On William Faulkner /

Simply put, "This book collects Welty's writings on Faulkner." Eudora Welty and William Faulkner are, of course, the pair of giants on whose shoulders the literature of the state of Mississippi--indeed, all of southern literature--rests. The older Faulkner and the younger Welty were acquaintances but never buddies; Welty didn't need a mentor, and Faulkner didn't need an acolyte. But from the 1940s until Faulkner's death in 1962, Welty wrote, on several occasions, about the man who lived in the same state, which, for another writer, "was like living near a big mountain." But, as the introduction states, "the frequency with which Welty celebrates his work signals the evidence that . . . Faulkner was one of her touchstones." Components of this package of materials include a passage from a letter she wrote to novelist Jean Stafford about sailing with Faulkner in his little sailboat to a review of Intruder in the Dust appearing in the Hudson Review to a letter she wrote to the New Yorker defending this same Faulkner novel against Edmund Wilson's negative review. --Brad Hooper Copyright 2003 Booklist

"No man ever put more of his heart and soul into the written word than did William Faulkner," writes Welty of her fellow Mississippian in one of the pieces included in this slim volume. The book documents her amicable and respectful relationship with Faulkner, who she once said was like "living near a big mountain, something majestic." Their relationship began when Welty received an encouraging postcard from the seasoned veteran in which he confused one of Zora Neale Hurston's works with hers and offered, "You are doing very fine. Is there any way I can help you? How old are you?" Yet, in spite of their proximity and mutual admiration, they never progressed much beyond the level of acquaintances. The book includes an excerpt from a letter Welty wrote to novelist Jean Stafford on first meeting Faulkner, Welty's biting response to Edmund Wilson's condescending New Yorker review of Intruder in the Dust, and Welty's presentation speech awarding Faulkner the gold medal for lifetime achievement from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Not an essential purchase, as much of this material may be found elsewhere, but libraries may wish to consider it as a complement to Conversations with Eudora Welty and More Conversations with Eudora Welty.-Wiliam D. Walsh, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.