One Writer's Beginnings

Rating:
Summary: Tale of a Jackson Lady
Review: After reading this book, I can appreciate the loss the literary world must feel at the death of such a Southern lady this past Summer. Being from Jackson, Mississippi myself, I can understand her view of things in her world. From an educational standpoint, Welty experienced literacy at an early age. Influenced by her mother's love of literature, she became an avid reader who knew how to appreciate the world around her. Her descriptions of Jackson and her surroundings place me back at my home city, although there were seventy years between the time when she first came to know Jackson and the time when I did. Her use of language and tone contribute to her eloquence. The reader is taken on one individual's journey. Welty learns from listening to the stories that make up the life around her. This enhances her vision for the novels she will one day write. Characters are the result of family friends and relatives. When she is able to write all this down is when she finally "finds her voice", ending this brief autobiography. While reading this, I learned more about my own stories, and I consider this a must for any Welty fan who wants to know more about the writer behind the works.

Rating:
Summary: Eudora Welty
Review: Eudora Welty grew up in a time when the television seemed an impossibility and books were prized possessions, especially in the Welty family. School was strict, which meant tightly laced teachers who expected perfection and didn't mind using physical force to promote mistake free work. Between her parent's high expectations, the demands of her teachers and her insatiable hunger for books, Welty was destined to become a success.
In her book, One Writer's Beginnings, Welty uses anecdotes and childhood memories to explain not only the natural progression of events that lead her personally to become a writer, but also exactly what it takes to be a writer.
The book is split up into three distinct sections. The first if full of stories from her childhood. The second portion tells of her annual family expeditions from Mississippi to Virginia and finally to Ohio. These trips provided endless opportunities to practice her observational skills and collect scenes and memories that would later prove valuable in her writing. The third section comes closest to offering instructional writing advice.
If you are looking for a good read and an interesting autobiography, this book will meet your needs. Welty offers insights into the time period and uses language to make all of her characters seem attractive and important. I think that Welty intended this book to be an inspiration to aspiring writers though and, it is in that niche that it most serves its purpose.

Rating:
Summary: The Queen of Southern Writing
Review: Eudora Welty is considered one the the greatest fiction writers of the 20th century. Being from Mississippi myself, I am embarrassed to admit that until about four years ago, I had never read any of her work. After reading 'The Golden Apples' and 'The Optimist's Daughter,' I realized what a treasure I'd missed. 'One Writer's Beginnings' belongs in that treasure chest as well.

'One Writer's Beginnings' would probably be better appreciated by readers who have read at least a short story or two by the late Ms. Welty. (She passed away last year.) Her style and charm are obvious from the first page, but if this is the first contact a reader has had with Welty, he or she may not appreciate the book fully.

First of all, I should speak to what the book is NOT: It is not a how-to-be-a-writer book. It will not teach you how to tighten up your stories, how to plot, how to sell your stories, or anything else of a practical nature in the writing business. It is not a strict autobiography, although parts of Welty's life are described in detail. It is not a book to breeze through, even though it comes in at slightly over 100 pages.

What is the book? It is actually a series of three lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1983 when the writer was 74 years old. The three parts are titled as follows:

I. Listening - As a child, Welty spent many hours watching and listening to the people around her in Jackson, Mississippi. She carefully absorbed their stories and how they told them. She began to listen to and fall in love with words.

II. Learning to See - As she stepped outside of her home to visit relatives along with her parents, Welty makes some wonderful discoveries about her family in West Virginia and Ohio. Time is "a continuous thread of revelation."

III. Finding a Voice - This lecture is the payoff, describing how Welty evolved as a writer and how her characters came to life. "The frame through which I viewed the world changed too, with time. Greater than scene, I came to see, is situation. Greater than situation is implication. Greater than all of these is a single, entire human being, who will never be confined in any frame."

'One Writer's Beginnings' is an amazing, brief look at the long life of a writer and what made her a writer. Like all of Welty's works, it is not a book to be read quickly, but savored.

Rating:
Summary: The Queen of Southern Writing
Review: Eudora Welty is considered one the the greatest fiction writers of the 20th century. Being from Mississippi myself, I am embarrassed to admit that until about four years ago, I had never read any of her work. After reading 'The Golden Apples' and 'The Optimist's Daughter,' I realized what a treasure I'd missed. 'One Writer's Beginnings' belongs in that treasure chest as well.

