Eudora Welty Recommendation?

Hi y'all-

I am a Yankee looking to get my feet wet in Southern fiction. I have been meaning to read some Eudora Welty since forever, but, as with many classic authors, I am daunted by the sheer magnitude of her work, and at a loss for where to start. Can someone here suggest a good starting place? Is there any one Welty book or collection that you consider to be a must-read? I'm particularly interested in her because I've heard that she and Jane Austen share some similarities in their style of writing- do you find that to be more true of one work than another?

Any advice would be appreciated!

- margaret

The Optimist's Daughter is a wonderful read! It's very southern, gracefully written, has good symbolism, and she handles her themes so masterfully and insightfully. Basically, it is the story of a daughter coming to terms with her father's death. It details his last days in the hospital and the events surrounding the funeral and subsequent sorting out of the inheritance and possessions, while she does a lot of reflecting about memory, heritage, her childhood, and the meaning of her parents' lives and deaths

I can't recommend it highly enough, although I'm afraid I'm at a loss to evaluate it in relation to her work as a whole, as so far I've only read this one, One Writer's Beginnings and about half a dozen of the short stories.

I suppose I can see some similarity to Jane Austen, in the carefully crafted sentences and dialog and in the atmosphere of a small community, but I didn't find it to be very striking. Jane Austen is Jane Austen. :-)

Hope this helps!
Leah

I haven't read Jane Austen extensively, or at all for many years, so I can't address that question. But I love Eudora Welty. The Optimist's Daughter is a good introduction. But if you want to sample her wit, try Why I Live at the P.O. Screamingly, wickedly funny---in a genteel southern way.

Losing Battles was the first novel of Eudora Welty that i read...a family saga with all the warts intact..funny/sad..i read this many years ago and still get little flashes from it...these young Southern gals don't have her grace or style

My introduction to Ms. Welty - one of my favorite authors - was One Writer's Beginnings which was assigned reading in my 7th grade American Literature class.

I then began to read everything I could get a hold of. There are still some to go.....

I enjoy her short stories very much. I have a fat paperback of her collected short stories I picked up in college that is well thumbed.

You need to go out and buy A Curtain of Green. NOW!

Just thought I would let everyone know that 2009 is the year Eudora Welty would have been 100 years old. A lot of celebrations going on in her hometown of Jackson Mississippi. Her home, on the Southern literary trail, is one of the most historically complete authors homes in the US since she lived there all her life and left the house at her death to be preserved by the Archives and History Dept of the State of Mississippi.

As for as recommendations, try reading The Optimist's Daughter and then One Writer's Beginnings. One Writer's Beginnings sheds some light on some of the autobiographical nature of The Optimist's Daughter. Why I live at the P O is indeed hilarious. Finally if you can get your hands on a recording of Ms. Welty reading any of her work it is really delicious to hear her writing in her own words with her delightful southern accent.

I love Welty's own reading of Why I Live at the P.O.. She's one of those authors I think I would have got on well with in person.

Eudora Welty won the Pulitzer Prize for The Optimist's Daughter, so that will be the first Welty novel I plan to read straight thru. I tried to read Delta Wedding, but it didn't grab me.