{"id":6082,"date":"2012-12-11T22:00:15","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T03:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=6082"},"modified":"2024-12-04T17:39:14","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T22:39:14","slug":"listening-for-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=6082","title":{"rendered":"Listening For Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Linda Burton posting from Jackson, Mississippi <\/em>\u2013 I heard a little inside story about Eudora Welty today but I can\u2019t say who told it. It may or may not be true; but it could be. The story goes like this: Eudora didn\u2019t go to the beauty parlor every week like some women do; but when she went it was always to the same place. One of the ladies who saw her there from time to time commented to another, \u201cShe\u2019s a bitter woman. Nothing good to say.\u201d Now, anyone who knew Eudora knew she was anything but bitter. In the years since her death, they have pondered that woman\u2019s comment and concluded it was Eudora\u2019s way of \u201csparking\u201d a story \u2013 throwing out a line that would get people talking. And then she\u2019d sit back and listen! Fodder for writing. On one of the interpretive panels in the Welty Museum I read these words: Welty never stopped listening, her skills at recreating southern life and its stories was based on \u201ceavesdropping\u201d and on living for decades in the place where she grew up. \u201cOnce you have heard certain expressions, sentences,\u201d she wrote, \u201cyou almost never forget them. It\u2019s like sending a bucket down a well and it always comes back up full.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Eudora Alice Welty (1909-2001) was a Pulitzer author of international acclaim who was born, and died, in Jackson, Mississippi. Though her stories and novels were set in the south, she did not consider herself a southern writer; she traveled and lived in New York, San Francisco,\u00a0Mexico, Europe; her friends included authors and artists from around the world. But her love of the south, and\u00a0the people living there, comes through in every word she wrote; gentle perceptions overlain with a fierce wit, always ringing true. <\/p>\n

More from the Welty Museum exhibit panels:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI see things in pictures,\u201d she once told an interviewer. \u201cMy imagination takes its strength and guides its direction from what I see and hear and learn and feel and remember of my living world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It is through place that we put down roots, wherever birth, chance, fate or our traveling selves set us down\u2026.Through travel I first became aware of the outside world. It was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a part of it\u2026.The trips were wholes unto themselves. They were stories. Not only in form, but in their taking on direction, movement, development, change\u2026.When I did begin to write, the short story was a shape that had already formed itself and stood waiting in the back of my mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During the Depression years of the 1930\u2019s Welty traveled through Mississippi on assignment for the WPA and took hundreds of photographs; \u201clife as I found it, all unposed.\u201d Photography taught her that \u201clife doesn\u2019t hold still. A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.\u201d Capturing a human moment in photography however wasn\u2019t enough. \u201cI felt the need to hold transient life in words,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThere\u2019s so much more of life that only words can convey.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I immersed myself in Welty life in my two-hour visit to the Museum and to the home Eudora lived in for most of her life. I walked through the gardens where camellias and roses still bloom beneath tall southern pines. I stood in the kitchen where Eudora and her mother cooked; the house has been restored to a 1980\u2019s look (her last active writing period) but in earlier days it had a wood stove and an ice box; they have pictures you can see. The ice box was built into the wall; the iceman delivered new blocks through an opening on the back porch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On the wall in her study hangs a hand-penned note from E M Forster (English author, 1879-1970) expressing his admiration for her and for her work. Pictures of Eudora with her mother, brothers, nieces, and friends are scattered here and there. On the table in her dining room the pages of a manuscript are spread; paragraphs cut and \"\"<\/a>moved and pinned in a new position with straight pins; she never switched to computers or even an electric typewriter until right at the last; they made too much noise, she said. Books are everywhere; there\u2019s a casual comfortable charm. The painting over the mantle came from a trip to Santa Fe after her mother died. She wrote The Optimist\u2019s Daughter<\/em> after that; it\u2019s the book that earned her the Pulitzer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The house belongs to the state of Mississippi now, administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Eudora made arrangements to donate the house and her belongings to the state after she died; it is one of the nation\u2019s most intact literary house museums; a National Historic Landmark and open to the public.<\/p>\n

Our family house and the Music Building of Belhaven College stood directly across the street from each other. Drifting out through the open windows of the practice rooms opposite and, floating across Pinehurst Street, in through the open windows of my upstairs room where I sat at the typewriter working, came the clear, searching, repeating sounds of piano practice.<\/em><\/p>\n

I could almost hear it myself as the tour guide led me through today; the music from across the street; the typewriter keys clicking away; the pause. Footsteps on the stairs as she came \"\"<\/a>down for a tomato sandwich for lunch. The sounds of one very special woman, listening.<\/p>\n

”Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories,” she wrote in 1984. ”Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Receives Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter in 1980<\/p><\/div>\n

Eudora Welty received 38 honorary doctorate degrees and more than 40 major literary awards in her lifetime. She toured and lectured around the world, though refusing always to speak before any audience that was segregrated. \u00a0Her published works \u00a0include over 40 short stories, 5 novels, 3 works of nonfiction, and one children’s book.<\/p>\n

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Eudora Welty House Museum in Jackson, Mississippi \u00a0http:\/\/mdah.state.ms.us\/welty\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Eudora Welty Foundation http:\/\/eudorawelty.org\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Timeline of Eudora Alice Welty\u2019s Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

April 13, 1909 \u2013 Eudora born in Jackson, Mississippi, at 741 N Congress Street<\/p>\n

1912 \u2013 Brother Edward Welty born<\/p>\n

1915 \u2013 Brother Walter Welty born<\/p>\n

1925 \u2013 Graduates from Jackson\u2019s Central High School<\/p>\n

1925-27 \u2013 Attends Mississippi State College for Women, Columbus, Mississippi<\/p>\n

