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The Robber Bridegroom
Legendary figures of Mississippi's past—flatboatman Mike Fink and the dreaded Harp brothers—mingle with characters from Eudora Welty's own imagination in an exuberant fantasy set along the Natchez Trace. Berry-stained bandit of the woods Jamie Lockhart steals Rosamond, the beautiful daughter of pioneer planter Clement Musgrove, to set in motion this frontier fairy tale.
"For all her wild, rich fancy, Welty writes prose that is as disciplined as it is beautiful" (New Yorker)
"For all her wild, rich fancy, Welty writes prose that is as disciplined as it is beautiful" (New Yorker)
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1942
117 people are currently reading
1803 people want to read
About the author
Eudora Welty
220 books1,011 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 207 reviews
October 17, 2018
Think every fairytale you have ever read all mixed up into one in true southern style. Eudora Welty's tale has elements of fairytale mixed with southern brand magical realism and just a touch of gothic to make this tale a page turning, fun read. The memorable characters and these fairytale elements translated her story well into musical form, which I am now intrigued to see. I read this as part of classics bingo and it happens to be a southern literary trail read in November. Welty won the Pulitzer for her The Optimist's Daughter, which was more of a lifetime achievement award. I am reminded how I enjoy a well written southern tale and how to revisit Welty's collected writings in the year to come.
November 27, 2018
2.5 stars
"Rosamond was truly a beautiful, golden-haired girl, locked in the room by her stepmother for singing, and still singing on, because it passed the time away better than anything else."
Eudora Welty’s first novel is an adaptation of a Brothers Grimm fairytale by the same name. If you pick this one up, you’ll quickly recognize additional elements from a number of other traditional fairytales. Welty’s version takes place in eighteenth century Natchez, Mississippi. You might even catch sight of some legendary figures if you are at all familiar with any of the regional folk tales from this era.
"Then, sailing his cap in the air, he gave a whistle and a shake and declared that he was none other than Mike Fink, champion of all the flatboat bullies on the Mississippi River, and was ready for anything."
What can I say about this little book… I suppose ‘meh’ would not be sufficient because that would not be fair to those future readers that may actually feel greater enthusiasm for this one. Fantasy, magical realism, fairytales/retellings – not my usual fare, but by no means do I steer away from them at all costs. In fact, I’ve found some real treasures in these genres. What I’ve come to realize, however, is that I can more easily suspend disbelief if I am drawn into the story by a compelling plot, skillful character development, and superb prose. This one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I would have to say that the writing was quite good… strikingly descriptive and sometimes humorous. Neither the plot nor the characters ever fully grabbed my attention, however. An odious stepmother, a throng of malicious bandits, an upright and loving father, a beautiful heroine and a charismatic and mysterious hero might appeal to some, but I was mostly drawn to the strange familiar to the stepmother, aptly named ‘Goat’ (you’ll see why if you read the story.)
"Goat… came out through a hole in the door with his hair all matted up and the color of carrots, and his two eyes so crossed they looked like one. He smiled and he had every other tooth, but that was all. He stood there with his two big toes sticking up."
A message of good versus evil but with that gray area between both is quite evident as a take-away message, at least in my opinion. There is also the case of mistaken identities – can we always take a person at face value or is there more below the surface of that outer shell?
If you’re interested in fairytale retellings, then you very well may enjoy The Robber Bridegroom. Others have liked this far more. Not a bedtime story for your little princesses at home though – this one is much too violent and borderline disturbing for that! I have read some of Welty’s other work, and I’m about 50/50 right now. I’ll read a little more and see where I land. 2.5 stars for this one.
"For all things are double, and this should keep us from taking liberties with the outside world, and acting too quickly to finish things off. All things are divided in half – night and day, the soul and body, and sorrow and joy and youth and age…"
"Rosamond was truly a beautiful, golden-haired girl, locked in the room by her stepmother for singing, and still singing on, because it passed the time away better than anything else."
Eudora Welty’s first novel is an adaptation of a Brothers Grimm fairytale by the same name. If you pick this one up, you’ll quickly recognize additional elements from a number of other traditional fairytales. Welty’s version takes place in eighteenth century Natchez, Mississippi. You might even catch sight of some legendary figures if you are at all familiar with any of the regional folk tales from this era.
"Then, sailing his cap in the air, he gave a whistle and a shake and declared that he was none other than Mike Fink, champion of all the flatboat bullies on the Mississippi River, and was ready for anything."
