How Might the World be Luckier?: Eudora Welty and the Irish

£6.99

Symbiosis 9.2 159-74
Author: Bill Lazenbatt
Pages: 19

This micro-ebook, '‘How Might the World be Luckier?’: Eudora Welty and the Irish' by Bill Lazenbatt, provides an in-depth analysis of the interactions and correspondences between Eudora Welty's fiction and the works of contemporary Irish writers. Originally published in Symbiosis: a Journal of Anglo-American Literary Relations, this essay examines how Welty’s regional writing transcends its Mississippi roots to incorporate broader and more distant literary influences. Lazenbatt explores the connections between Welty and Irish writers such as Elizabeth Bowen, Frank O’Connor, and W.B. Yeats, and how these influences shaped her fiction. This scholarly work is essential for readers interested in literary criticism, American literature, and transatlantic literary relations.

Essay Excerpt

"When applied to creative writing the term ‘regional’ is usually associated with specifics of place, style and perhaps even a restricted range of reference. While the fiction of Eudora Welty, however, is richly and proudly regional, deeply rooted as it is in the culture and manners of the Mississippi Delta region, it simultaneously transcends any potential restriction by reflecting much wider and more distant literary influences. This essay will examine the correspondences and textual interactions between her work and that of contemporary Irish writers, and will suggest that these play an important role in shaping her fiction."