One Writer's Beginnings

by Eudora Welty

Book Overview

Now available as an audio CD, in Eudora Welty's own voice, or as a book. Eudora Welty was born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi. In a "continuous thread of revelation" she sketches her autobiography and tells us how her family and her surroundings contributed to the shaping not only of her personality but of her writing. Homely and commonplace sights, sounds, and objects resonate with the emotions of recollection: the striking clocks, the Victrola,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674639278
• ISBN13: 9780674639270
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.7" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Book!

I pick this book up and read it over and over again. It's WONDERFUL! Ms. Welty does a great job explaining her life growing up in Jackson, Mississippi in the first half of the 20th Century and how it influenced her writing. Her descriptions of her school prinicipal and the town librarian are priceless as are her descriptions of sunday school at the Methodist Church. Originally delivered as a part of the Massey Lectures on American Civilization at Harvard University, she did a wonderful job spinning these into a super little book. After reading the book I had to visit her home in Jackson and see Jefferson Davis School across the street.

The Art Of Writing

Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings is an excellently composed book about the writer's personal life, and her personal style of writing. Welty is a very eminent writer, whose many honors include the Pulitzer Prize, the American Book Award for fiction, and the Gold Medal for the Novel given for her entire work in fiction. Thus her book about her own personal development as a writer is extremely important, since it provides essential clues to her success. One Writer's Beginnings is mainly focused on Welty's life, commencing with her childhood, and how it had a significant effect on her writing. Mainly the book is composed of three main topics: listening, learning to see, and finding a voice. These topics explain Welty's personal development as a writer, and one should definitely read and consider each one of them. One Writer's Beginnins is an interesting book, containing potent intellectual and emotional qualities, and also educational themes. One Writer's Beginnings' main themes are very elucidating, since they provide important clues to Welty's success as a writer. The book commences with Welty's early life and the description of her family. In this she starts her first main topic- "listening". She describes her interest in listening to others, and she learned to be an observer. As she states, "A conscious act grew out of this by the time I began to write stories: getting my distance... is the way I begin work." This enchantment of listening helped Welty develop a clear idea on how to compose stories, and how to describe different personalities. The next main topic is "learning to see", which describes her impressions of every place she visited. As Welty explains, every trip her family made helped her later to write her stories, since somewhere in the back of her head those stories were already composed and all she had to do is put them down on paper. Each trip changed Welty's life, making a sort of metamorphosis deep within her character, "They changed something in my life: each trip made its particular revelation." Finally the last main topic of her bibliography is "finding a voice". This part of the book is possibly the most important, since it contains information about the author's personal writing evolution. Here, one can learn about the character development and creation. All of these topics were colorfully described, and each had an essential piece of information which revealed Welty's development as a writer. Therefore, anyone who wishes to improve his writing abilities should read this book and learn more about these educational main themes in Welty's book. Another powerful asset in One Writer's Beginnings is its intellectual qualities. The book is written in a simplistic way, and it retains high clarity. Even though the language is quite colorful, it is very easy to follow Welty's story. As for instance she writes, "When I did begin to write, the short story was a shape that had already formed itself and stood waiting in the bac

The Queen of Southern Writing

Eudora Welty is considered one the the greatest fiction writers of the 20th century. Being from Mississippi myself, I am embarrassed to admit that until about four years ago, I had never read any of her work. After reading 'The Golden Apples' and 'The Optimist's Daughter,' I realized what a treasure I'd missed. 'One Writer's Beginnings' belongs in that treasure chest as well.'One Writer's Beginnings' would probably be better appreciated by readers who have read at least a short story or two by the late Ms. Welty. (She passed away last year.) Her style and charm are obvious from the first page, but if this is the first contact a reader has had with Welty, he or she may not appreciate the book fully. First of all, I should speak to what the book is NOT: It is not a how-to-be-a-writer book. It will not teach you how to tighten up your stories, how to plot, how to sell your stories, or anything else of a practical nature in the writing business. It is not a strict autobiography, although parts of Welty's life are described in detail. It is not a book to breeze through, even though it comes in at slightly over 100 pages. What is the book? It is actually a series of three lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1983 when the writer was 74 years old. The three parts are titled as follows:I. Listening - As a child, Welty spent many hours watching and listening to the people around her in Jackson, Mississippi. She carefully absorbed their stories and how they told them. She began to listen to and fall in love with words.II. Learning to See - As she stepped outside of her home to visit relatives along with her parents, Welty makes some wonderful discoveries about her family in West Virginia and Ohio. Time is "a continuous thread of revelation."III. Finding a Voice - This lecture is the payoff, describing how Welty evolved as a writer and how her characters came to life. "The frame through which I viewed the world changed too, with time. Greater than scene, I came to see, is situation. Greater than situation is implication. Greater than all of these is a single, entire human being, who will never be confined in any frame."'One Writer's Beginnings' is an amazing, brief look at the long life of a writer and what made her a writer. Like all of Welty's works, it is not a book to be read quickly, but savored.

Autobiography, Welty Style

I've been a fan of Eudora Welty since discovering her short stories as a teenager many, many years ago. I wrote her what is probably a typical teenager's fan letter, and she was kind enough to reply and answer some questions I had in detail. I have since read all of her work, and still consider it a disgrace that she never won the Nobel Prize--she deserved it. This little autobiography is a great read even for those unfamiliar with Miss Welty's work--it's that engaging. As with her fiction, she is particularly adept at providing the atmosphere in the South where she lived her life. By the time I finished reading of her childhood I felt like I had a true and realistic rendering of her family, told with the tenderness and dignity that marks all of her work. I've always found Welty's friendship with Katherine Ann Porter to be an interesting facet of her early career, since Porter assumed the role of mentor. Miss Porter was, and is, well known for her beauty and was a 'free spirit' when it came to lovers. Regardless of her other attributes, there is no doubt that Eudora was quite ugly to look at, and certainly led a very different personal lifestyle than did Miss Porter. I hope that one day a biographer will further detail their relationship. As an aside, I have a dual-tape recording set of Miss Welty reading some of her short stories. She had what must be one of the most pleasant and engaging reading voices I've ever heard. If the reader ever has a chance to purchase her on tape, buy it. I've long felt that Eudora Welty took on the title of the pre-eminent American female writer of the last century following the death of Willa Cather. This little jewel of a book will delight her old fans and possibly create some new ones. A great gift idea for anyone enjoying biographies.

Essential Welty Reading

More than an autobiography, more than a journal of the writing process, Welty has written--has braided with words--a thematic disclosure of self-discovery that runs deep. At the beginning of the short book, I first became entranced by her description of growing up in the South in the early part of the 20th Century. I felt that I was in the same confident, storytelling hands of Burns (Cold Sassy Tree); Welty re-creates the sights, sounds, and smells of the age, making it familiar to me. But then she writes of her narrative development, how she started to write, what voice she sought to create, how she started to see her world and present it in her tales. It is in this writing that the book takes on a fascinating layer of depth. Welty writes of the life of narratives--those she read as a child and those she created--in bringing meaning to her world. She references her world with her work. Or is it the other way around? Still, while reading this book, I felt that I was overhearing the dialogue created between the author and her text. It provides a rare glimpse between artifact and artist. I would highly recommend this book as a companion reader to her fiction; she tells just enough of her origins that the rest will become evident in its discovery. And she is at the top of her craft as a storyteller.