What can I say about this little book… I suppose ‘meh’ would not be sufficient because that would not be fair to those future readers that may actually feel greater enthusiasm for this one. Fantasy, magical realism, fairytales/retellings – not my usual fare, but by no means do I steer away from them at all costs. In fact, I’ve found some real treasures in these genres. What I’ve come to realize, however, is that I can more easily suspend disbelief if I am drawn into the story by a compelling plot, skillful character development, and superb prose. This one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I would have to say that the writing was quite good… strikingly descriptive and sometimes humorous. Neither the plot nor the characters ever fully grabbed my attention, however. An odious stepmother, a throng of malicious bandits, an upright and loving father, a beautiful heroine and a charismatic and mysterious hero might appeal to some, but I was mostly drawn to the strange familiar to the stepmother, aptly named ‘Goat’ (you’ll see why if you read the story.)
"Goat… came out through a hole in the door with his hair all matted up and the color of carrots, and his two eyes so crossed they looked like one. He smiled and he had every other tooth, but that was all. He stood there with his two big toes sticking up."
A message of good versus evil but with that gray area between both is quite evident as a take-away message, at least in my opinion. There is also the case of mistaken identities – can we always take a person at face value or is there more below the surface of that outer shell?
If you’re interested in fairytale retellings, then you very well may enjoy The Robber Bridegroom. Others have liked this far more. Not a bedtime story for your little princesses at home though – this one is much too violent and borderline disturbing for that! I have read some of Welty’s other work, and I’m about 50/50 right now. I’ll read a little more and see where I land. 2.5 stars for this one.
"For all things are double, and this should keep us from taking liberties with the outside world, and acting too quickly to finish things off. All things are divided in half – night and day, the soul and body, and sorrow and joy and youth and age…"
June 28, 2012
Based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, the novella evinces masterful use of narrative compression which gives it the ring of parable. Set before the American Revolution, Clement, a Southern planter who has done quite well for himself, returns home from selling his tobacco to the British and must spend a night in town before traveling to his rural farm the next day. Sharing a bed with two other men, Clement finds himself beholden to one, Jamie Lockhart--a bandit though Clement doesn't know this--for saving his life from the third man who drunkenly tries to rob his bedmates during the night. The next day after a brief confab with Jamie over breakfast the men go their separate ways. Clement goes home to his termagant second wife, Salome, and his daughter, Rosamond, quite beautiful, who was borne by his first wife. Rosamond mostly spends her days singing romantic ballads when not harassed by Salome. The wicked step-mother archetype is alive and well in The Robber Bridegroom--and she's ugly too and out to kill her step daughter for being too beautiful and too central to her husband's affections. Also at work here is the old mistaken identities chestnut best known to me from Elizabethan drama. One day Rosamond returns to the house buck naked after being sent on a dangerous herb-picking expedition by Salome. She has just been robbed--yes, it's Jaime Lockhart in disguise--of a new dress and petticoats bought by her father on his recent business trip. Meanwhile, Clement invites Jamie Lockhart (without mask) to dinner to ask him if he might run the bandit to earth that has molested Rosamond. In exchange for her hand in marriage of course. Rosamond then wanders off and finds the bandits' hideout and commences to cook and clean for them and sleep with Jaime. If the foregoing doesn't wet your whistle, this is not the book for you. Throughout the style is, as I've said, compressed and vivid. Welty has a great gift for the elliptical soliloquy. A fast read and fun. Mandatory for aficionados of the Southern novel.
October 29, 2018
This was a joy to read, like all of Welty's novels, although very different from her other books. It was written as a fairy tale, based on the Grimm tale of the Robber Bridegroom, but just for good measure she threw in a few elements of Cinderella, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and a couple of Mississippi tall tale characters. Beautiful language and her sly humor are also included, at no extra charge.
September 13, 2024
I liked the narrative style!
November 2, 2018
For anyone familiar with the classic fairytales Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Robin Hood and Hansel and Gretel, this is none of those. Instead, it is all of those - a completely reimagined folktale loosely based on an obscure 1800’s story of the same name by the Brothers Grimm:
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm040.html
Every fairytale needs a wicked stepmother; a beautiful maiden; a ‘village idiot’; a goodhearted bandit; and a house in the deep, dark forest. Welty spins each of these elements, along with traditional American folklore, into a unique, fun folktale of her own invention, with a thoroughly Southern twist. ‘The Robber Bridegroom’ was her first novel, a novella really, and it is at times humorous (“Well,” said Goat, “I would not say outright that the gentleman is stamped with beauty, for when I saw him, his head was no larger than something off the orange tree, his forehead was full of bumps like an alligator’s, and two teeth stuck out of his mouth like the broadhorns on a flatboat”) and other times sinister (“Murder is as soundless as a spout of blood, as regular and rhythmic as sleep . . . In the sky is the perpetual wheel of buzzards”). Of course, every authentic fairytale needs a fairytale ending, and Welty doesn’t let us down.
