Cornflower Book Group - The Optimist's Daughter

 

    "Poignant, wise and economical" says Helen McNeil in her introduction to Eudora Welty's 1972 novel The Optimist's Daughter, and the book is all those things. Beautifully observed, and showing the sharpest ear for dialogue I've come across in a long time, it's a sad story with moments of great humour, thoughtful, moving - almost a writers' template, or at least a measure of high quality prose.

    Laurel has come home to Mount Salus as her father, the highly respected Judge McKelva, is having trouble with his sight. Attending the hospital consultation with the Judge and his new wife, the much younger Wanda Fay, Laurel finds it hard to understand her father's actions in marrying again - "what happened to [the Judge's] judgment?". As events run their course, and the family home becomes the focus for recollection and resolve, Laurel gains a new understanding of her upbringing and that reconciliation allows her to move on.

 

    I can see why Anne Tyler says Eudora Welty is, for her, "the model for how all writers ought to be," and I was greatly taken by the book's voice, its contained domestic setting, its perfectly judged detail, the depth of understanding of human nature it shows and the far-sightedness behind it. I loved the Judge, a man of presence and delicacy and "capacity for patience", though like Laurel and others I was baffled by his taking up with the dreadful Wanda Fay. I loved the book's Southern lilt, and lines and passages good enough to make me stop and savour them, for instance, Laurel remembers as a child arriving in West Virginia: "At their very feet had been the river. The boat came breasting out of the mist, and in they stepped. All new things in life were meant to come like that."

    For me, then, this book has been a wonderful discovery, and the first of what I hope will be a great deal by or about Eudora Welty. How about you?

Edited to add: for what to eat with The Optimist's Daughter click here, and the photograph of Eudora Welty reproduced as a postcard (above) comes from this set.

Comments

[Nancy]

I think you would also enjoy the book of black & white photographs taken by her - each, a story in itself (these are depression-era photos).

[Nancy]

The covers give an idea of her photos...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Eudora+Welty+photographs&x=0&y=0

http://www.abebooks.com/9780878055296/Eudora-Welty-Photographs-0878055290/plp

[Julie Fredericksen]

Karen, I am so happy that you liked this book and appreciated Welty's depth of understanding of human behavior and her ear for dialogue. (I don't know why I am always so inordinately pleased that you like an AMERICAN writer's book!)

You may find it strange that I, an American northerner born and bred (North Dakota) would feel compelled to address Welty's understanding and capture of the Southern eccentric (I will not go so far as some critics as to describe them as Southern grotesques).

It all goes back to the days when I was a student at the University of North Dakota, and a newly-arrived assistant (associate?) professor from all places, Mississippi. John Little was a good ol' Southern boy in the finest sense. He loved to drive around in Grand Forks' snowstorms with the top of his convertible down, with a six pack of beer at his side. Yes, that was illegal!

At least, that was his story. You may wonder at UND's wisdom of hiring Mr. Little, but he proved to be a fine English literature professor, and his greatest achievement at UND was the Writers' Conference, which he started and which brought well-known American writers to the UND campus. There were many genres or themes to the ensuing conferences, but the first, as you might imagine, was the Southern Writers' Conference, and then and there I was introduced to the best of American Southern writing. (With the exception, alas, of Ms. Welty).

The highlight of the conference was the keynote lecture/address by Truman Capote! How else would a little ND prairie gal have seen Capote in person, and at his very best, in my opinion?

This episode was one of the highlights of my life, so I hope you forgive me for going on and on about it.

As a PS, I will add that this book reminded me in some ways of To Kill A Mockingbird (with the exception of the judge's total lapse of judgment in regard to his second wife), especially in regard to the characters of the Finch's neighbors, Miss Maudie and Miss Stephanie. And of course, Atticus Finch. Like the judge's daughter, Harper Lee adored her attorney father, and surely modeled Atticus after her own beloved father.

[Cornflower]

Thankyou so much, Nancy. I love the idea that a great writer also had such a good eye (and the practical know-how) to be a photographer, too.

[Cornflower]

Wonderful, Julie, and thankyou for giving us this glimpse of what must have been a marvellous experience! It's no wonder it remains with you as a major moment.
I, too, thought of To Kill a Mockingbird (which may just be my favourite book in the world) when I was reading The Optimist's Daughter. Is it something in the water that made those Southern ladies such great writers?

