letter writing, it seems, is a thing of the past and died when computers began appearing in everyone’s home. Email and instant messaging is so much easier and quicker and there is no need to wait for the mailman to bring news of friends and family.

In 1942 William Maxwell and Eudora Welty began corresponding, Bill because he had read and was inter...more There is no more joyous find than the exchange of true friends and great minds, such is the gift of Bill Maxwell and Eudora Welty’s letters.

The art of letter writing, it seems, is a thing of the past and died when computers began appearing in everyone’s home. Email and instant messaging is so much easier and quicker and there is no need to wait for the mailman to bring news of friends and family.

In 1942 William Maxwell and Eudora Welty began corresponding, Bill because he had read and was interested in procuring Eudora’s stories for The New Yorker, thus beginning a beautiful friendship that lasted for fifty years. What There is to Say We Have Said contains some of their letters, from 1942 to 1996, and they are a revelation and a joy.

Too often, I view letters as listening in on a private conversation. Had Suzanne Marrs followed my thinking, she would have denied me the pleasure of the lasting friendship between two writers at the height of their power and the very real people they became to me through their letters. Marrs has chosen well and I am richer for having been privileged into Bill and Eudora’s world. The only thing I could have wished was to be with them at the round table at the Algonquin or a guest during their many visits together.

The letters also include Bill’s wife Emily’s correspondence to and from Eudora, Emmy as they call her, and provide another viewpoint into the lives of two master writers.

No two people were more suited to each other than Bill and Eudora. Both writers reveled in the word, playing infinitely with combinations and connections, and they also shared a love of roses, not just roses, but flowers and life, adding observations that ring with authenticity and are brimming with their love for the word and for each other’s friendship. What There is to Say We Have Said is a treasure trove of observations and snippets of the wonder Bill and Eudora created and found in other writers, a history of the love of words and the world. I have enjoyed being an eavesdropper and plan to visit often.
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Jul 28, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

I don't have time to spill out all of the ways this collection is wonderful. These were two lovely, admirable people who were devoted friends--and warm, wonderful writers. The letters span 54 years (!) and paint a detailed portrait of the authors' lives and careers. Maxwell edited Welty's fiction at The New Yorker and was her tireless champion, and Welty came to be a dear friend of both him and his wife--truly just shy of a member of their family.

I got more and more practiced at skimming talk of...more

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May 09, 2011 Jaylia3 rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those wonderful books that will increase your “simply have to read” list exponentially. Eudora Welty and William Maxwell wrote to each other about the stories, articles and books they had written and read, causing my copy of this collection of their correspondence to be marked up with arrows, pointing to the books and old magazine pieces I want to find and read for myself. Both were writers, but Bill Maxwell was also Eudora Welty’s editor at the New Yorker, and the letters they wr...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Erika Dreifus rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: writing-related, books-i-ve-reviewed

Sometimes, our admiration for an author’s work may be tempered by learning about his or her less noble personal traits. For instance, T.S. Eliot’s “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” remains my favorite poem, but indications of his anti-Semitism have made me grateful that I’ll never encounter the great poet off the page. Much more happily, a new collection of correspondence between Eudora Welty (1909-2001) and William Maxwell (1908-2000), ably edited by Welty scholar Suzanne Marrs, can only increa...more Sometimes, our admiration for an author’s work may be tempered by learning about his or her less noble personal traits. For instance, T.S. Eliot’s “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” remains my favorite poem, but indications of his anti-Semitism have made me grateful that I’ll never encounter the great poet off the page. Much more happily, a new collection of correspondence between Eudora Welty (1909-2001) and William Maxwell (1908-2000), ably edited by Welty scholar Suzanne Marrs, can only increase our appreciation for these two authors. It may even make us a little envious of the friendship that they shared for more than 50 years.

The book features more than 300 letters, most between Welty and Maxwell. Some of Welty’s letters address both Maxwell and his wife, Emmy. Marrs has also included several letters that Emmy Maxwell wrote to Welty herself. But, as Marrs rightly notes in the essential introduction to the book, “the focus here lies on the exchange between the two writers.” Marrs has organized the letters chronologically, “so that they may provide the autobiography of a friendship,” and in brief introductions to each chronological period, she offers useful background and context.

