Poor Eyes

When Eudora Welty (1909 -- 2001) embarked on the story that would become "The Optimist's Daughter", she faced great difficulty in choosing a suitable title. At various times, she considered options such as "Poor Eyes", "An Only Child", "Baltimore", and even "The Flickering Light of Vision". Her editor at the "New Yorker" and close friend, William Maxwell, strongly urged her to retain her original title. In a letter dated January 29, 1968, Maxwell wrote: "I am still partial to 'The Optimist's Daughter', because, by its ironic tone, it suggests a certain distance between the writer and the woman in the story, and because it also, again by its irony, suggests, matches, somehow, the full horror of the subject matter". Welty heeded Maxwell's advice and kept the original title. "The Optimist's Daughter" was first published as a story in the "New Yorker" in 1969 and later, in an expanded form, as a novel in 1972. In 1973, Welty was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this book.

Maxwell was indeed correct about the irony in the title, especially when considering the relationship between the primary character, Laurel McKelva, and her father, Judge Clint McKelva. However, Welty's struggle in deciding on a title indicates the multi-faceted nature of this dense and tightly-written short work. Unusually for Welty, "The Optimist's Daughter" contains strong autobiographical elements. She interrupted her work on a longer project in 1966 to write this story following the death of her mother. The character of Becky McKelva, Laurel's mother who was raised in West Virginia and became Judge McKelva's first wife, appears to be closely modeled after Welty's own mother. One of the major themes of "The Optimist's Daughter" is coming to terms with grief and moving forward in life.

The story is mainly set in New Orleans and the small town of Mount Salus, Mississippi in the early 1960s. There are also short but significant scenes that take place in West Virginia and Baltimore. At the beginning of the book, Judge McKelva is in New Orleans consulting with his friend, a prominent ophthalmologist, about an eye problem. With him are his second wife, Fay, who is 40 and has been married to him for about two years, and his widowed daughter, Laurel, in her mid-40s. Laurel works as an artistic designer in Chicago and has returned to be with her father upon learning of his illness. After a serious eye operation, Judge McKelva ultimately collapses and passes away. Fay and Laurel then return to Mount Salus for the funeral.

The book progresses slowly and deliberately in both the New Orleans and Mount Salus sections of the story. Laurel is a thoughtful and reserved person who grieves deeply for her father and for her own life and tragedies. She became a widow when her husband was killed in World War II. Fay, on the other hand, is egotistical, earthy, insensitive, crude, and dishonest. Although she tells Laurel that she has no remaining family except for a grandfather, her mother and relatives from Texas arrive in Mount Salus for the funeral. Welty emphasizes the contrast between the brash and vulgar Texas family of Fay and the reserved ladies of Mount Salus, who are lifelong friends of the Judge and Laurel. Welty devotes a significant amount of space to describing the events leading up to and including the funeral, with much character discussion of Fay and her family, as well as the Mississippians. The relationship between Fay and the McKelva's reminds me of the relationship between the established and wealthy Ponder family and the trashy Peacock family, also connected by marriage, in an earlier Welty short novel called "The Ponder Heart".

"The Optimist's Daughter" is a highly internalized work. There is little in the way of overt action. The climax of the work occurs when Laurel spends three days mostly alone in the old family home after her father's funeral. Surrounded by reminders of her youth, Laurel reflects on her father's life and death, as well as on the death of her mother, Becky, who grew up in West Virginia. Becky died after a long, painful, and delirious illness. Laurel also reflects on the brief period of happiness she had with her husband, Phil.
The writing throughout is concise, precise, and evocative, making extensive use of nature symbolism. Welty focuses on how Laurel comes to understand her life and her relationship with Fay. Despite all of Fay's crudity, Welty does not completely reject her but shows her with a degree of sympathy. And Laurel comes to an understanding of herself. She is able to move forward with the rest of her life with a sense of meaning and hope for the future.
"The Optimist's Daughter" explores themes of differences among people, past and present, loss and moving on with a high degree of wisdom, subtlety, and humor. The book consists of only a few scenes, but they are developed in great detail with remarkable artistry. This is an outstanding novel that merits close reading by an important American author. I was inspired to read this book by reading a recent collection of correspondence between Welty and William Maxwell, edited by Suzanne Marrs, titled "What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell". Maxwell's letter to Welty about the title of the book, discussed earlier in this review, is taken from Marrs' edition of the letters.
Robin Friedman

Tried to read this one a year or so ago and just couldn't get into it. I really made an effort back then, but for some reason, it just didn't capture my attention. So, I put it aside.

However, I decided to give it another shot now. I persevered and got to page 50. But as I read on, I found that I just had no interest in hearing any more about these people. Their stories didn't engage me at all. In fact, I really disliked one of them. Maybe it was their personality, or the way they were portrayed. I don't know.