This book was the ideal way to close out my month of ‘grim’ reads. 3.5 stars, rounded up because Welty wowed me with her creativity.
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm040.html
Every fairytale needs a wicked stepmother; a beautiful maiden; a ‘village idiot’; a goodhearted bandit; and a house in the deep, dark forest. Welty spins each of these elements, along with traditional American folklore, into a unique, fun folktale of her own invention, with a thoroughly Southern twist. ‘The Robber Bridegroom’ was her first novel, a novella really, and it is at times humorous (“Well,” said Goat, “I would not say outright that the gentleman is stamped with beauty, for when I saw him, his head was no larger than something off the orange tree, his forehead was full of bumps like an alligator’s, and two teeth stuck out of his mouth like the broadhorns on a flatboat”) and other times sinister (“Murder is as soundless as a spout of blood, as regular and rhythmic as sleep . . . In the sky is the perpetual wheel of buzzards”). Of course, every authentic fairytale needs a fairytale ending, and Welty doesn’t let us down.
This book was the ideal way to close out my month of ‘grim’ reads. 3.5 stars, rounded up because Welty wowed me with her creativity.
April 5, 2022
Tulane University has in its archives an undated news clipping describing a fishing or boating trip Eudora Welty and William Faulkner took together, a friend date, probably in the 1940s. Perhaps the university posted online this newspaper article with the hope that someone might be able to date this article. I believe it was found among Welty's mementos.
When I saw this article, I had to find out if there was anymore information about the article. I just knew I would find that information important. It is within the realm of possibility that during this drinking and boating/fishing trip that Welty and Faulkner imagined together this story originally Welty's.
Tulane's archivist could give me no more information. Drats. Super drats.
If not during this friendship date, then during another time these two Southern greats collaborated on this story. I am almost sure of it.
Jackson where Welty lived is almost a non drive to the Natchez Trace. The dramatic high jinxes would be a piece of fun for Faulkner.
I envision a conversation that consisted of these elements:
The friends each love Grimms' fairytales. Welty wants to write a fairytale set on the Natchez Trace, maybe a variation of the The Robber Bridegroom. It's perfect for a 19th-century Trace story with all those daring and mean characters. Downright bad says Faulkner. Together they work out that the story should have a happy ending so the story would be fun to write and to read, easy to get published. Welty describes the whimsy and the willful young woman. Faulkner contributes the Shakespearean part, a character kinda sorta like Bottom of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Welty goes home writes, mails over to Faulkner, Faulkner adds his two cents, and the rest is history, or some whimsical fantastical version. . . .
When I saw this article, I had to find out if there was anymore information about the article. I just knew I would find that information important. It is within the realm of possibility that during this drinking and boating/fishing trip that Welty and Faulkner imagined together this story originally Welty's.
Tulane's archivist could give me no more information. Drats. Super drats.
If not during this friendship date, then during another time these two Southern greats collaborated on this story. I am almost sure of it.
Jackson where Welty lived is almost a non drive to the Natchez Trace. The dramatic high jinxes would be a piece of fun for Faulkner.
I envision a conversation that consisted of these elements:
The friends each love Grimms' fairytales. Welty wants to write a fairytale set on the Natchez Trace, maybe a variation of the The Robber Bridegroom. It's perfect for a 19th-century Trace story with all those daring and mean characters. Downright bad says Faulkner. Together they work out that the story should have a happy ending so the story would be fun to write and to read, easy to get published. Welty describes the whimsy and the willful young woman. Faulkner contributes the Shakespearean part, a character kinda sorta like Bottom of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Welty goes home writes, mails over to Faulkner, Faulkner adds his two cents, and the rest is history, or some whimsical fantastical version. . . .
August 30, 2020
This was a strange and crazy ride of a story. Eudora Welty certainly has a vivid imagination in her retelling of the Brother's Grimm fairy tale of the same name. Welty gives her novella a southern gothic twist with additional characters plucked straight from Mississippi history. Fans of this style of tall tale will not be disappointed with the stock characters expected: a wicked stepmother, a beautiful damsel, a doting father, a "village idiot" (aptly named Goat), a dashing yet cunning suitor and a band of thieves. Welty's inclusions of Indians and the local(Mississippi) southern lore characters of Mike Fink and the Harp Brothers give the tale a dark quality and at times comical interactions.
I enjoyed how quickly the story evolved and honestly it was hard to put down. There were moments I wondered, "Really? oh, remember you're reading a fairy tale." I would not recommend this for a younger crowd but adults will find this a fun, fast-paced escapade!
I enjoyed how quickly the story evolved and honestly it was hard to put down. There were moments I wondered, "Really? oh, remember you're reading a fairy tale." I would not recommend this for a younger crowd but adults will find this a fun, fast-paced escapade!