'One Writer's Beginnings' would probably be better appreciated by readers who have read at least a short story or two by the late Ms. Welty. (She passed away last year.) Her style and charm are obvious from the first page, but if this is the first contact a reader has had with Welty, he or she may not appreciate the book fully.

First of all, I should speak to what the book is NOT: It is not a how-to-be-a-writer book. It will not teach you how to tighten up your stories, how to plot, how to sell your stories, or anything else of a practical nature in the writing business. It is not a strict autobiography, although parts of Welty's life are described in detail. It is not a book to breeze through, even though it comes in at slightly over 100 pages.

What is the book? It is actually a series of three lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1983 when the writer was 74 years old. The three parts are titled as follows:

I. Listening - As a child, Welty spent many hours watching and listening to the people around her in Jackson, Mississippi. She carefully absorbed their stories and how they told them. She began to listen to and fall in love with words.

II. Learning to See - As she stepped outside of her home to visit relatives along with her parents, Welty makes some wonderful discoveries about her family in West Virginia and Ohio. Time is "a continuous thread of revelation."

III. Finding a Voice - This lecture is the payoff, describing how Welty evolved as a writer and how her characters came to life. "The frame through which I viewed the world changed too, with time. Greater than scene, I came to see, is situation. Greater than situation is implication. Greater than all of these is a single, entire human being, who will never be confined in any frame."

'One Writer's Beginnings' is an amazing, brief look at the long life of a writer and what made her a writer. Like all of Welty's works, it is not a book to be read quickly, but savored.

Rating:
Summary: Pure Delight From a Southern Treasure!
Review: Eudora Welty shares stories about people, places and events that shaped the person, as well as the writer, she became. The "reading voice" she describes resonates clearly as you become involved in her work. Thank you for providing us with years of pleasure, and Happy Birthday, Ms. Welty!

Rating:
Summary: A Southern Jewel
Review: Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings is an autobiographical book about Welty's life in the South.
The lifestyle of the South opened Welty's eyes to everything she writes in her books. This book is divided into three sections, Listening, Learning to See, and Finding a Voice. Each section uses descriptive writing to take the reader into the author's voice, thoughts, and heart. In Listening, she allows the reader to hear every sound in the exact way she hears them. In Learning to See, Welty opens the reader's eyes to a life of growing up in the South and everything that accompanies it. In Finding a Voice, the author tells of the search she endeavored to find her voice as a Sothern writer.

This was an excellent book. Every word touched some part of my life, and I felt as if I could relate to Welty. I feel like I could listen to her voice for hours.

Rating:
Summary: A Southern Jewel
Review: Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings is an autobiographical book about Welty's life in the South.
The lifestyle of the South opened Welty's eyes to everything she writes in her books. This book is divided into three sections, Listening, Learning to See, and Finding a Voice. Each section uses descriptive writing to take the reader into the author's voice, thoughts, and heart. In Listening, she allows the reader to hear every sound in the exact way she hears them. In Learning to See, Welty opens the reader's eyes to a life of growing up in the South and everything that accompanies it. In Finding a Voice, the author tells of the search she endeavored to find her voice as a Sothern writer.

This was an excellent book. Every word touched some part of my life, and I felt as if I could relate to Welty. I feel like I could listen to her voice for hours.

Rating:
Summary: The Art Of Writing
Review: Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings is an excellently composed book about the writer's personal life, and her personal style of writing. Welty is a very eminent writer, whose many honors include the Pulitzer Prize, the American Book Award for fiction, and the Gold Medal for the Novel given for her entire work in fiction. Thus her book about her own personal development as a writer is extremely important, since it provides essential clues to her success. One Writer's Beginnings is mainly focused on Welty's life, commencing with her childhood, and how it had a significant effect on her writing. Mainly the book is composed of three main topics: listening, learning to see, and finding a voice. These topics explain Welty's personal development as a writer, and one should definitely read and consider each one of them. One Writer's Beginnins is an interesting book, containing potent intellectual and emotional qualities, and also educational themes.