[Dark Puss]

I somehow knew I'd be the lone voice of dissent here (again, sigh). I found the first part of the book really rather dull, I found much of the Southern "eccentrics" just too far out to give me pleasure (irritation more often); I was reminded of my negative reaction to some of the characters in Dickens here. I am in no position to say how realistic or otherwise their dialogue was. The book improves, for me, towards the end and I did like the contrasts drawn between what people wanted Judge McKelva to have been and what, perhaps, he actually was underneath the different sufrace he chose to show and people chose to see.

You are all very harsh about Wanda Fay and she is drawn in a uniformly poor light, but I thought that she was put in a very difficult position by the universal disapproval of Judge McKelva's desire for a younger woman that she clearly fulfilled. I doubt if I'd have liked her much either, but then that goes for many of the people who turned up at the wake too.

I am not expert enough to argue with the view that this book is "a writer's template", but just to say that template didn't produce a wonderful reading experience for me.

[Cornflower]

Sorry it wasn't more of a hit with you, DP. I quoted Anne Tyler's opinion of Eudora Welty in my post, and I seem to remember that when the CBG read her book "Breathing Lessons" you weren't overly taken with it, so perhaps that whole style/subject matter is just not to your taste. Thankyou for reading it anyway.

[Dark Puss]

Subject matter is fine, style I didn't enjoy. You are kind enough not to suggest that I am the literary equivalent of "tone deaf"!

[Susan in TX]

Take heart, Dark Puss. Born and bred in the South, I didn't care for it either. I could even put a real life identity with nearly every personality in the book, and still didn't care for it. It may be a character v. plot thing with me. I want there to be more "story" to a novel than this one had. And, I'm not a real big fan of Ann Tyler either, so it could be style as well. I am grateful for the exposure, though. Not sure I would've picked this one up if not for the group selection.

[Robin]

Karen, it's so interesting to read your thoughts on this book, and also all the comments you are receiving. I listened to the audiobook of The Optimist's Daughter a few years ago, read by Eudora Welty herself, and loved it. Listening to "Miss Eudora" read was a beautiful experience in itself! I wrote a short post about it here:
http://afondnessforreading.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/the-optimists-daughter-2/

[Cornflower]

You're quite right about the lack of story, Susan, and I know that's not to everyone's taste. Very interesting to hear the views of a Southerner, and as with DP, thanks for persevering.

[Cornflower]

I'd love to hear the lady herself reading the book!
Thankyou for the link to your own post, Robin - that passage you've quoted was one of my favourites, too, duly noted down to go back to (I was thinking of using it for a "Good lines" post some time as it's so lovely).

[Robin]

Karen, have you seen this new book about Eudora Welty's garden? It's a beautiful, beautiful book, full of wonderful family history and photos, garden history and photos, and with so much about how the garden inspired Eudora's writing. If you haven't seen it, or read it yet, it's a real treat. I wrote about it recently on my other blog:
http://grovereader.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/inspired-by-miss-eudora/

[Dark Puss]

Karen, I'm sure I've missed it but what is the next book? I have two long flights coming up next week and although I'll be both working and thinking (and maybe sleeping) it would be a good occasion to read July's book. P

[Dark Puss]

Good heavens! Thought I'd be a lone dissenter. I never lose heart though, the whole point, for me anyway, of the CBG is to read books that I might indeed not pick up, or would put back after a few pages.

[Mr Cornflower]

I thought this was a good book but it did take time for me to adjust to the discursive, episodic way in which she tells the story, and I felt at times that I was reading a series of sketches on which an altogether bigger and more ambitious work could have been based. My eye has just been caught by "South Riding" in the side bar, and while I found Winifred Holtby too long and sprawling, perhaps somewhere in the middle would have suited both books. Perhaps in this country the equivalent of Southern Grotesque is Northern Gritty!

[Barbara MacLeod]

I agree with Susan in TX in that I would have liked a bit more story. However I certainly recognised the of folk gathering at the funeral and also how it feels to be in a house where you grew up but have not visited for a period of time.

Some bits and pieces:

Adele says “People live their own way, and to a certain extent I almost believe they may die their own way, Laurel.” I agree.

Adele’s hair, when she was Laurel’s first grade teacher, was worn in a “Psyche knot”. I had never heard that term. It seems it is simply long hair, tied up in a a pony tail then coiled into shape and secured with pins. Also referred to as a Grecian knot. Would Eudora Welty have known the word “pony tail”? No … it first came into use in 1951.

Laurel noticed the title of one of her father’s books in his bookcase as running “catercornered” across the spine meaning diagonally. I use the word “kitty-cornered”. When I used the word in the past, people in Glasgow did not know what I meant. (It is probably different nowadays.)

