Eudora Welty: Riffing On The U.S. South In The Key Of Chekhov: A Literary Seminar By Mark Scarbrough

Combining the sharp gaze of a photographer, the diagnostics of a country doctor, and the craft of a master storyteller, Eudora Welty quietly carved out a spot in canonical literature and rejuvenated our notions of realism by instilling her fictions with myth and interiority, the outs and ins of consciousness. Her plots are meditative, careful, almost soundless, a contemplative anecdote to our rush-rush world. Her characters are deeply drawn, a cluster of conflicting gestures and attitudes. To experience her work at its fullest, we’ll read four of her novels (one, actually a novel in connected stories). These trace her art from fairy tale to social realism, from an unquestioned racialist imagination to a deeper understanding of the human capacity for violence and love. Join us as we explore the works of a dominant voice of the U. S. South, lacking the fireworks of Faulkner, connected both to Russian traditions and our own history.

Registration is required.

In-person only.

The Reading Schedule:

9/24/2024        THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM (1942)

10/1/2024        DELTA WEDDING (1946), chapters I – IV

10/8/2024        DELTA WEDDING (1946), chapter V – VII

10/15/2024      THE PONDER HEART (1954)

10/22/2024      THE GOLDEN APPLES (1949), “Shower Of Gold” and “June Recital”

10/29/2023      THE GOLDEN APPLES (1949), “Sir Rabbit,” “Moon Lake,” and “The Whole World Knows”

11/5/2024       THE GOLDEN APPLES (1949), “Music From Spain” and “The Wanderers”

11/12/2024      THE OPTIMIST’S DAUGHTER (1972)