One reason Marrs’ introduction matters so much is this: The book unquestionably presents frequent and detailed editorial back-and-forth regarding fiction that Welty published in *The New Yorker*, where Maxwell (who may be remembered at least as much for his editorial career at that magazine as for his own writing) was perhaps her staunchest champion.

Yet the more personal elements of their correspondence – about their families, friends, travels, reading lists, and shared passion for roses – are utterly absorbing. Thus immersed in the minds and hearts of “Eudora” and “Bill,” one may nearly forget just how significant these two authors are in the annals of 20th-century American literature. But Marrs helpfully reminds us: “Eudora’s five collections of stories, three novellas, and two novels were matched by Bill’s six novels and five story collections. Both wrote books for children. Both published collections of their essays. Both wrote books dealing with family history.” Both received major awards, and, ultimately, the Library of America included two volumes of her work and two volumes of his in its prestigious series.

Yes, writers are likely to focus, laser-like, on letters such as those, filled with editorial queries, that accompanied galleys of Welty’s *New Yorker* stories as they made their way from New York to Jackson, Miss. Perhaps we’ll be captivated by correspondence from the late 1960s, in which Welty considered titles other than “The Optimist’s Daughter” for the story that ran in The New Yorker in March 1969 (and, in novel form, won the Pulitzer Prize four years later). On this matter, for instance, Maxwell responded: “I am still partial to ‘The Optimist’s Daughter’, because, by its ironic tone, it suggests a certain distance between the writer and the woman in the story, and because it also, again by its irony, suggests, matches, somehow, the full horror of the subject matter….Also, I like titles that don’t state the idea of the thing but are more oblique.”

Writers will also notice the lengths of time that elapse between Welty’s or Maxwell’s first mention of a particular work-in-progress—a story, a review, a novel—and that project’s completion. And a message like the one Maxwell dashed off to Welty while waiting for John Updike to fetch him from an airport imparts a certain literary delight.

But ultimately, the affection and admiration between these two individuals are what makes *What There Is to Say We Have Said* so inspiring. Following a phone call which left Maxwell especially concerned for his friend, he wrote: “If what I heard in your voice persists, will you drop everything and come to New York and settle down in the back room and let us hang garlands of love around your neck, day after day, until you are feeling yourself again?” As for Welty, her letters suggest that whenever even the possibility of a trip to or near New York arose, she informed Maxwell immediately to schedule at least one meal with him and his wife. Even better, she might see the two Maxwell daughters, too.

As my reading progressed, I dreaded its inevitable end. The writers age as their correspondence reaches its conclusion. They weaken. I realize that I have quoted Maxwell disproportionately, but I’m about to do so yet again. In 1993, as their correspondence slowed, he wrote: “Dearest Eudora, what there is to say we have said, in one way or another.” What a privilege for us, that so much of what there was to say we can overhear in this book.

(A version of this review appeared in *The Writer* magazine. Review copy provided by the publisher.)(less)

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Mar 17, 2012 Barb rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful, best book I’ve read in years! Although I had read a few of Welty's novels and short stories in the past, the exchanges between her and Mr. Maxwell are admirable as a separate genre from their other writings; I enjoyed reading them strictly as letters, witty interchanges, informative and so skillfully written.
I loved their unexpected discussions about acquiring roses and keeping them alive, and tracking down rare species through an elusive Irish grower.

Many nice photos were helpful i...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

If I could give this book six stars, I would. The correspondence between William Maxwell and Eudora Welty started in 1942 and continued for 54 years. This selection of letters lets the reader peek over the shoulders of two marvelous letter writers as they converse about books, family, writing, gardening, politics, friends and the literary 'biz'.

