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Thaxton Studios has produced "Eudora," a companion volume to its new documentary of the same name about the life and work of Eudora Welty. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Nearly a quarter of a century after her death, Mississippi writer Eudora Welty remains as relevant as ever, as a new documentary and related book project make clear. Welty, who died at 92 in her native Jackson in 2001, has already been in the news in our part of the world.
“The Optimist’s Daughter,” a Welty novel set partly in New Orleans, was the Louisiana Book Festival’s One Book One Festival title this year. It’s also the latest selection for the Louisiana Inspired Book Club, which will feature a virtual discussion of the book at 12:15 p.m.
on Dec. 10. Readers can find more info at www.
nola.com/book_club . Meanwhile, fans can embrace Welty’s legacy through a new documentary and beautiful companion volume produced by Thaxton Studios and The Institute for Southern Storytelling at Mississippi College.
Eudora Welty is the subject of 'Eudora,' a new documentary about her life and work. “Eudora,” from the filmmaking team of Anthony and Amy Thaxton and Robert St. John, premieres Thursday, Nov.
14, at 7 p.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting, with several re-airings next weekend.
After its rollout, the documentary will be available on demand at mpbonline.org . The generously illustrated companion volume, also called “Eudora,” can be ordered from Lemuria Books, a Jackson shop that was one of Welty’s favorite haunts, at lemuriabooks.
com . Lemuria was one of the places where Welty practiced the art of being, as she famously called it, “locally underfoot.” She was a proud Jacksonian who became famous as the serene elder matron of Southern letters.
But as the new film makes clear, Welty was much more than a nice old lady. In the 1960s, as her beloved Mississippi roiled with violence during the Civil Rights Movement, Welty used her voice to affirm the ideal of shared humanity. I recently noticed that one Welty quote from “Eudora” had cropped up on social media, underlining how deeply her wisdom speaks to our own anguished season.
Here’s what Welty said about the nature of human progress: “When we learned to speak to and listen to rather than to strike or be struck by our fellow human beings, we found something worth keeping alive, worth possessing, for the rest of time.” For Welty, storytelling wasn’t merely entertainment, though it could often be a lot of fun. Stories, whether shared over a fence or through the magic of books, had the power to bring us together.
Welty’s ideas grew from a place where swapping tales is still a big part of the culture. “Eudora” brims with great anecdotes about her life and work. “Eudora liked to write in the morning,” says friend and biographer Suzanne Marrs.
“She liked to get up and start writing before she ever got out of her nightgown.” Welty didn’t miss a thing, whether it was the scent of honeysuckle or the chatter of insects, “a kind of audible twinkling, like a lowly starlight.” In our anxious times, Welty’s voice is a balm for the soul.
How nice to be reminded that it’s still around. Email Danny Heitman at [email protected] .
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