1927-29 \u2013 Attends and graduates from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin<\/p>\n

1930-31 \u2013 Attends Columbia University School of Business<\/p>\n

1931 \u2013 Christian Webb Welty, Eudora Welty\u2019s father, dies<\/p>\n

1931-34 \u2013 Eudora works in Jackson at WJDX radio station<\/p>\n

1933-35 \u2013 Eudora writes Jackson society columns for the Memphis Commercial-Appeal<\/em><\/p>\n

1936 \u2013 Eudora publishes her first stories, \u201cDeath of a Traveling Salesman\u201d and \u201cMagic,\u201d in Manuscript <\/em>magazine, has a one-woman photographic exhibit in New York City, and works for the Works Progress Administration<\/p>\n

1937 \u2014 Eudora has a second photographic exhibit in New York city and travels to Mexico with three Jackson friends<\/p>\n

1937-39 \u2013 Eudora publishes ten stories in the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, River<\/em><\/p>\n

1939 \u2013 Eudora works for the Mississippi Advertising Commission<\/p>\n

1940 \u2013 Diarmuid Russell becomes Eudora Welty\u2019s agent<\/p>\n

1941 \u2013 Eudora publishes stories in the Atlantic Monthly<\/em> and Harper\u2019s Bazaar<\/em>. Her first book of stories, A Curtain of Green<\/em>, is published<\/p>\n

1942 \u2013 The Robber Bridegroom<\/em><\/p>\n

1943 \u2013 The Wide Net<\/em><\/p>\n

1944 \u2013 Eudora works for several months as a copy editor and staff reviewer for the New York Times<\/em> Book Review<\/p>\n

1946 \u2013 Delta Wedding<\/em><\/p>\n

1946-47 \u2013 Eudora has two extended stays in San Francisco<\/p>\n

1949 \u2013 The Golden Apples<\/em><\/p>\n

1949-50 \u2013 Eudora travels through Europe on a Guggenheim Fellowship<\/p>\n

1951 \u2013 Eudora spends a few months in England and Ireland<\/p>\n

1952 \u2013 Elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters<\/p>\n

1954 \u2013 Eudora lectures at Cambridge University in England and publishes The Ponder Heart<\/em><\/p>\n

1955 \u2013 The Bride of the Innisfallen<\/em>; Eudora receives Howell\u2019s Medal from Academy of Arts and Letters<\/p>\n

1956 \u2013 Jerome Chodorov\u2019s and Joseph Fields\u2019s dramatization of The Ponder Heart<\/em> runs on Broadway<\/p>\n

1959 \u2013 Eudora\u2019s brother Walter dies<\/p>\n

1963 \u2013 Eudora publishes \u201cWhere is the Voice Coming From?\u201d in The New Yorker<\/em><\/p>\n

1966 \u2013 Eudora\u2019s mother Chestina and her brother Edward die<\/p>\n

1966 \u2013 \u201cThe Demonstrators\u201d appears in The New Yorker<\/em><\/p>\n

1969 \u2013 \u201cThe Optimist\u2019s Daughter\u201d appears in The New Yorker<\/em><\/p>\n

1970 \u2013 Eudora publishes Losing Battles<\/em>, a novel begun in 1955<\/p>\n

1971 \u2013 Eudora\u2019s book of photographs, One Time, One Place<\/em>, is published, and she is elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters<\/p>\n

1972 \u2013 The Optimist\u2019s Daughter<\/em> in revised and expanded form is published, and Eudora receives the Gold Medal for Fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters<\/p>\n

1973 \u2013 The Optimist\u2019s Daughter<\/em> receives a Pulitzer Prize; the state of Mississippi establishes May 2 as Eudora Welty Day<\/p>\n

1974 \u2013 Eudora travels through Italy and France<\/p>\n

1976 \u2013 Alfred Uhry\u2019s dramatization of The Robber Bridegroom<\/em> runs on Broadway<\/p>\n

1978 \u2013 The Eye of the Story<\/em><\/p>\n

1979 \u2013 Artist-in-residence, British Studies Program, Associated Colleges of the South, held at Oxford University<\/p>\n

1980 \u2013 The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty<\/em>; Eudora receives Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter<\/p>\n

1983 \u2013 Eudora delivers the William E. Massey Sr Lectures in the History of American Civilization<\/em> at Harvard University<\/p>\n

1984 \u2013 One Writer\u2019s Beginnings<\/em>; Eudora travels to England and Italy<\/p>\n

1986 \u2013 Eudora receives National Medal of the Arts<\/p>\n

1990 \u2013 Travels to London<\/p>\n

1991 \u2013 Norton Book of Friendship<\/em>, co-edited with Ronald A Sharp<\/p>\n

1996 \u2013 Receives French Legion of Honor in ceremony held at the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson<\/p>\n

1998 \u2013 The Library of America<\/em> publishes two volumes of Eudora\u2019s fiction and non-fiction, making her the first living writer whose works have become part of this distinguished series<\/p>\n

2001 \u2013 Eudora Welty dies July 23<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Burton posting from Jackson, Mississippi \u2013 I heard a little inside story about Eudora Welty today but I can\u2019t say who told it. It may or may not be true; but it could be. The story goes like this: Eudora didn\u2019t go to the beauty parlor every week like some women do; but when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4586,1580],"tags":[1652,1649,1612,1650,1651,1648,1610,1654,3077,1645,1643,1359,1644,1655,1653,1646,1647],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6082"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15546,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6082\/revisions\/15546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}