Eudora Welty

Carol Ann Johnston (Dickinson College)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

At the center of Eudora Welty's first published story, “Death of a Traveling Salesman”, Bowman, the bachelor businessman, suddenly understands both his years of loneliness and the relationship between the older man and the girl who have rescued him from his wrecked car. He sees there: “A marriage, a fruitful marriage. That simple thing. Anyone could have had that.” This crucial moment augurs the “fruitful” subject that permeates Welty's fiction: the intimate and often strange relationships within families. Welty is the twentieth-century master of her subject, and the century's most gifted and radical practitioner of the short story. She won most of the major literary prizes during her career, including the Pulitzer Prize and the French

Légion d'Honneur

. Only the Nobel Prize…

2144 words

Citation: Johnston, Carol Ann. "Eudora Welty". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 July 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5148, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5148 Eudora Welty 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.