"Dashes I like better than parentheses--remembering Mark Twain's remark from somewhere, "He who would wantonly use a parenthesis would steal"--so, if you...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I love love love everything by Eudora Welty, so I was excited to read this collections of letters between Welty & William Maxwell, who was a writer & editor for The New Yorker. The letters cover a close friendship between Welty, Maxwell, his wife & other family members for over 40 years. The letters are an absolute delight to read. It makes me sad to realize that because of emailing, we probably won"t have such wonderful collections saved for anyone to read in the future. I read this...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Teresa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Teresa by: Mikki

4 and 1/2 stars

Compiling and editing these letters had to be a massive undertaking and I congratulate the editor on her work. (The only tiny quibble I had was of a book mentioned by Maxwell that is not annotated with the author's name as is all the other books mentioned in the letters, and I'm still not sure who wrote it.) Several years ago I attended a panel on Welty with Marrs as one of the panelists, and I know she's a Welty scholar (who became her friend) and this book also shows as a labor...more 4 and 1/2 stars

Compiling and editing these letters had to be a massive undertaking and I congratulate the editor on her work. (The only tiny quibble I had was of a book mentioned by Maxwell that is not annotated with the author's name as is all the other books mentioned in the letters, and I'm still not sure who wrote it.) Several years ago I attended a panel on Welty with Marrs as one of the panelists, and I know she's a Welty scholar (who became her friend) and this book also shows as a labor of love.

As far as the content goes, this couldn't be more wonderful for anyone who loves Welty or Maxwell, and is doubly valuable for those who love both. In the beginning, I stopped to read other things. But at some point I didn't want to stop. The letters grow in depth as the friendship grows, until you are pulled in so much you don't want the friendship to ever end, even as you know both are entering a great age.

I paused also to read works mentioned in these letters (I could've done that more often: it's so rich in the sharing of the works they recommend to each other) from Welty's The Ponder Heart to my rereading a speech given by Walker Percy (collected in Signposts in a Strange Land) in honor of an endowment named after Welty.

Marrs points out that there are no extant letters between these two referencing the relationship between Welty and Kenneth Millar, and she speculates as to the reasons why. My guess is that if there were any, Maxwell would've destroyed them, a clue (for me) being something he writes to Welty late in their lives: "I opened a volume of the Yeats/ Maude Gonne correspondence and read (from her) a short letter beginning Darling (or some such) and thought I have no business reading this letter and stopped."

The most poignant letter of all -- the one that will stay with me -- is from Maxwell in response to Welty's admitting she'd been in NYC and was too depressed to contact Maxwell and his wife (uncharacteristic of Welty, as they were always trying to arrange visits). The words Maxwell offers and the family story he tells in response are, not surprisingly for those who know his fiction, both simple and deep, and show that his calling her family was never just mere talk.(less)

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Jul 09, 2011 Lynne Perednia rated it 5 of 5 stars

One magical evening in 1942, William Maxwell attended a party at which Eudora Welty told a story that completely enchanted him. It took until 1951, but Maxwell persevered until he convinced The New Yorker to accept a story of hers to publish. Well before that publication, they were writing to each other, exchanging news of roses, food, family, books and music, with Maxwell's wife Emily and Welty writing to each other as well.

For more than 50 years, they continued to write to each other. One of t...more One magical evening in 1942, William Maxwell attended a party at which Eudora Welty told a story that completely enchanted him. It took until 1951, but Maxwell persevered until he convinced The New Yorker to accept a story of hers to publish. Well before that publication, they were writing to each other, exchanging news of roses, food, family, books and music, with Maxwell's wife Emily and Welty writing to each other as well.

For more than 50 years, they continued to write to each other. One of the world's great literary friendships is preserved in What There is to Say We Have Said, meticulously edited by Welty biographer and friend Suzanne Marrs.

The introduction by Marrs sets the loveliest tone about friendship by quoting Welty's own introduction to the famed Norton Book of Friendship. It brings to mind long-lasting friendships formed online, where we put ideas, hopes, dreams and disappointments into words to each other every day.

Their exchanges about writing itself as not as plentiful as a greedy reader would like. But the line-by-line edits they discuss over the work that was published in the magazine are master classes of how a careful and loving editor makes the finished work better but does not get in the way of the writer.

Welty and the Maxwells also do other people's fiction the honor of taking it on its own terms as they discuss other writers who they adore and whose work they admire, especially Katherine Anne Porter and Elizabeth Bowen.

The Maxwells also are protective of Welty, especially in later years as the honors bestowed on her, and the demands on her time, increase, even though it's highly doubtful her bank account did. On at least two occasions, Maxwell asks Welty to come live with them and be cared for. Maxwell also shines as a courtly gentleman of decency. Never a word is written that exists between them about Welty's love for Ross McDonald, who was married. Instead, there is rejoicing at the accomplishments of the two Maxwell daughters and Welty's nieces.

