- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Jan 12 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0156252805
- ISBN-13: 978-0156252805
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.6 x 2.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 136 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #710,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Library Journal
First published in 1945, Delta Wedding established Welty as one of the most poetic and memorable writers of the Southern Renascence. Set in 1923 in the Mississippi Delta town of Fairchilds, the wedding in question is that of Dabney Fairchilds, daughter of the most prominent plantation family in the region, and Troy Flavin, the family's overseer. How the family comes to terms with the social diminishment it must absorb by Dabney's willful choice is only one subject of Welty's subtle story. Others are the absorption of Laura McRavin, an orphaned cousin, into the Fairchilds clan and the reconciliation of the favorite son, George, with his socially inferior wife, Robbie. Chock full of eccentric aunts, children with odd names like Bluett and Little Battle, and the hovering threat of disaster, this complex and beautiful tale contains many themes that were the source material for later Southern writers such as Tennessee Williams and Flannery O'Connor. Narrator Sally Darling has the perfectly modulated, softly dramatic Southern accent to convey the mood of post-Reconstruction Mississippi, where a powerful family with its plantation traditions cannot resist the slow erosion of democracy. Recommended for all collections.
Sharon Cumberland, Seattle Univ.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Sharon Cumberland, Seattle Univ.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
The Mississippi Delta of the early '20's sets a beautiful stage for Eudora Welty's novel of life and manners in the Fairchild family. Welty's eloquent prose captures every visual aspect of the Fairchilds' world. Sally Darling articulates each speech pattern and draws the characters and scenes even more completely with her voice. Her cadence is perfect and elicits the atmosphere of heat and langour with finesse. Each character is carefully drawn by the exceptional combination of voice and text. This title adds a masterpiece to performance literature and amplifies the fine collection of Southern literature from Recorded Books this season. R.F.W. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
an exceptional portrait of southern life,
By maureen (michigan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Delta Wedding (Paperback)
I first bought this book a year ago, seeing it laying on a table of "recommended books" at [a store] and thinking to myself that it sounded intriguing. I got home, opened it up and....put it down w/in ten minutes. Being somewhat widely read, this does not often happen to me, but I admit I found this book at first utterly boring. However, a few days ago, I decided to try again and this time I opened up the book-and kept reading. The story draws you in slowly, until you feel you are present in shellmound, sitting in the settee in the corner watching this all take place. The setting description was vividly realistic, the characters believable. The characters ARE the plot line: the novel unfolds through the eyes of both outsiders (ellen and laura) and also through the eyes of the fairchilds themselves [in the forms of shelley and dabney]. This thought provoking narrative of a large and intricately woven Southern family is brought to life through the evocative words of eudora welty, and stays in the heart long after the last page is turned.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pure drudgery,
By A Customer
This review is from: Delta Wedding (Paperback)
I must admit I have not yet finished Delta Wedding. If I do, it will be by sheer force of will. It is a laborious read. Nothing has drawn me into this book and the authors run-on style is tiresome and confusing. I often have to re-read a long convoluted sentence and then ask myself, "Just what is she trying to say?"I realize I am in the minority, but this book is not the least bit enjoyable to read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lush, slow southern writing at its best,
By
This review is from: Delta Wedding (Paperback)
Eudora Welty scored big-time with this dreamy, humid, dense (HUGE cast of characters), meandering but otherwise very simple story of a young girl, a cousin, whose mother has recently died. She's shipped off for the summer to the 'plantation' home of her mother's sister and a never-ending list of cousins and aunts and great aunts and boyfriends and husbands and and and and.Nothing much happens, but we're treated to a leisurely piece of writing in all the intoxicating cadences of southern drawl, sweet as mint tea and magnolia blossoms. A beautiful southern classic.
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