December 14, 2024
From 1942
This combines elements of multiple fairy tales and is wonderful. But the representation of evil, murderers of children, are “Indians.” I can see this might have been a thing once, but it just doesn’t hold up anymore.
This combines elements of multiple fairy tales and is wonderful. But the representation of evil, murderers of children, are “Indians.” I can see this might have been a thing once, but it just doesn’t hold up anymore.
March 3, 2014
3 stars for the story and 5 for the writing
Eudora Welty has been on my TBR list for a while because of her reputation for writing gripping stories about the American South, so when I learned recently that she is the first living writer (at the time...sadly she is now deceased) to have her works published by the Library of America (of which I am a huge fan) it only piqued my interest further.
The Robber Bridegroom happens to be the first story in a Library of America publication of her complete novels; however, it was not what I had expected.
My take
The first thought I had reading this novelette is that it had the feel of a fairy tale. So I was not surprised to later learn that it was loosely based on or at least inspired by a Brothers Grimm fairy tale by the same name.
At times I was tempted to draw comparisons with Neil Gaiman's brand of magical realism, books I generally enjoy but that are ultimately (I think) an acquired taste. And like some of Gaiman's work, it's hard not to get hooked by Welty's provocative language and images even if you're not completely drawn in by the story.
I'll be interested to see what the remaining four novels have to offer. I also ordered a complete collection of her short stories, as well.
Recommendation
I'm thinking this book will most appeal to fans of the Grimm Brothers, the adult fairy tale, and/or writers like Gaiman. This may also appeal to those who appreciate crisp, fluid, and descriptive writing for its own sake.
The story wasn't bad, but the format and the subject matter makes it somewhat inaccessible. I primarily read because I like to experience life through the eyes of others, feel what they feel and maybe gain some new insight into others and myself in the process. This isn't that kind of story.
Eudora Welty has been on my TBR list for a while because of her reputation for writing gripping stories about the American South, so when I learned recently that she is the first living writer (at the time...sadly she is now deceased) to have her works published by the Library of America (of which I am a huge fan) it only piqued my interest further.
The Robber Bridegroom happens to be the first story in a Library of America publication of her complete novels; however, it was not what I had expected.
My take
The first thought I had reading this novelette is that it had the feel of a fairy tale. So I was not surprised to later learn that it was loosely based on or at least inspired by a Brothers Grimm fairy tale by the same name.
At times I was tempted to draw comparisons with Neil Gaiman's brand of magical realism, books I generally enjoy but that are ultimately (I think) an acquired taste. And like some of Gaiman's work, it's hard not to get hooked by Welty's provocative language and images even if you're not completely drawn in by the story.
I'll be interested to see what the remaining four novels have to offer. I also ordered a complete collection of her short stories, as well.
Recommendation
I'm thinking this book will most appeal to fans of the Grimm Brothers, the adult fairy tale, and/or writers like Gaiman. This may also appeal to those who appreciate crisp, fluid, and descriptive writing for its own sake.
The story wasn't bad, but the format and the subject matter makes it somewhat inaccessible. I primarily read because I like to experience life through the eyes of others, feel what they feel and maybe gain some new insight into others and myself in the process. This isn't that kind of story.
October 21, 2018
Ugh......Eudora Welty's reinterpretation of a Grimms fairytale which she wrote in 1943 and does not translate to modern times well. I am NOT a Welty fan
so no surprise here-- I hated it just as much as expected. Luckily it cost me $2.85.
Read for November 2018 OTSLT Club
so no surprise here-- I hated it just as much as expected. Luckily it cost me $2.85.
Read for November 2018 OTSLT Club
September 17, 2017
The Robber Bridegroom is a southern inspired retelling of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Set along the Natchez trace, three shady men, Jamie Lockhart, Clement Musgrove, and Mink Fink meet along their respective trails. Enter Musgrove's beautiful daughter Rosamund and her ugly stepmother Salome. One tells lies and the other plots the daughter's demise.
This was a cute, quick story and the first time I have read Welty. I'll likely check out some of her longer novels.
This was a cute, quick story and the first time I have read Welty. I'll likely check out some of her longer novels.
Read
December 7, 2024i think i might be getting dumber bc what the hell was the point
ok i understand the setting and who the novella focuses on but what the fuck were all those awful racist remarks toward native americans??? i already know these people suck no need to bring it up every other page SHUT UP
ok i understand the setting and who the novella focuses on but what the fuck were all those awful racist remarks toward native americans??? i already know these people suck no need to bring it up every other page SHUT UP
April 8, 2025
An Early American Struggle For Innocence
I was moved to read further in Eudora Welty (1909 -- 2001) after reading her newly published correspondence with her friend, the novelist and editor William Maxwell, as edited by Suzanne Marrs, What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell. I began with Welty's short first novella, "The Robber Bridegroom" (1942), a work that was new to me. Many of the reader reviews of this book are unusually perceptive and helped me with a book I found enigmatic.
