A Curtain of Green: and Other Stories

The book arrived on time and in very good condition.

Just as many of my fellow residents of the Jackson, Mississippi area, I became accustomed to occasionally seeing Miss Welty around town, particularly at the English Village Jitney Jungle grocery. Despite this and the general recognition that she is one of the great authors, I never read much of her work. Early on I developed a suspicion of anything which literature teachers and professors told me that I should read and particularly things they said that I had to read. In my later years I have gone back and read some of that material and have enjoyed some of it. Enjoyed it mainly because I did not follow the lit. teachers' plan of reading a stanza or two of something such as The Rime Of the Ancient Mariner then spending an hour discussing it and thinking about it. I don't know about everyone else, but it does not take me weeks to read and comprehend the Ancient Mariner.Unfortunately, despite avoiding lit. teachers' methods, I did not enjoy this collection of stories despite my desire to do so. Miss Welty definitely had a way with words but I require more from a story than the artistry of the language and the drawing of characters. The truth is, most of these stories bored me. I found them to be plotless and pointless. I simply do not understand those who say that I should ponder their meaning. I belong to the "if you have something to say, say it" school of communication.

I became acquainted with Miss Welty this year while searching for a topic for a term paper. I will be forever thankful. I cannot believe that I had been sadly oblivious to her wonderful stories previously. These are wonderful stories written for everyone. Eudora Welty makes simplicity transcendent.

Did not get to read it yet, but will let everyone know when I'm finished. I do like the author that is why I rated it at all.

I gave up after the first six stories. I call them stories, but they were so ambiguous that ‘story’ is the wrong word. In an avalanche of similes and over description, we’re introduced to a weird character, drift on to another weird character, then a third and a fourth, then the narrative stops. Tedious, pointless, and annoying.

I am not particularly fond of short stories, in general. Most of the time I finish them with a shrug and a `so what?' I know there are some great short stories. I find it hard to define what makes one, but I know easily when I read one, or when I read a story that isn't great.Starting Eudora Welty's collected short stories in the LoA edition, one begins with her first published story book, A Curtain of Green. The stories were all previously published in magazines during the late 1930s and early 40s. There is an introduction by Katherine Anne Porter (whom I know only by name, but she seems to have been some kind of a mentor) saying that EW wrote naturally, without being spoiled by a formal kind of training in writing, and had no problem getting published. Possibly that was what kept her from becoming a better writer in young years. I mean the lack of difficulties to find a publisher, not the lack of training. I am quite willing to believe that training in writing is not a promising activity.She was a Mississippian with some outside experience, but she chose to return and live at home. She reached a good age and a Pulitzer and was, as I am told, the first writer to be in the LoA during lifetime. The stories are all about small town life in Mississippi. Most are 3rd person narratives, but there are also some 1st person tales.The subjects are mostly the same as in other Southern Gothic collections: simple minds (if female, easy prey...), handicapped people (the deaf and mute couple on their honey moon missing their train to Niagara Falls...), freaks (a black clubfooted man in a show, playing an Indian woman who eats chickens alive - that kind of thing), picturesquely dysfunctional families (the woman who sleeps in her post office, to show her family that she does not need them...), decayed gentry (the mad sisters with the mad brother and the vegetable father...), mindless violence (the hitchhiker killing his travel companion because he bragged and carried a gittar around...), stupidity (ubiquitous).But there are also better ones, like the title story, about the green curtain. A woman, struggling to live with her husband's death by accident, has a moment of hatred for fate and of attempting revenge against the world.Or the story called Whistle, one of the best here, in my opinion: the dirt poor farmer couple who burns their furniture in a rage, for firewood. These two show that there might be much more than average `Southern Gothic' coming up, later.In other words, all in all I expected more. The language is also not particularly original or otherwise striking.Maybe one should stay away from collected stories and restrict one's curiosity to selected ones. Of course that runs the risk involved in trusting somebody else's selection criteria.I am sure, somehow, that better things are down the road.

I have slowly developed a taste for Southern Gothic writing. And I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I only recently came upon Eudora Welty. Ironically, I seem to enjoy the foremost female writers more than Faulkner, who seems to be the most recognized and the standard bearer for Southern Gothic. I have thoroughly enjoyed Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, and, with Flannery O'Connor as my personal favorite. I also enjoy Truman Capote's Southern Gothic writing more than Faulkner. I can't quite explain why I prefer all of these writers to Faulkner. I also prefer all of the above to Erskine Caldwell.Thus far I have found Eudora Welty's short stories to be completely enjoyable and on a par with the above named females and Truman Capote. I do understand what other reviewers have said about reading short stories and left with a feeling of ambiguity. I sometimes share that feeling. And thus far I have only read one novel by Eudora Welty, that being "Delta Wedding". I only felt lukewarm about Delta Wedding. But I have really enjoyed these short stories. I am not sure I can choose a favorite. There are different times when Miss Welty reminds me of each of the above named authors. Anyway, as far as Eudora Welty, I am next reading "The Wide Net And Other Stories". Thank You...