[Julie Fredericksen]

Funny you should say that, Karen. I was thinking about something in the water too, but about the Southern character in general, not just the writers. Or else it's the intense heat that makes the blood boil hotter down there!

TKAM is my all-time favorite book. If Harper Lee had been at that conference, I could have died and gone to heaven happy.

[Julie Fredericksen]

We say kitty-cornered here.

[Sandy]

This book's beautiful reflective mood harmonised with my own feelings just now - and I floated along with the prose enjoying this American way of storytelling. I felt that I could perceive the influence on Ann Tyler's work and felt right at home. I was charmed by the characters, who seemed to have been drawn so effortlessly and almost simplistically. I'll certainly be happy to read some more of this author's work.

I haven't met the term 'kitty-cornered' at all, or any of its varients and enjoyed looking up the etymology ( http://grammarist.com/usage/catty-corner-kitty-corner/ )

Sorry to be late posting and to have been absent for some time - we are just returned from a rather sombre visit to Glasgow and I'm glad to be here with Cornflower and among you all again.

[Cornflower]

I haven't seen the book 'in the flesh' yet but I have it on my wishlist as I heard Ann Patchett raving about it on television a few months ago.
I love that you'll be having a 'Welty fence', Robin!

[Cornflower]

I thought we should have a break, DP. I'll post about it properly later, but we had August off last year, and this summer I'm minded to give us July as well - lots of people are away, and I myself could do with slightly fewer reading deadlines for a bit. I've yet to settle on a book for September, although I have one or two in mind, but again I'll post that as soon as I can so we can all have plenty of time to fit it in.

[Cornflower]

Time, he says! People, he read the entire book in about an hour and a half - it took me longer than that to write my post.

[Cornflower]

I looked up the Psyche knot and 'catercornered', too, as I hadn't come across either.
Re. that remark of Adele's which you quote, Barbara, you may like to watch a short clip of the late John O'Donohue, the priest, philosopher and poet, as he talks about death beds (under 3 minutes and worth hearing): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NpHYXw2Ruw

[Cornflower]

Welcome back to us, Sandy, and I'm glad to hear the book proved to be a good thing for you at a difficult time.

[Cornflower]

That would have been something!

[michi]

I didn't know Eudora Welty at all when this book was announced for the book of this month,   It turned out a little challenging read as 'beautiful prose' and 'good ear for dialogue' usually make a book difficult for me ( as a non native English speaker/ reader) to get into, so probably I missed some nuance and subtlety but still I enjoyed this book. Sometimes it made me feel uncomfortable  to keep reading as it made me wonder how I could cope with the loss of my own parents ( sorry to sound a bit morbid).  But I would like to reread this book (with yummy homemade bread, of course!), I feel this is the kind of book that offers you a different discovery each time you read it.

[Cornflower]

I think you're right, Michi; it is a book to savour, and I'm sure each reading would yield some new detail or insight.

[Anji]

I felt when I started the book that I was being drawn into another time and place, I imaged sun dresses, hats and white gloves and everything being 'just so'. It did deal with a subject that we all have to deal with - the loss of a parent(s).

I found myself thinking about my own situation when I loss my mother and I wondered again, as I have over the years, about how I would react if my Father had chosen to remarry. He didn't, then I remembered being very surprised by how my sister reacted. We don't know the whole story about our parent's marriage or about any of the choices that they make.

It would have been nice to have know a bit more about the background, such as when and where did the Judge meet Wanda Fay, they were as different, as chalk and cheese and Wanda Fay is the total opposit to Miss Becky, Laurel's mother. When Wanda Fay's family did show up for the funeral I kept thinking of the Beverly Hill Billy's!

I sensed that for Laurel when the door to her childhood home was closed for that last time and she was being driven to the airport she would never return. That part of her life was over.

I can see the influence Eudora Welty has on the works of Anne Tyler and when I read her books I am always thinking that I am missing something, or if I got the wrong end of the stick. It would have been nice to have known a bit more, instead of perhaps having to guess. That being said it was a pleasant read on a sunny evening.

[Jill]

I thought The Optimist's Daughter was exquisite. I loved the beautiful spare prose that was so evocative and the friends and neighbours, particularly 'the bridesmaids', were beautifully drawn. Thank you dear Cornflower for introducing me to a writer I had heard of but never read. I am now planning to read her other books as well.
PS I have been hanging out for what we were to read next but a couple of months break will certainly help with sorting out the to-be-read pile.

