Eudora Welty

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Template:References Eudora Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was born in Jackson, Mississippi and she lived a significant portion of her life in the city's Belhaven neighborhood, where her home has been preserved. She was educated at the Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women), the University of Wisconsin, and Columbia University. During the 1930s, Welty worked as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration. This job sent her all over the state of Mississippi taking photographs of people from all economic and social classes. Collections of her photographs are One Time, One Place, and Photographs.

But Welty's true love was language, not photography, and she soon devoted her energy to writing fiction. Her first short story, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," appeared in 1936 and in 1941 she published her first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green. Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

The Canadian writer, Alice Munro, has said that Welty's "A Worn Path" is perhaps the most perfect short story ever written.

Eudora Welty died of pneumonia in Jackson. The e-mail client Eudora was named after her (in reference to her short story "Why I Live at the P.O.").

1 Major works
2 Trivia
3 External links
- 3.1 Imagery

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Major works

"Death of a Traveling Salesman" 1936
The Robber Bridegroom (novella), 1942
The Wide
The Golden Apples 1949
The Bride of the Innisfallen, and Other Stories 1955
Three Papers on Fiction (addresses) 1962
"A Curtain of Green," 1964
The Shoe Bird (juvenile) 1964
Thirteen Stories 1965
A Sweet Devouring (nonfiction) 1969
Losing Battles (novel) 1970
"A Flock of Guinea Hens Seen from a Car" (poem) 1970
One Time, One Place: MS in the Depression: A Snapshot Album 1971
The Optimist's Daughter (novel) 1972
The Eye of the Story (selected essays and reviews) 1978
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty 1980
One Writer's Beginnings 1984 (autobiography)
Morgana: Two Stories from 'The Golden Apples' 1988
Photographs 1989

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Trivia

Welty is mentioned and heard (but not seen) on the Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns". After guest character Jay Sherman wins a belching contest with Homer, an impressed Lisa asks rhetorically, "How many Pulitzer Prize winners can do that?" "Just me and Eudora Welty," Jay replies. Later in the episode, Krusty the Clown asks to be excused from a meeting because he has a date with Welty. Just then, an extremely loud and prolonged belch from offscreen is heard. "Coming, Eudora," Krusty dutifully replies.

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