Eudora Welty

[dr_mabeuse]

One of the premiere American short story writers of the last century. Anyone ever read her?

I'm working my way through her collected works now, and I'm just stunned.

Remember: You'll only be as good as the best stuff you read.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

One of the premiere American short story writers of the last century. Anyone ever read her?

I'm working my way through her collected works now, and I'm just stunned.

Remember: You'll only be as good as the best stuff you read.

I had to read a lot of her stuff in school. Our public library downtown was named after her. She and faulkner were both presented as important Mississippians who had contributed to the arts.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Yes. She's absolutely wonderful. She has a superb gift for character voice. What always impresses me with Welty is how well she stands up to being read en masse. Not every author does; Saki seems to be writing the same five or six stories over and over again, and even Flannery O'Connor, whom I love, reveals that she is writing the same undifferentiated character under several different names. Welty never seems to try the same trick twice. What a wonderful, fecund imagination she has, and what an excellent style.

Shanglan

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Yes. She's absolutely wonderful. She has a superb gift for character voice. What always impresses me with Welty is how well she stands up to being read en masse. Not every author does; Saki seems to be writing the same five or six stories over and over again, and even Flannery O'Connor, whom I love, reveals that she is writing the same undifferentiated character under several different names. Welty never seems to try the same trick twice. What a wonderful, fecund imagination she has, and what an excellent style.

Shanglan

Yes. It amazes how she can find stories where most people would see none, and she does it by going more deeply into character than anyone I think I've ever read. She gets into her characters and peels them like onions, and just when you think she can't go any deeper, she does, taking you into these realms of personal experience I wouldn't even try to describe.

At the same time, she can paint a picture of the physical world in images that just take your breath away. She's one of those writers with whom you always know the season and the weather. No matter how personal she gets, she brings the world into the picture as well.

I found another book by her on writing. It surprised me that she said the thing that motivates her to write is curiosity. She puts down a character and then wants to see what will happen to them. That's such a relief to those of us who write like that, with no certainty about what's going to happen.

I guess she never married, and in that she reminds me of Emily Dickenson--someone outside of life who peers in so hard through the glass that she sees things no one else would ever notice. Remarkable.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Yes. It amazes how she can find stories where most people would see none, and she does it by going more deeply into character than anyone I think I've ever read. She gets into her characters and peels them like onions, and just when you think she can't go any deeper, she does, taking you into these realms of personal experience I wouldn't even try to describe.

Yes - and funny, too! God, so funny. Every time I read "Why I Live at the P. O." I laugh until I'm nearly crying. Lord, I wish I could write like that and still look like I was laughing all of the way through it. The grim effort the writing took shows all too clearly in my own work; Welty makes it all look easy.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

What the rest of you have said about Eudora Welty, me too--big time.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I guess she never married, and in that she reminds me of Emily Dickenson--someone outside of life who peers in so hard through the glass that she sees things no one else would ever notice. Remarkable.

she wasn't quite the recluse that Dickinson was... I think of her as that proper Southern lady on the outside... but on the inside??

She was a photographer as well... which makes her doubly interesting to me... I think she just had an "eye"... and she saw things a little differently, and a little deeper, than most...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Just out of curiosity, are there any 'mainstream' short story authors you particularly like and have found valuable to read? I mean, keeping genre authors out of it.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I like magical realism so Gabriel García Marquez...

James Thurber's short stories amuse the hell out of me... he didn't write enough of them

I like Katherine Anne Porter... she's a little dark... I like her southwestern flavor...

Hemingway is hit and miss for me, most of the time...

Katherine Mansfield I always like... one of my favorite stories of hers you can read here: A Dill Pickle

 

[rgraham666]

Just out of curiosity, are there any 'mainstream' short story authors you particularly like and have found valuable to read? I mean, keeping genre authors out of it.

Harlan Ellison. There is something about his word usage that leaves me in awe every time.

Although most famous for his SF, he writes anything that come into his mind. And no matter what, he's good at it.

His best piece, in my opinion, is "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Harlan Ellison. There is something about his word usage that leaves me in awe every time.

Although most famous for his SF, he writes anything that come into his mind. And no matter what, he's good at it.

