The Golden Apples
First edition cover | |
| Publisher | Harcourt Brace Javanovich |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1949 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 277 |
| OCLC | 290903 |
The Golden Apples is a short story collection written by Eudora Welty, first published in 1949. The stories form an interrelated cycle, which explores the economic and social plight of the fictional Morgana Mississippi.[1] Author Katherine Anne Porter wrote the introduction to the volume.[2][3][4]
The characters in Welty's stories are influenced by classical myth, myth, and rural forklore.[5] Her appreciation of poet William Butler Yeats also informed the collection.[6]
Stories
- "Shower of Gold" (The Atlantic, May 1948)
- "June Recital" (Harper's Bazaar, September 1947; a.k.a. "Golden Apples")
- "Sir Rabbit" (The Hudson Review, Spring 1949)
- "Moon Lake" (The Sewanee Review, Summer 1949)
- "The Whole World Knows" (Harper's Bazaar, March 1947)
- "Music from Spain" (Levee Press, Music From Spain, pub. June 1948)
- "The Wanderers" (Harper's Bazaar, March 1949; a.k.a. "The Hummingbirds")
Retrospective appraisal
Reexamining the collection in 2011, The Independent critic David Evans described the collection as evocative, "But it is her vivid evocations of nature that linger."[1] Another 2011 review in The Guardian wrote that the collection is "brilliantly capturing the precise timbre of a fleeting moment and revealing its startling load."[7]
Critic Pierpont, Claudia Roth reports that "the complex and deeply moving" "June Recital" was "the most personally meaningful of all her stories...which became the centerpiece" of the collection.[8]
Literary critic Daniele Pitavy-Souques regards The Golden Apples as "the central book" in Welty's body of fiction.[9]
Theme
The stories use shared themes and other literary devices to ensure that the stories operate as a unified whole.[10] One reviewer noted that "Allusion and metaphor hang as thick as Spanish moss in Welty's prose."[7]
Footnotes
- ^ a b "The Golden Apples, By Eudora Welty". The Independent. August 20, 2011. Archived from the original on June 18, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
- ^ Welty, 2001 p. viii: Preface
- ^ Johnston, 1997 p. 27: "...the interconnected stories of The Golden Apples..." And: p. 74: "...a grouping of interconnected stories..."
- ^ Marrs, 2005 p. 159: "...interlocking stories..."
- ^ Johnston, 1997 p. 62
- ^ Marrs, 2005 p. 23
- ^ a b Ransley, Lettie (September 3, 2011). "The Golden Apples by Eudora Welty – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
- ^ Pierpont, 1998
- ^ Johnston, 1997 p. 179
- ^ V. HARRIS, Wendell (Spring 1964). "The Thematic Unity of Welty's The Golden Apples". Texas Studies in Literature and Language. 6 (1): 92–95. JSTOR 40753802.
Sources
- Johnston, Carol Ann. 1997. Eudora Welty: A Study of the Short Fiction. Twayne Publishers, New York. Gordon Weaver, general editor. ISBN 0-8057-7936-1
- Marrs, Suzanne. 2005. Eudora Welty: A Biography. Harvest Books, Orlando, Florida. ISBN -0-15-603063-2 (paperback)
- Pierpont, Claudia Roth. 1998. A Perfect Lady. The New Yorker, October 5, 1998. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/10/05/a-perfect-lady Accessed 22 September, 2025.
- Welty, Eudora. 1949. The Golden Apples. Harcourt Brace Javonovich, New York. OCLC 290903
- Welty, Eudora. 2001. The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. Barnes & Noble Modern Classics. ISBN 0-7607-2409-1
Further reading
- Shimkus, James Hammond (August 3, 2006). Aspects of King MacLain in Eudora Welty's The Golden Apples (pdf) (Thesis). Georgia State University.