They bear their gradual declines with grace. Welty was in such poor health that no letters from her exist after 1990, 11 years before she died, while Maxwell's last letter was written in 1996, four years before he died. But as the letter from which this collection's title is taken states, these friends shared their ideas and lives for more than 50 years so whatever they could have said they probably did.

And for those who treasure the earnest searching that results in honest writing about the ins and outs of the human heart, there is much to ponder over in these letters. They lead to a desire to read again or discover for the first time the sheer pleasure of the fiction of both Maxwell and Welty. The letters are a testament to friendship, and they are a balm in these days of betrayal, backstabbing and bitterness.
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Nov 14, 2011 Thing Two rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Thing Two by: Washington Post review

Shelves: books-for-writers, books-favorite-non-fiction

This book was absolutely beautiful. I'm already a big fan of William Maxwell, and will now search out something by Eudora Welty to enjoy.

Welty and Maxwell were writers and friends for over fifty years. They shared their fears, concerns about family, sniffles, weather, book suggestions, and a mutual longing to sit together and laugh. It was a joy to see how a friendship SHOULD work - without jealousy, without anger, without pride, with love - and it made me long to live in a time when we all had...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-botns-retreat, 2012

I'm really not sure how to rate this one... First off, I had tried to read the collection of her short stories a few months ago and could go no further, they were very blah and I did not want to wade through 700 pages. So I wasn't really looking forward to reading this book as part of Books on the Nightstand's Oxford retreat. And to be honest, I just can't get why this author would spend so much of her life writing Eudora Welty's biography, collecting and editing these letters, and otherwise stu...more

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Apr 29, 2011 Lisa is currently reading it

This came into the office and I'm pretty sure my boss didn't want it because it was already covered with drool. I started reading it before I even got on the elevator.

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Jul 20, 2012 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very intimate look at Eudora Welty--I loved the very last letter Mr. Maxwell sent to her.

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Nov 17, 2011 Christine rated it 3 of 5 stars

A lovely book to read leisurely, if you are a fan of either. For me, it's Maxwell, one of my all-time favorite writers.

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Nov 06, 2012 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an absolutely beautiful book. I love the novels of William Maxwell but had never even heard of Eudora Welty before, I'm definitely going to try her novels soon.

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Aug 29, 2012 janine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, read-in-2012

Lovely, just lovely. This book makes me want to grow roses and read as much Eudora Welty and William Maxwell as I possibly can.

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Jul 07, 2012 Tris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just lovely. A sweet, sincere friendship played out in beautifully written letters.

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Aug 29, 2011 Maggie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I truly love this amazing book. I loved reading these letters and learning so much about these two incredible writers.

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Oct 01, 2011 Cati rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

I don't do well with books of letters, but I made it about halfway in. Inspiring and charming, but really, there's only so much discussion of rose cuttings I can handle.

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May 14, 2011 Susan_T. is currently reading it · review of another edition

I am loving this book so far. Two smart, generous people's letters. Full of humor.

Highly recommended for writers and editors, especially.

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Aug 23, 2012 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm reading this book slowly, as I don't want it to end.

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Mar 20, 2012 Suzanne added it

Shelves: american-literature

Did not like format of the book.

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Jun 17, 2013 Lor Go rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jun 13, 2013 Annaka A. marked it as to-read

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Jun 07, 2013 Kay is currently reading it

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May 28, 2013 Kris marked it as to-read

Recommended to Kris by: Teresa

Shelves: letters, literary-criticism, non-fiction

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May 23, 2013 Sarah Bailey rated it 4 of 5 stars

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About Suzanne Marrs

Suzanne Marrs is the author of Eudora Welty: A Biography and One Writer's Imagination: The Fiction of Eudora Welty and is a recipient of the Phoenix Award for Distinguished Welty Scholarship. She is a professor of English at Millsaps College. "

More about Suzanne Marrs...

Books by Suzanne Marrs

The Welty Collection: A Guide to the Eudora Welty Manuscripts & Documents at the Mississippi Department of Archives & History

One Writer's Imagination: The Fiction of Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty and Politics: Did the Writer Crusade?

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