His best piece, in my opinion, is "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman

I've only seen Ellison's SF and fantasy stuff. I'm kind of two minds about including genre writers here, because I don't want this to turn into a Douglas Adams/Terry Pratchet/Tolkein thing. I don't want to sound snobby, and I cut my teeth on sci fi and fantasy, but I don't seem to have the patience for it anymore. I guess I want stuff that deals more with the real world, or with the stuff I deal with in the real world.

On the other hand, I've learned an awful lot from Raymond Chandler, a genre writer who wrote hard-boiled detective fiction. I was surprised to realize how much he influenced me.

tell you the truth, I don't think I could tell Katherine Mansfield apart from Katherine Anne Porter. My experience with reading mainstream literary short stories is pretty shameful. I know Chekov, of course, and had to read O. Henry in high school, and I love Salinger a lot too, but it's only recently that I started seriously reading the masters to learn.

I went through a book of John O'Hara, who I think writes the best dialogue I've ever read. He even does some stories entirely in dialogue, and does it so well that you don't even notice. From him I learned how to make a character talk in dialect without maing him sound like a retard or drowning him in apostrophe's.

I was reading Cheever too, and some of his stuff is great, but he tires me out. I have to go back to him. I like Hemingway, but only up to a point. I like his novels better than his stories, and after a while I need a little more moisture, I think. I'm also terrified of getting Hemingway-itis as happened to several generations of writers and dying of laconicism.

I think the best single short story I've ever read still has to be "The Dead" from Joyce's Dubliners. The claustrophobic way the action narrows down from that big party to a tight focus, the characters, the way he uses setting to establish mood and turns a minor episode into a devastating revelation are just fantastic. And done with such grace too.

One of the things I like about Welty is that she shows you different possibilities for fiction. A story doesn't have to concern a love triangle or a gun fight or even the traditional elements of conflict and resolution. She can make a story out of investigating someone's thoughts, and I really envy that.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

It is so funny the things we envy in other writers... how we stand in awe of what they can do... I know good writers when I read them because they make me want to write, even if it's not something I would normally read.... if that makes sense...

tell you the truth, I don't think I could tell Katherine Mansfield apart from Katherine Anne Porter. My experience with reading mainstream literary short stories is pretty shameful. I know Chekov, of course, and had to read O. Henry in high school, and I love Salinger a lot too, but it's only recently that I started seriously reading the masters to learn.

My B.A. in English Lit forced me to read a LOT of short stories It was good and bad... I was exposed to a lot of literature, but a lot of it sucked :x (shhh don't let my ole professors hear me say that <grin>) At least I got a sense for what I liked and what I didn't... what moved me, or not... and that is always different for everyone. I've heard people rave about Hemingway and I just kind of shrug and go, "Ok, if you say so." Poe moves me, though... but I have a horror bent... (and I love Stephen King, if I can say his name in a non-genre thread!)

Get a short story collection, Doc... flip through, pick one a night... if it grabs you, check out more by the author...

 

[District Line]

Alice Munro is a great short story writer.

If you're not familiar with her work, the following link should give you an idea. It's to a review of her book, Runaway.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,6121,1406134,00.html

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Short story writers I like who haven't been mentioned:

William Faulkner

Flannery O'Connor

Mark Twain

--

Zoot, as one Raymond Chandler fan to another, "Killer In The Rain" is a fascinating collection that contain stories he later incorperated into some of his novels. If you've read all his books, check it out. It's like looking over his shoulder and watching him crafting the stories.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[BlackShanglan]

Hey, I mentioned O'Connor! Never let it be said I slighted her. She's got a few repetitive character threads going on, but she's still a superb writer.

Let's see ... short stories. I'm quite fond of Jack London. He's uneven through the corpus of the work, but there are some very good short ones. For some reason, "The Thousand Dozen" always makes me smile grimly, as does "Batard." "To Build a Fire" is something of a commonplace in college coursework, but it is quite good.

Ray Bradbury. He's good at a lot of things, and not just science fiction. I actually thought of him because London's "The Thousand Dozen" reminded me of his "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl." They're both great studies in obsession and its effects on the human mind - sort of macabre idee fixe insanity. He's got some wonderful ones about his love of Picasso, as weel; I wish I could remember the name of the one where a man walking along a beach at night comes upon Picasso finishing a fantastic freize in the sand just as the tide starts to come in.