One Writer's Beginnings' main themes are very elucidating, since they provide important clues to Welty's success as a writer. The book commences with Welty's early life and the description of her family. In this she starts her first main topic- "listening". She describes her interest in listening to others, and she learned to be an observer. As she states, "A conscious act grew out of this by the time I began to write stories: getting my distance... is the way I begin work." This enchantment of listening helped Welty develop a clear idea on how to compose stories, and how to describe different personalities. The next main topic is "learning to see", which describes her impressions of every place she visited. As Welty explains, every trip her family made helped her later to write her stories, since somewhere in the back of her head those stories were already composed and all she had to do is put them down on paper. Each trip changed Welty's life, making a sort of metamorphosis deep within her character, "They changed something in my life: each trip made its particular revelation." Finally the last main topic of her bibliography is "finding a voice". This part of the book is possibly the most important, since it contains information about the author's personal writing evolution. Here, one can learn about the character development and creation. All of these topics were colorfully described, and each had an essential piece of information which revealed Welty's development as a writer. Therefore, anyone who wishes to improve his writing abilities should read this book and learn more about these educational main themes in Welty's book.

Another powerful asset in One Writer's Beginnings is its intellectual qualities. The book is written in a simplistic way, and it retains high clarity. Even though the language is quite colorful, it is very easy to follow Welty's story. As for instance she writes, "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." The sentence is easy to read, and it still pertains important information about the author's writing years. Thus this positive quality gives this book a big plus, since it is much easier to learn new things from a book that is written in an understandable language.

The emotional qualities of the book provide a powerful effect on the reader's mind. Welty has an excellent writing style that is both poignant and interesting. She explains a number of emotional moments in her life, which touch the reader. As for instance, she describes the death of her older brother who died before she was born. Yet she still seems to be happy with her life, and all of her misfortunes seem to be just part of her life, and they do not change her love of life. Thus she is very optimistic, and this quality of the book makes it very interesting, since it teaches others not to despair but to enjoy our lives as they are. Also she describes her parent's infinite love for her. The book's emotional qualities help the reader feel closer to the writer, and this makes the book even more interesting.

One Writer's Beginnings is a resplendently composed book on Eudora Welty's life, which contains a simplicity of a parable, and educational themes of a novel. The book is mainly divided into three main pars, Listening, Learning To See, and Finding A Voice. Each of these main topics explain Welty's evolution as a writer, and provide important clues to her writing style. Everyone should definitely consider reading this book, and learning more about such an eminent writer as Eudora Welty. In the end, One Writer's Beginnings is an easy reading book, that can teach its readers many essential ideas and themes about writing. Thus everyone who has not read this book should consider reading this powerful work of literature.

Rating:
Summary: A Great work, beautiful Welty
Review: Growing up in Jackson, Ms and having seen some of the same things Ms. Welty has seen and experienced made this piece of literature that much more personal and meaningful to me. I think this work is a great example of beautiful writing and storytelling. It truly helps you understand what shaped Eudora to make her the literary master she was. This book shows us that literacy should play an important part in every home and school. If we immerse ourselves in literature, just look at what we could become.
I find that her division of the book into three sections extremely useful. You can focus on certain things in her writings to look for from the section headings. It was interesting to see her use such beautiful writing and description of everyday events. It makes them stand out and show exactly how these mundane things can shape individuals. Her use of her surroundings to inspire her and help her be creative and inventive inspires me to take a look around and see what I can build from.
This should be considered a great piece of literature. I can see her love of literature and language in her storytelling. The world has truly lost a great writer and individual.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Story Told
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. I just picked it up out of a pile, and I wasn't really looking forward to reading it because I actually never had heard of Eudora Welty. However, I am very glad to have read this book. It reminded me of my grandmother telling me of her life as a young person. Only Eudora explained her life in terms of what shaped her into becoming a writer. It's not like her journey of becoming a writer; it's more of a personal story of how it was just part of her, like destiny. I never heard of her before, but I have learned that she is a very famous author after reading this book.
I also enjoyed that as she reflects on her life, there is nothing sad, or depressing about it. It was a joyful, peaceful, educational, and supportive life for her. Her family was good to her, and she expresses her love for them in every word written about them. She is also very descriptive in this book, which I enjoyed as much as listening to a story told in person.