The Robber Bridegroom

by Eudora Welty

Book Overview

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156768070
• ISBN13: 9780156768078
• Release Date: November 1978
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Cupid and Psyche meets the American Tall Tale

Welty's first published novel is a retelling of Psyche and Cupid, with a decidedly American twist. Instead of turning the Greek myth into a fairy tale, she's created a delightfully unbelievable, far-fetched and bizarre "tall tale". Many of the elements of a fairy tale are there--the wicked stepmother, the beautiful heroine, the naive and loving father, the handsome hero--but these are overshadowed by tall tale traits such as the superb stretching-of-the-truth skills by nearly everyone encountered from the mail rider who was swallowed by a crocodile to our heroine, Rosamond, who can't tell a truth to save her life.The story takes place along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi with "Red Indians", robbers and a few famous American tall tale characters filling up the bad guy roster--with the hero, Jamie, switching sides regularly. Rosamond's father Clement Musgrove is a wealthy planter who meets Jamie at an inn and unwittingly brings his disruptive presence into Musgrove family.Many deaths, lies, misunderstandings and berry stains later, Rosamond and Jamie do live happily ever after. . . and Rosamond even starts telling the truth. . . well mostly the truth, "it was all true but the blue canopy". This fanciful tale is a well-executed, superbly written, pleasant read and it's only afterwards that one realizes that Welty added a bit of acid to this pleasurable brew.

A warped fairy tale

Eudora Welty borrowed from the old Brothers Grimm fairy tale 'The Robber Bridegroom' to create this story that is part fairy tale, part historical fantasy, and very strange. Instead of old Europe, the action takes place in the southern United States. The old characters are all there: the innocent daughter, the merchant father, the irascible thief who becomes the 'bridegroom', and some new people have been added. A wicked stepmother, a boy named Goat, and an Indian tribe are just a few of the extras.Apparently some of the characters, like Mike Fink and the Harp brothers, were real people, or at least were part of American folklore. Welty combines old world and new world fairy tales to create something completely unique. If you know the story of the Robber Bridgroom, you'll see how Welty has slyly snuck in very subtle similarities (the bird in the cage), and you'll be astonished at how much the ending was changed from the original story. The book moves with rapid speed through larger than life situations. The Indians cooked and ate the merchant's family and he and his daughter escaped, THEN he married the evil Salome, THEN some guy tried to kill him while he slept with his bag of gold, THEN Lockhart carried his daughter away naked, THEN... It becomes almost too frantic, and you might need to go back a few pages now and again to make sure you didn't miss something. It's probably not the best introduction to Welty, but it's one of her most colorful works. For an elegantly written, surrealist fairy tale, you can't do much better than this.

Astonishing

This lovely novella introduced Eudora Welty to the world. Now it can introduce you to Eudora Welty. A raucous, genre-bending mixture of historical fiction, romance novel, and tall tale -- all shot through with the compassion and psychological subtlety for which Welty would become famous -- _The Robber Bridegroom_ still holds a place of honor in Southern literature.

It is what it is.

I have trouble understanding how anyone could not understand or enjoy this story. Anyone who grew up reading fairy tales or folklore should enjoy this fantastic yarn. Welty's sense of place and use of dialogue are justifiably lauded, and this beautiful yet harsh story, though not entirely representative of her other work, is a delightful read.

I couldn't put it down- finished it in a day!

The story was very intriging. I had to read it for a class, and I'm glad because I had never heard of it or its author before. I'm very happy with my new- found writer that will be up there on my top ten list! I'd also like to add that I had to do a paper on the book and found it to be able to be compared with Cinderella and Snow White- and even a little bit of Beauty and the Beast!