Welty writes with exuberance, in a style filled with brio, fantasy, long descriptive passages, strings of adjectives, and sudden shifts in mood and in written tempo. Although an early book, it shows an author in love with language and with word painting. The book is an amalgamation of different forms. Most prominently, it uses fairy and folk tales and mythology. Stories by the Brothers Grimm, the Cinderella fairy tale, and the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche (The god Cupid carries off a human woman to marry her. He tells her that she cannot see his face. When Psyche takes a peek, Cupid leaves her.) are transposed into a story at an indeterminate time in the 18th Century along the Natchez trail in the deep South. Welty also uses myth in a later work that I have read: the 1949 collection of Mississippi stories called "The Golden Apples". She wants to show how these primal tales of human behavior and motivation carry forward into an American setting.
Besides using myth, Welty's book uses American folk-figures such as the riverboat man Mike Fink (celebrated by Disney many years ago) and the notorious "Harpe" brothers, a pair of robbers and murderers. Together with the bravura, the myth, and the folk history, "The Robber Bridegroom" is marked by gimlet-eyed toughness in a story replete with greed, violence, rape, and ignorance.
The main protagonist of the novel, Jamie Lockhart, is a double-sided figure, a dashing New Orleans businessman on one hand and a thief and killer in the woods on the other hand. He can be remorseless in this latter role but he has a tender streak. The story centers upon Lockhart's rape of and subsequent marriage to a beautiful girl named Rosamond, a pathological liar. Rosamond is the daughter of Clement Musgrove, who has become a wealthy planter. Clement and Rosamond escaped when Clement's first wife and young boy were killed by Indians. Clement then remarries the shrewish Salome, who presses Clement to work, to become wealthy, and to adopt an extravagant mode of life. Salome is jealous of Rosamond and tries to do her in. Her efforts ultimately result in Rosamund's dishonoring by Lockhart. But Rosamund has fallen in love with her assailant and joins him with his gang of thieves in the woods. Much of the story turns on mistaken identity as Clement, whose life has earlier been saved by Lockhart, asks him to kill his daughter's rapist and promises him the daughter's hand as a reward.
Many American books are about the loss of an alleged innocence and frequently tie this loss to one or another historical event. In Welty's book, the innocent person is Clement. The first sentence of the book describes Clement as "an innocent planter, with a bag of gold and many presents." Clement has difficulty seeing the evil and greed in people, including Lockhart, his daughter, and his wife Salome. He tries to live simply and with contentment and says of himself at one point: "I know I am not a seeker after anything, and ambition in this world never stirred my heart once. Yet it seemed as if I was caught up by what came over the others, and they were the same. There was a great tug at the whole world, to go down over the edge, and one and all we were changed into pioneers, and our hearts and our own lonely wills may have had nothing to do with it."
In the course of her tale, Welty contrasts Clement's innocence with Lockhart and with Lockhart's relationship to Rosamond. Lockhart is a criminal but seems from the outset to have some feeling of restraint and decency. He refrains from killing Clement early in the novel when he could have done so and he refrains subsequently from killing "Harp", who deserves to be killed. Although he violates Rosamond, he later treats her with apparent love and tenderness. After many melodramatic tribulations, Lockhart and Rosamond marry and have twins, including a daughter, Clementine. Rosamond almost stops lying. Lockhart becomes a prosperous New Orleans trader. Welty says of him at the conclusion of the story: "Jamie knew he was a hero and had always been one, only with the power to look both ways and to see a thing from all sides."
Clement retains his innocence. When he visits New Orleans to sell his tobacco, he ignores both the beauty and the vice which is about him everywhere. As Welty says, "he was an innocent of the wilderness, and a planter of Rodney's Landing, and this was his good." Clement reconciles with Rosamond and Lockhart, but (Salome gets killed in the course of the story) he declines their invitation to stay in New Orleans with them. He returns to his plantation for the simple, innocent life of his dreams. It is the tension between Lockhart and Rosamond, their sophistication, ruthlessness, and success, and Clement and his struggle to retain his innocence that is at the heart of "The Robber Bridegroom" and of Welty's picture of early America.
There is a tendency to see "The Robber Bridegroom" as simpler than it is. Without trying to overdo it, I think it is a difficult book.
Robin Friedman
I was moved to read further in Eudora Welty (1909 -- 2001) after reading her newly published correspondence with her friend, the novelist and editor William Maxwell, as edited by Suzanne Marrs, What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell. I began with Welty's short first novella, "The Robber Bridegroom" (1942), a work that was new to me. Many of the reader reviews of this book are unusually perceptive and helped me with a book I found enigmatic.
