Introduction

Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty had good ears, the kind that can pick up and process the subtleties of a dialogue or an accent—the kind of ears that can make for great writing. And a great writer she undoubtedly was. Her most celebrated medium was the short story, and her main subject was the family, though she personally never married. Her favorite setting was generally the South, in particular Mississippi, where she spent the majority of her life. Imbuing her work with both a sense of humor and respect, Welty created characters that are often lonely and complex, full of longing but strangely fulfilled. Besides four collections of celebrated short stories, she also wrote an influential nonfiction book, On Writing (1942). Her main advice to new writers? Learn to listen, of course.

Essential Facts

1. Although many of her stories feature eccentric and strong women, feminist scholars shunned Welty’s work for a long time because of negative comments she made about the feminist movement in the 1970s.
2. Welty also had great eyes. She was an accomplished photographer who for three years during the 1930s took pictures of the Depression-stricken South.
3. Intensely private, Welty refused to talk about personal influences in her work, preferring that the writing speak for itself.
4. Welty was the first woman to enter Peterhouse College in Cambridge.
5. Welty maintained her sense of humor until the end. When a doctor asked her if there was anything he could do as she lay dying, she quipped, “No, but thanks for inviting me to the party.”