Anyway, at that point, I thought enough was enough. I didn't want to waste any more of my time on this book. So, I closed it and moved on to something else. It's a shame really, because I had high hopes for it at first. But sometimes, you just have to accept that a book isn't for you.

Once again, a novel about rural life in Central America. Once again, a simple and powerful narrative. Thanks to dear Banushka, I learned about this book. At the beginning of the summer, this was one of the thousand books I borrowed from Banu (yes, unfortunately, I don't have any books of my own. Or rather, it's more accurate to say that my eyes can't get enough).

Coming to the book; Judge McKelva is having surgery for a problem in his eye, but things don't go as expected and after a long hospital process, he loses his life. The book takes place in a period from the judge's going to the hospital to three days after his funeral. From the moment he goes to the hospital, we witness the tension and opposition between his second wife Fay and his daughter Laurel from his first wife. From the beginning of the book, Fay also has an incredible nervousness. Constantly interfering in conversations, stinging, creating events. Laurel, on the other hand, is a monument of complete cold-bloodedness. While the judge and his family are among the prominent people of a small Mississippi town, it becomes clear that the family that Fay reveals at the funeral is from a much lower stratum of society. Fay's inferiority complex, her greed, and her constant attempt to show herself begin to make sense. Laurel's cold-bloodedness is torn apart because of a breadboard. The speeches made at the funeral, the people's self-promotion, and the glorifications and false memories about the deceased are so familiar. Everyone's different description of the deceased person, the scattering of memories into the air as if trying to dispel that dark atmosphere, always blurred but also aimed at making people laugh. Laurel also explodes at one point by saying, "Since when have you been laughing behind their backs? Are you going to talk about them as if you were telling jokes now?" Cold-bloodedness also has its limits. The best part of the book is not to give all the information to the reader or to introduce the characters. It is to make the reader witness the events that are happening at that time like an observer. From the judge, his daughter, and his wife's entering Doctor Courtland's examination room to Laurel's leaving her family home, the reader is only in the position of an observer. The author does not try to pour out the fate of any character. Everything we see and witness at that time is all there is. But this witnessing is not a cold witnessing, but also emotional. As a result, with its calm narrative, Eudora Welty keeps us inside the novel from the beginning to the end, makes us witness the events directly, but until the end of the book (and even after it ends), it takes our minds into the palm of her hand.

Welty's novel truly has spunk.

At the beginning of a narrative that appears to be centered around an old man's dying, I was horrified by the new wife's character. My initial thought was that this book would be an ensemble cast narrative of a specific Southern community, offering somewhat comic but lightweight reading. However, as the book progresses, the structure undergoes a transformation.

From a narrative abundant with dialogue, there is a deepening of the layers in the later passages regarding the optimist's daughter. There is also much prose that delicately probes the fabric of memory and a child's relationship with both her birth mother and her father. Just when you assume that the introspection is where the book will conclude, Welty surprises with some sharp and dramatic prose that brings the book full circle.

I really relished this novel and its stylistic departures. They bestowed upon it a rich and fulfilling feel, almost as if the author was saying: "Oh, you think you're reading one kind of book. How about this? And that?" I have a penchant for reading the work of complex literary minds where the essence lies in the details. It instills a sense of optimism about what literature does and can achieve without relying on templates that seem artificial. :) I would definitely read this again.

The Optimist's Daughter was originally written as a short story and was then published as a novel in 1972. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973.

The story centers around Laurel Hand, an architect from Mississippi who now lives in Chicago. She travels to New Orleans where her father, Judge Clinton McKelva, is being treated for an eye problem. Sadly, Laurel's mother, Becky, had died of an eye ailment 10 years earlier, and her husband had also passed away during the war. Death seems to haunt her. Tragically, her father does not survive the eye operation.

Judge McKelva had remarried a young woman named Fay, who is younger than Laurel. Fay is, in my opinion, completely unlikable and perhaps a gold digger. Fay and Laurel return to the Mississippi town of Mount Salus to arrange the funeral. We get to read about the funeral and its aftermath in this small Southern town.

The story incorporates some autobiographical elements. Welty's own mother had recently passed away, and some of the men in the story are modelled after her uncles. The six women who comfort Laurel after her father's death are based on friends of Welty's mother.

The book was sometimes confusing for me as there were many characters to keep track of, such as Fay's family and all the neighbors in Mount Salus, Mississippi. However, like all books that are hard to read, I still wanted to finish it to see how it ended.

It seems that Laurel's visit to her hometown opens up new insights for her, which is a good ending. Overall, I would rate this book 3 stars.

This was an almost perfect little Southern novel and a joy to read.

It was truly a gem that transported the reader into the unique world of the South. The story was richly detailed and filled with vivid characters that came to life on the pages.

This is the second of Welty's novels that I have read after THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM. Both have left a lasting impression on me, and I am eager to explore more of her works.

In fact, I am looking forward to digging into her collected stories. I have a feeling that there are many more wonderful literary treasures waiting for me to discover.

