Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Eudora Welty

A young Eudora Welty

I finished One Writer's Beginnings in time for my Grand Southern Literary Tour. It is a odd little autobiographical work. It is actually made up of three lectures that Eudora Welty delivered at Harvard University in 1983. The titles of the sections are "Listening", "Learning to See", and "Finding a Voice".

The first two are the most engaging. My interest flagged at the final lecture. It was all about her stories and how they and their characters were formed. The first two were more concrete as to her life before she became a famous writer.

She does mention one story, "A Still Moment" which puts three real-life characters together at the same moment as they set their eyes on a small heron, feeding. One of those characters is John James Audubon. He lived in my city for a while and the John James Audubon State Park is in the western part of my state. I have visited it and was enthralled with the museum that contains a folio copy of Birds of America and personal items owned by Audubon.

This lovely park is on the return route of the GSLT.

No comments:

Post a Comment