James Joyce. "Dubliners" really is a remarkable collection, and more so when read together. "Araby" gets a great deal of attention, and rightly so, but there are any number of other gems in there.

Gloria Naylor. She has her ups and downs, but I think "The Women of Brewster Place" a very interesting half-novel, half-short-story collection. "Bailey's Cafe" is good but raw, as is "Linden Hills"; when you're done them, you really want to call her up and make sure she's all right.

Shanglan

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Alice Munro is a great short story writer.

If you're not familiar with her work, the following link should give you an idea. It's to a review of her book, Runaway.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,6121,1406134,00.html

You know, I never read her because I thought she wrote race-themed stuff.

I exempt Bradbury from the label of genre writer. Even as a kid reading sci fi excusively, I knew there was something special about his work. There was another guy writing at the same time who was much darker and creepier than Bradbury--Charles Beaumont. I got a book of his because the blurb said it was like Bradbury and it scared the hell out of me.

O'Connor's on my list. Didn't she write the famous short story about two people in a car being shot in a copse of trees? There was anbother one about a blind preacher too. Maybe I did read her. What is it with Southern writers and gothicism, though? Is that what's going to happen to Rumple?

I find Poe too hysterical for my tastes, though his prose can be luscious. As a kid I used to think that Lovecraft was the last word in horror. Then I read Hubert Selby Jr.'s Last Exit To Brooklyn and realized the scariest things are right here in reality and not among the followers of Cthulhu and the Ancient Ones.

 

[BlackShanglan]

O'Connor's on my list. Didn't she write the famous short story about two people in a car being shot in a copse of trees? There was anbother one about a blind preacher too. Maybe I did read her. What is it with Southern writers and gothicism, though? Is that what's going to happen to Rumple?

The first story you reference is hers - "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Blind preacher is tougher because I can't remember a physically blind character, but recall many emotionally/spiritually blind ones. From O'Connor, I also recommend "The Lame Shall Enter First," "Everything that Rises Must Converge," and (for a laugh really) "Good Country People."

Oh, and of course there is Faulkner. "A Rose for Emily" is good reading. If you like creepy, I recommend "The Yellow Wallpaper," which my brain is trying to tell me is Porter but I am certain isn't ... not Chopin either, is it? Sod. I can't remember, but it's damned good.

Shanglan

 

[ThornDaddy]

Ain't read her

But my e-mail client is named after her.

 

[cantdog]

Beaumont. God. Most people never heard of Beaumont. A gem.

On the other hand, Katherine Anne Porter? Sorry. I tried, but she's too precious.

I guess there isn't a universal. Have you read Wagner, at all? I mean Karl Edward Wagner. He wrote some books in the fantasy realm (Dark Crusade, for instance), which are quite good. But i read some of his short story collections, too. Worth checking out.

 

[rgraham666]

Beaumont. God. Most people never heard of Beaumont. A gem.

On the other hand, Katherine Anne Porter? Sorry. I tried, but she's too precious.

I guess there isn't a universal. Have you read Wagner, at all? I mean Karl Edward Wagner. He wrote some books in the fantasy realm (Dark Crusade, for instance), which are quite good. But i read some of his short story collections, too. Worth checking out.

I liked Bloodstone the best of Wagner's fantasies. Kane is a fascinating character.

A couple of his short stories scared the living shit out of me. Brrr.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

If you like creepy, I recommend "The Yellow Wallpaper," which my brain is trying to tell me is Porter but I am certain isn't ... not Chopin either, is it? Sod. I can't remember, but it's damned good.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Shang... It's one of my all-time favorite short stories... she wrote a lot of feminist stuff... but this one just stands out, to me...

 

[Guest]

 

[ThornDaddy]

E-mail client named after her

It's named after her because she wrote a story about someone who lived at a post office:
http://www.eudora.com/presskit/backgrounder.html#name


If I ever make an e-mail program, I'm gonna name it Bukowski, because he actually worked at the post office.

But I'll check her stuff out. Thank you.