Eudora Welty (1909-2001)
A selective list of online literary criticism for the American short-story writer, autobiographer, and novelist Eudora Welty, including signed articles by recognized scholars, peer and editor reviewed articles, and web sites that follow MLA guidelines for web pages.
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introduction & lighter reading
"Remembering Eudora Welty." Transcript of a discussion on Eudora Welty with professor Suzanne Mars and author Richard Bausch. PBS Newshour, 24 July 2001.
"Eudora Welty," ed. Jennifer L. Randisi. A Teacher's Guide to Eudora Welty from textbook publisher Heath.
"Eudora Welty's life and a bibliography." The Eudora Welty Newsletter at Georgia State U.
Resources for teaching Welty's A Ponder Heart, and A Eudora Welty timeline, from PBS.
"Happy Birthday, Miss Welty." Article on the occasion of Welty's 90th birthday takes up the subject of the mystery of her private life. Salon.com.
A special NY Times page on Eudora Welty contains many links to original Times reviews of her novels, beginning with A Curtain of Green in 1941 [registration required].
"Eudora Welty." A web site has information about Welty's novels and short stories. Ed. Dr. Peter King, Oxford U.
A short obituary summarizes Eudora Welty's career, from CNN.
Johnston, Carol Ann. An introduction to Eudora Welty from the Literary Encyclopedia 18 July 2002 [subscription service].
Donohue, Cecilia. Delta Wedding, at the Literary Encyclopedia 21 Dec. 2005 [subscription service].
literary criticism
Special Eudora Welty issue of the Mississippi Review contains 12 articles on Welty. Mississippi Review April 2009 [all free].
Champion, Laurie, ed. A review of The Critical Response to Eudora Welty's Fiction (Greenwood Press 1994). Reviewed in Studies in Short Fiction Summer 1996, by Robert M. Luscher.
Eichelberger, Julia. A review of Prophets of Recognition: Ideology and the Individual in Novels by Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Saul Bellow, and Eudora Welty (Louisiana State UP 1999). Reviewed in African American Review Winter 2000, by Michael Kreyling.
Entzminger, Betina. "Playing in the dark with Welty: The symbolic role of African Americans in Delta Wedding." College Literature Summer 2003.
Ford, Sarah. "The Death of the Author: Eudora Welty's Canonical Status." Southern Quarterly Spring 2004.
Fuller, Stephen M. "Memory's narrative gossamer: configurations of desire in Eudora Welty's 'A Memory.'" Studies in Short Fiction Fall 1998.
Johnston, Carol Ann. A review of Eudora Welty: A Study of the Short Fiction (Twayne 1997). Reviewed in Studies in Short Fiction Summer 1997, by Jennifer Thomas.
Kaplansky, Leslie A. "Cinematic rhythms in the short fiction of Eudora Welty." Studies in Short Fiction Fall 1996.
Patterson, Laura Sloan. "Sexing the Domestic: Eudora Welty's Delta Wedding and the Sexology Movement." Southern Quarterly Winter 2004.
Weston, Ruth D. A review of Gothic Traditions and the Narrative Techniques of Eudora Welty (Louisiana State UP 1994). Notes the reviewer, "A major but sometimes elusive twentieth-century artist, Eudora Welty has been well served by a spate of recent booklength studies, none of which is more impressive than Ruth D. Weston's Gothic Traditions and Narrative Techniques in the Fiction of Eudora Welty." Reviewed in Studies in Short Fiction Spring 1996 by Will Brantley.
A Worn Path
Moberly, Kevin. Toward the north star: Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" and the slave narrative tradition. Mississippi Quarterly Winter 2005.
The top 50 hits on Google for Eudora Welty A Worn Path are almost without exception plagiarism sites, which are less than worthless. Obviously teachers are assigning this short story, and students are looking online for information. We could find only one credible free article on "A Worn Path" on the internet, given above, but there are plenty of good, peer-reviewed, reliable articles available at your college library. They are free there too. If you don't attend a university, your local library can get you these articles through Interlibrary Loan, which is also free. Here is a list of recent articles on "A Worn Path," ask your librarian to help you find them:
Mistletoe in Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path' By: Piwinski, David J.; ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews, 2003 Winter; 16 (1): 40-42.
Same Path, Different Purpose: Chopin's La Folle and Welty's Phoenix Jackson By: Nixon, Timothy K.; Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2003 Dec; 32 (8): 937-56.
The Real Plight: Lye Poisoning in 'A Worn Path' By: Deakins, Melissa; Eudora Welty Newsletter, 2002 Summer; 26 (2): 13-17.
Phoenix Jackson, William Wallace, and King MacLain: Welty's Mythic Travelers By: Owen, Jim; Southern Literary Journal, 2001 Fall; 34 (1): 29-43.
Phoenix Has No Coat: Historicity, Eschatology, and Sins of Omission in Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path' By: Bethea, Dean; International Fiction Review, 2001; 28 (1-2): 32-41.
Vision and Revelation in Eudora Welty's Fiction and Photography By: Martin, Matthew R.; Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, 2000 Summer; 38 (4): 17-26.
Welty's 'A Worn Path' By: Sykes, Dennis J.; Explicator, 1998 Spring; 56 (3): 151-53.
Eudora Welty's Too Far to Walk It-Out Farther Still? A Correction By: Pollack, Harriet; South Central Review, 1997 Fall-Winter; 14 (3-4): 114-16.
Photographic Convention and Story Composition: Eudora Welty's Uses of Detail, Plot, Genre, and Expectation from 'A Worn Path' through The Bride of the Innisfallen By: Pollack, Harriet; South Central Review, 1997 Summer; 14 (2): 15-34.
Errands of Love: A Study in Black and White By: Gardner, Joseph H.; The Kentucky Review, 1993 Autumn; 12 (1-2): 69-78.
'A Worn Path': The Eternal Quest of Welty's Phoenix Jackson By: Saunders, James Robert; Southern Literary Journal, 1992 Fall; 25 (1): 62-73.
'Unsettling Every Definition of Otherness': Another Reading of Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path' By: Orr, Elaine; South Atlantic Review, 1992 May; 57 (2): 57-72.
Welty's 'A Worn Path' and Walker's 'Everyday Use': Companion Pieces By: Byrne, Mary Ellen; Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 1989 May; 16 (2): 129-133.
A Nickel and Dime Matter: Teaching Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path' By: Robinson, David; Notes on Mississippi Writers, 1987; 19 (1): 23-27.
Love's Habit of Vision in Welty's Phoenix Jackson By: Walter, James; Journal of the Short Story in English, 1986 Autumn; 7: 77-85.
Phoenix Jackson and the Nice Lady: A Note on Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path' By: Dazey, Mary Ann; American Notes and Queries, 1979; 17: 92-93.
'A Worn Path': The Way of Dispossession By: Keys, Marilynn; Studies in Short Fiction, 1979; 16: 354-56.
Life and Death in Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path' By: Bartel, Roland; Studies in Short Fiction, 1977; 14: 288-90.
'A Worn Path' Retrod By: Daly, Saralyn R.; Studies in Short Fiction, 1964; 1: 133-139.
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