Welty is a writer who belongs in the worthy company of Faulkner, Hurston, and O'Connor, among many others in the Southern literary canon. Her writing style is distinct and captivating, and she has a remarkable ability to capture the essence of the South and its people.

Overall, I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves Southern literature or is simply looking for a great read. It is a book that will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.

I didn't get it.

The story seems to jump around randomly, lacking a coherent and logical flow.

The characters are merely described on a superficial level, without delving deep into their personalities, motives, and inner conflicts.

It makes me wonder what I'm missing, especially since this work is regarded as a classic and has even won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

Perhaps I need to read it again with a more open mind and a deeper understanding of the context and literary techniques.

Maybe there are hidden meanings and subtleties that I failed to notice the first time around.

Or perhaps my own expectations and preconceptions are getting in the way of my appreciation of the work.

Whatever the reason, I'm determined to give it another chance and try to uncover the true essence and value of this supposed classic.

I know precisely what it feels like to lose one's father. The pain is profound, just as Laurel, the daughter of the optimist, experiences when her father passes away.

However, unlike Laurel, I have no idea what it would be like if my mother were to die and, a few years later, my widowed father were to marry a woman younger than me, a woman who is seemingly quite selfish and vulgar.

Welty is truly a master at capturing the perfect essence of the small southern town. In this town, everyone knows and loves Laurel and Judge McKelva, her father. The neighbors and friends are like family. But they haven't made much of an effort to like Fay, the judge's new wife. Fay simply isn't likeable, and disliking her has become a sport that almost everyone in town can partake in.

Laurel has to contend not only with the death of her beloved father but also with the wife who attempts to obliterate the memory of Laurel's mother and who creates hysterical scenes at extremely inappropriate times. This book is indeed a treasure and a worthy recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. I would rate it 4.5 stars.

Outliving is an experience that we all go through.

The fantasies of dying can be just as strange as the fantasies of living. In fact, surviving might be the strangest fantasy of them all.

It was an emotionally tumultuous weekend for me. There were moments when I felt like giving up, when the weight of my emotions seemed too heavy to bear. But here I am, still standing.

I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that I have the strength within me to face whatever comes my way.

Surviving is not just about staying alive; it's about finding meaning and purpose in life, even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty.

So, I will continue to hold on, to keep fighting, and to believe that better days are ahead.

Simples is a remarkable work that presents characters with great density and vividness.

Each character in the story is crafted with such detail and nuance that they seem to leap off the page.

The author has a unique ability to bring these characters to life, making them feel like real people with their own hopes, dreams, fears, and flaws.

Whether it's the protagonist, who undergoes a profound transformation throughout the narrative, or the supporting characters who add depth and complexity to the story, every single one is a fully realized individual.

The vividness of the characters not only makes the story more engaging and interesting but also allows the readers to form a deep emotional connection with them.

As the story unfolds, we find ourselves rooting for the characters, sharing in their joys and sorrows, and ultimately being moved by their experiences.

In conclusion, the characters in Simples are a testament to the author's skill and creativity, and they are one of the many reasons why this work is a must-read.

Memory is a fascinating and complex aspect of our lives. It doesn't simply reside in the initial act of possessing something or experiencing an event. Instead, it truly comes alive in the freed hands, those hands that have let go, pardoned, and been set free from the burdens and attachments of the past.

It also dwells within the heart, that remarkable organ which has the capacity to empty itself of old memories and emotions, yet fill again with new ones.

Our memories are not static; they evolve and change as we do. When we release the hold of the past and allow ourselves to be pardoned and freed, we open up the possibility for new memories to take root and grow.

The heart, with its ability to empty and fill again, is like a fertile soil that nurtures these memories, making them a part of who we are.

In this way, memory becomes a beautiful and ever-evolving tapestry that weaves together the story of our lives.

I truly relished this short novel, which has become my new favorite "genre"! It is penned by one of my beloved authors. The writing is so vivid that it transports me right into the scene as "the daughter", Laurel, journeys to New Orleans to be with her father during his eye surgery. There is also the absurd young new wife of Judge McKelva. Sadly, the Judge never recovers and passes away after a while. Together, they travel to the Mississippi town where Laurel grew up for the funeral, a quintessential southern event. At times, it is comic, perhaps even tragi-comic, like when the new wife's poor white trash family shows up at the funeral. And it is also poignant, as Laurel discovers objects in the home that send her back in time, enabling her to truly understand her past and let go of it before returning to her home in Chicago. Welty manages to create a whole world to experience within just 180 pages.

Why I'm reading this: One of my favorite groups, On The Southern Literary Trail, is reading this by one of my favorite authors. I'm reading it in a collection of Welty's novels, so perhaps this will be the summer of Welty? Complete Novels: The Robber Bridegroom, Delta Wedding, The Ponder Heart, Losing Battles, The Optimist's Daughter