Welty writes with exuberance, in a style filled with brio, fantasy, long descriptive passages, strings of adjectives, and sudden shifts in mood and in written tempo. Although an early book, it shows an author in love with language and with word painting. The book is an amalgamation of different forms. Most prominently, it uses fairy and folk tales and mythology. Stories by the Brothers Grimm, the Cinderella fairy tale, and the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche (The god Cupid carries off a human woman to marry her. He tells her that she cannot see his face. When Psyche takes a peek, Cupid leaves her.) are transposed into a story at an indeterminate time in the 18th Century along the Natchez trail in the deep South. Welty also uses myth in a later work that I have read: the 1949 collection of Mississippi stories called "The Golden Apples". She wants to show how these primal tales of human behavior and motivation carry forward into an American setting.
Besides using myth, Welty's book uses American folk-figures such as the riverboat man Mike Fink (celebrated by Disney many years ago) and the notorious "Harpe" brothers, a pair of robbers and murderers. Together with the bravura, the myth, and the folk history, "The Robber Bridegroom" is marked by gimlet-eyed toughness in a story replete with greed, violence, rape, and ignorance.
The main protagonist of the novel, Jamie Lockhart, is a double-sided figure, a dashing New Orleans businessman on one hand and a thief and killer in the woods on the other hand. He can be remorseless in this latter role but he has a tender streak. The story centers upon Lockhart's rape of and subsequent marriage to a beautiful girl named Rosamond, a pathological liar. Rosamond is the daughter of Clement Musgrove, who has become a wealthy planter. Clement and Rosamond escaped when Clement's first wife and young boy were killed by Indians. Clement then remarries the shrewish Salome, who presses Clement to work, to become wealthy, and to adopt an extravagant mode of life. Salome is jealous of Rosamond and tries to do her in. Her efforts ultimately result in Rosamund's dishonoring by Lockhart. But Rosamund has fallen in love with her assailant and joins him with his gang of thieves in the woods. Much of the story turns on mistaken identity as Clement, whose life has earlier been saved by Lockhart, asks him to kill his daughter's rapist and promises him the daughter's hand as a reward.
Many American books are about the loss of an alleged innocence and frequently tie this loss to one or another historical event. In Welty's book, the innocent person is Clement. The first sentence of the book describes Clement as "an innocent planter, with a bag of gold and many presents." Clement has difficulty seeing the evil and greed in people, including Lockhart, his daughter, and his wife Salome. He tries to live simply and with contentment and says of himself at one point: "I know I am not a seeker after anything, and ambition in this world never stirred my heart once. Yet it seemed as if I was caught up by what came over the others, and they were the same. There was a great tug at the whole world, to go down over the edge, and one and all we were changed into pioneers, and our hearts and our own lonely wills may have had nothing to do with it."
In the course of her tale, Welty contrasts Clement's innocence with Lockhart and with Lockhart's relationship to Rosamond. Lockhart is a criminal but seems from the outset to have some feeling of restraint and decency. He refrains from killing Clement early in the novel when he could have done so and he refrains subsequently from killing "Harp", who deserves to be killed. Although he violates Rosamond, he later treats her with apparent love and tenderness. After many melodramatic tribulations, Lockhart and Rosamond marry and have twins, including a daughter, Clementine. Rosamond almost stops lying. Lockhart becomes a prosperous New Orleans trader. Welty says of him at the conclusion of the story: "Jamie knew he was a hero and had always been one, only with the power to look both ways and to see a thing from all sides."
Clement retains his innocence. When he visits New Orleans to sell his tobacco, he ignores both the beauty and the vice which is about him everywhere. As Welty says, "he was an innocent of the wilderness, and a planter of Rodney's Landing, and this was his good." Clement reconciles with Rosamond and Lockhart, but (Salome gets killed in the course of the story) he declines their invitation to stay in New Orleans with them. He returns to his plantation for the simple, innocent life of his dreams. It is the tension between Lockhart and Rosamond, their sophistication, ruthlessness, and success, and Clement and his struggle to retain his innocence that is at the heart of "The Robber Bridegroom" and of Welty's picture of early America.
There is a tendency to see "The Robber Bridegroom" as simpler than it is. Without trying to overdo it, I think it is a difficult book.
Robin Friedman
February 4, 2019
A farcical fairy tale which was so exaggerated.
Loved The Optomist's Daughter but found this disappointing.
Fantasy isn't a genre I read although the prose was poetic in places.
Loved The Optomist's Daughter but found this disappointing.