[Nancy]

Listening to her read would give you the cadence she felt and wrote - and cadence varies from one locale to another. She certainly spoke with a definite cadence. I remember the humorist Jonathan Winters saying that to do an accent, you need to get the cadence down rather than trying to mimic what you think the accent is. There should be places online where you can hear her speak.

[Barbara MacLeod]

That was wonderful! I did not know about this man. I spent some time reading more about him (as you do on the internet following other links!) and hearing him recite some of his poetry.

[Ruthiella]

I agree with Mr. CF, the story is sparse; the characters are sketches. While reading, I was thinking that a story about Laurel’s mother growing up in Virginia on a mountain with her brothers would be more interesting to read. But I am glad to have read it and I think I ultimately liked how the book was fuzzy and undefined. For example, I thought that it was suggested that the Judge’s first marriage wasn’t quite as perfect as people made out in their memories…but then, maybe I just didn’t get it. I am American, but not Southern; some of it didn’t make sense to me. For example, why was Wanda Jean’s rude behavior tolerated? Was this Southern politeness? (I thought the slap she received was a long over due).

[Ruth M.]

Dark Puss, Your original post gave me courage to put my opinion on record. The Optimist's Daughter still holds the record with my book group of 25 years as the only book we ever all agreed on -- none of us liked it at all. And this is Virginia, capital of the old Confederacy.

[Mona]

Thank you for picking this for the book club - it's been on my to-read list for awhile now and I was motivated to finally pick it up for this discussion.

I love "quiet" books and this was a beautifully done "quiet" book. I loved the characterization and setting. I had a small quibble with the winding down of the story towards the end - it just felt like Welty was trying to take on too much. But the majority of the book I loved and I am gratified I had the push to read it finally.

[Sandy]

I liked the 'fuzziness'!

It seemed as if I had arrived late to watch a film and so missed the opening section and then I had to leave early and did not see the ending.

I can enjoy fragmants of a plot in this way, unlike my wife, who has to see the whole film or not at all. Maybe this is something that others have noticed?

[Christine Harding]

I didn't manage to get hold of a copy of this, but having read all the comments I am intrigued - there are such varied responses from people.

[Simon T]

I've just got to the section of her letters with William Maxwell where they're discussing this, and I'm really keen to read it now. I'll bookmark the discussion!

[Cornflower]

Oh my word!

[Cornflower]

I did see an interview on Youtube a few weeks ago and enjoyed that very much: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2fh37fzsOg

[Cornflower]

Despite, in one sense, the book's slightness, it has given much food for thought.

[Cornflower]

I'm always pleased when a book goes down so well that we're reaching for more by that author!

[Cornflower]

How did the Judge tolerate her? She's certainly memorable for being awful.

[Cornflower]

I think the writing was so good that individual scenes could provide enough enjoyment and 'wholeness' in themselves.

[Cornflower]

"Quiet" is well-put, Mona. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Cornflower]

Yes, there is quite a variation - more than I'd expected, I think.

[Cornflower]

I'd love to read the letters!

[Karoline]

I enjoyed this more than I expected, helped by having a long (child-free) train journey in which to read it. While I didn't always grasp the plot, the writing kept me going. I think I read more like I would read poetry and just let it flow over me.

I did find that when I was reading about Wanda Fay, I was being reminded of Anna Nicole Smith but perhaps without some of the more 'obvious' attributes.

[Dark Puss]

That's an interesting comment; do you mean you didn't expect the negative ones? Or just the variation from "we all hated it" to "exquisite"?

[Rose]

I enjoyed the book very much indeed and I agree with Jill - it was exquisite - having read this book I think I'd now say Anne Tyler is not really a patch on Eudora Welty. I remember now that I had come across Eudora Welty through the collection of photographs. The vignettes of the 'hospital scene and hilly billy family' and the funeral (with Wanda's family making such a vivid and robust appearance) were delightful. The final show-down with the breadboard was spot on with no slack and an absolute firecracker in the reading (and the writing!). Was the ending really Laurel's much-delayed grief for Phil coming to the surface - had she been braving it out for some time and was I spotting there that her sympathy for Wendell (whilst Laurel indicated that she felt and feared for Wendell for what his future held living within Wanda's family) was in fact a sense of pity for herself and the 'unborn children' that might have come to pass had Phil survived - there seemed to be a strong thread of Laurel's grief and the tragedy of Phil's death in the War.