Fantasy isn't a genre I read although the prose was poetic in places.
February 12, 2020
What an odd little book.
Read
December 10, 2024jesus
January 20, 2025
WHERE TO START?
I'm shocked, I'm flabbergasted, my wig was snatched, my jaw dropped, my eyes rolled, I can't even... This is NOT a fairytale. At the time it was written it could've been seen as one but today, as in our 21st century? This is more of a PARODY than a fairytale itself. It seemed like I was watching those YouTube parodies people with low budgets do of certain movies.
Rosamond must be the dumbest FMC I have ever met and Jamie Lockhart the stupidest MMC I have ever set my eyes on (and this is saying a lot). But don't worry, Jamie, Clement and the other male characters were almost as stupid as you were. Salome, seriously, beefing with a I-don't-know-how-old-girl-and-I-better-not-know-for-the-sake-of-my-mental-health? Woman, leave Clement and live your own life. Also, you didn't deserve to die the way you did even after all the mean comments. Little Harp, I'm glad you died.
Eudora Welty, if this was your first book or your first trial to write a fairytale, if I was your publisher I would have tell you to go and do something else because this book was NOT it. I'm only giving it two stars because some parts were so ridiculous that actually made me laugh and I had a good time roasting the characters with my comments like we were on a barbecue.
And the ending line? "God bless you"? 1. Of course it ended with God because why not, America? And 2. How about God bless ME after reading this book?
Now to you, dear reader, if you read everything until here, thank you and if you also read this book, I'm sorry.
I'm shocked, I'm flabbergasted, my wig was snatched, my jaw dropped, my eyes rolled, I can't even... This is NOT a fairytale. At the time it was written it could've been seen as one but today, as in our 21st century? This is more of a PARODY than a fairytale itself. It seemed like I was watching those YouTube parodies people with low budgets do of certain movies.
Rosamond must be the dumbest FMC I have ever met and Jamie Lockhart the stupidest MMC I have ever set my eyes on (and this is saying a lot). But don't worry, Jamie, Clement and the other male characters were almost as stupid as you were. Salome, seriously, beefing with a I-don't-know-how-old-girl-and-I-better-not-know-for-the-sake-of-my-mental-health? Woman, leave Clement and live your own life. Also, you didn't deserve to die the way you did even after all the mean comments. Little Harp, I'm glad you died.
Eudora Welty, if this was your first book or your first trial to write a fairytale, if I was your publisher I would have tell you to go and do something else because this book was NOT it. I'm only giving it two stars because some parts were so ridiculous that actually made me laugh and I had a good time roasting the characters with my comments like we were on a barbecue.
And the ending line? "God bless you"? 1. Of course it ended with God because why not, America? And 2. How about God bless ME after reading this book?
Now to you, dear reader, if you read everything until here, thank you and if you also read this book, I'm sorry.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2016
A reworking of the Grimm's fairytale by the same name, here it is set in Mississippi and mingles with folk tales (Mike Fink and the Harp Brothers) from the region. In this way it manages to feel like a fairy tale, and yet distinctly southern, and, specifically, Welty's own.
A quick read, exceptionally well written, a fine piece of southern gothic folk telling. As with the other Welty book I've read to this point (The Optimist's Daughter) this was compulsively readable.
A quick read, exceptionally well written, a fine piece of southern gothic folk telling. As with the other Welty book I've read to this point (The Optimist's Daughter) this was compulsively readable.
March 15, 2015
Wildly farcical fairy tale. Talk about the reader being required to suspend disbelief -- the reader of this Eudora Welty novel needs to do that before reading even the first page. Clement Musgrove, daughter Rosamund, wicked step mom Salome, horse-riding bandit, Jamie Lockhart. The tale is so exaggerated that if the book weren't under 200 pages I may not have made it through.
June 28, 2019
This was my first Welty, and a whole lot of fun.
With his long blond hair, carrying a talking raven on his shoulder, Jamie Lockhart is a wonderfully created character; a successful New Orleans businessman, the Robber Bridegroom, the abductor of Rosamond, beautiful princess-like daughter of the rich planter Clement Musgrove, hated by her wicked-witch step-mother Salome. Musgrove is the stark contrast, “an innocent planter, with a bag of gold and many presents”. Between them, and the other few important characters, Welty’s story is of Musgrove trying to retain that innocence and may appear a simple one, but is a much deeper picture of early America. Like all good folk tales, of course it comes with a stinger, a moral in the fashion of the grimmest of Grimm.
With his long blond hair, carrying a talking raven on his shoulder, Jamie Lockhart is a wonderfully created character; a successful New Orleans businessman, the Robber Bridegroom, the abductor of Rosamond, beautiful princess-like daughter of the rich planter Clement Musgrove, hated by her wicked-witch step-mother Salome. Musgrove is the stark contrast, “an innocent planter, with a bag of gold and many presents”. Between them, and the other few important characters, Welty’s story is of Musgrove trying to retain that innocence and may appear a simple one, but is a much deeper picture of early America. Like all good folk tales, of course it comes with a stinger, a moral in the fashion of the grimmest of Grimm.
September 1, 2023
Un conte merveilleux américain avec des brigands, des planteurs, des indiens, des forêts sombres et une méchante belle-mère. Décalé, poétique et drôle.
December 31, 2024
1.5* but I’d rather round down out of pure spite
Felt like the plot of a fever dream of an American settler dying of dysentery
Felt like the plot of a fever dream of an American settler dying of dysentery
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2024
first heard of this in a criterion supplementary vid for thelma & louise (1991). the scriptwriter discussed a few of her influences when first throwing around ideas: aretha franklin ballads, 40s noir romances, and this. this novella is a (similarly) referential fairy-tale; welty borrows pysche’s candle held aloft over cupid in repose and the charm from the goose-girl’s mother, not to mention a few mississippi figures, such as the riverboat pilot mike fink and the killer little harp. it’s essentially grimm’s robber bridegroom transposed to a fantastical deep south with truly lovely writing. an arbitrary line: clement came in, and the first thing he said was, “hello, wife, where is my little daughter gone?” for she had not run out to meet him, and that was as if the jessamines had not bloomed that year. a perfect read as the summer heat finally passes.
March 9, 2011
I am often bored by fairy tales and especially modern (I consider 1942 to be modern)books or stories that desire to be fairy tales but this particular tale did not bore me in the least. It might have been its sense of humor or its garishness (like a literary Uncle Pecos Bunyan). But most probably it was because of its many wonderful turns of phrase, like Welty wished to drop our lovely tongue down a rabbit hole or shove it through a mirror.
December 2, 2015
"... he spoke as kind and sweet words as anyone ever could between the hours of sunset and sunrise."
"... the heart cannot live without something to sorrow and be curious over."
"... the heart cannot live without something to sorrow and be curious over."
January 31, 2025
A mixture of several fairy tales tossed together and morons.
I may have liked this better if I hadn't read so many other properly written stories.
I may have liked this better if I hadn't read so many other properly written stories.
November 15, 2018
Innocent rich man Clement Musgrove meets bandit Jamie Lockhart one night in an inn on the shores of the Mississippi. Jamie is affected by the man’s trust enough not to steal from him, but he does seduce the planter’s beautiful daughter, unbeknownst to either of them. And there is a third witness to their meeting, who will live to invade their lives again.
With a wicked stepmother added to the cast list, and mistaken identities a-plenty, this is a rollicking fairy tale for the American south with hints of feminism, witchcraft, and treachery adding to the mix. It was a lovely tale that made me smile over and over again.
With a wicked stepmother added to the cast list, and mistaken identities a-plenty, this is a rollicking fairy tale for the American south with hints of feminism, witchcraft, and treachery adding to the mix. It was a lovely tale that made me smile over and over again.
November 24, 2018
I chose to read this for 2 reasons : I played Rosamund in the musical and had never read the book, and I'm trying to blow through some quick novels before the end of the year to meet my reading goal for the year.
This is a fun and wildly exaggerated fable that, admittedly, has some plotlines that haven't exactly aged well (I'll skip the spoilers, but think rape, fighting Inguns, boastful talk of owning 100 slaves...you get the idea).
That said, Welty's descriptions of the forests, the sky, and of nature in general are really stunning. The characters are painted quickly but clearly, and with comforting predictability (evil stepmother and her goat-man sidekick...handsome bandit...beautiful innocent daughter...). It reads much like a fable. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This is a fun and wildly exaggerated fable that, admittedly, has some plotlines that haven't exactly aged well (I'll skip the spoilers, but think rape, fighting Inguns, boastful talk of owning 100 slaves...you get the idea).
That said, Welty's descriptions of the forests, the sky, and of nature in general are really stunning. The characters are painted quickly but clearly, and with comforting predictability (evil stepmother and her goat-man sidekick...handsome bandit...beautiful innocent daughter...). It reads much like a fable. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
November 12, 2023
"The Robber Bridegroom," a slim 89-page novel, is supposedly based on a Brothers Grimm fairytale. I did not recognize one particular story but it definitely has the fantastical elements and structure of many fairytales and American folk tales. I loved Welty's telling of the tale. There was a lot of wonderfully descriptive, uniquely-phrased gems. Because this is an unusual genre, and because I did enjoy the writing so much, I am going to read her last novel, "The Optimist's Daughter," to try to get a better perspective on Welty as an author.
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