Eudora Welty’s 100th birthday and historic landmark house

by Jamie Rhein on

“Through travel I first became aware of the outside world; it was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a part of it.” –Eudora Welty.

Today is Eudora Welty’s 100th birthday. Welty, the Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist for The Optimist’s Daughter, besides having a totally cool name, is a person who has inspired people to think, read and embrace the arts. Along with being a writer, Welty was a traveler and photographer. Throughout her life, Welty’s roots remained firmly in the American South.

As with other southern writers who remain beloved after their deaths, Welty’s legacy continues. One of my friends, who is an avid traveler, recently visited Eudora Welty’s house in Jackson, Mississippi and came back in a glow.

Welty’s house, a National Historic Landmark, is now a museum that is open for guided tours. Here is where Welty lived and wrote from 1925 until her death in 2001.

Along with being a place where one of the United States’ literary greats wrote, the house is one of the best intact examples of an American writer’s home. The Tudor-style home looks like it did when Welty was growing up here when she lived here with her parents and her siblings, and afterward when she penned her masterpieces.

Visiting her house is only one of the options for honoring Welty’s 100th birthday. There are several exhibits and events throughout the year.

The Eudora Welty Foundation Website lists several. Two exhibits are being shown at different venues.

“Welty” is a combination of Welty’s 1930s era photographs and excerpts from her writing to “show the relationship between her source material and her writing.”

You can see this exhibit through May 22, 2009 at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia; from August 3 to September 25 at Bryan Public Library; and from November 10-January 2, 2010 at The Triangle Cultural Center, Yazoo City, Mississippi.

The other exhibit “Eudora Welty: Other Places” is a collection of photographs that Welty took took in New Orleans and New York City from 1936 to 1939. This exhibit is being shown at Sardis Public Library, Sardis, Mississippi through April 26 and at The Hernando Public Library, April 27-June 19.

According to the Website, as more exhibits and events are planned they will be added. Click here for Calendar of Events that also has contact numbers for the various locations.

Limited prints of Welty’s photo “Window Shopping” you see here are being sold to raise money for the foundation. My friend says that the home, as wonderful as it is, needs work in order to keep it up and running.

One for the Road: Don Quixote vs. Donkey Xote

by Kelly Amabile on

Even though this book about Don Quixote was released last year, I thought now was an appropriate time to mention it, since the first animated version of the famous novel will debut in Spain this week. Fighting Windmills – Encounters with Don Quixote takes a closer look at the making of this masterpiece of world literature, tracing its impact on writers and thinkers across the centuries. Authors Manuel Duran and Fay Rodd explore the central themes of Cervantes great work, and follow it up with examples of how the novel influenced generations of other writers.

One thing the book might not touch on is the fact that, although th 17th century story has touched many, few have actually read both volumes cover to cover. Will this week’s release of a first-ever animated rendition inspire more folks to take a stab at actually reading the lengthy tale? Probably not, but beginning this Wednesday, Spaniards will be able to view a condensed 80-minute cartoon version of the classic journey. Donkey Xote, a $20 million film production, took five years to make, and comes complete with a Shrek-like donkey. You can view the English trailer here.

A Rittenhouse Gem: The Rosenbach Museum

by Kelly Amabile on

While engrossed in my entertaining introduction to vampires last week, I learned about a fantastic museum in Philadelphia that I’m eager to visit. The Rosenbach Museum and Library is housed in the former residence of two brothers: Dr. A.S.W. and Philip Rosenbach. The siblings were experts in decorative arts and collected rare books and manuscripts, many of which became part of this unique museum and research center.

Eric Nuzum visited the Rosenbach to review Bram Stoker’s notes and outline for Dracula, which are part of the museum’s permanent collection, along with a celebrated first edition copy of Don Quixote, more than 600 letters written by Lewis Carroll, and over 10,000 drawings and sketches by author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. The museum hosts a variety of creative exhibits and programming throughout the year, and runs guided tours of the home. Recently, they began offering a hands-on tour: Made in Philadelphia, which focuses on decorative arts created in the city between 1750 and 1850. Visitors are invited to look closely and even handle selected pieces of furniture and silver.

A museum that hosts an annual Dracula Festival and lets you touch things?! Sounds like a place not to be missed. They’ve got a blog too.

Literature via Cell Phones

by Neil Woodburn on

In the mad rush to load up our smart phones with tiny video and entertaining games, there remains one form of media sorely lacking in today’s modernized world: literature.

Remember passing time on a plane or waiting for the subway with a magazine or book in hand? Such gray matter activities are sadly becoming increasingly scarce these days. Just look around the next time you fly. The majority of passengers will be plugged into their MP3 players, personal DVD players, or engrossed in the latest game on their new iPhone. Reading is nearly dead.

And so, it was with a sigh of relief that I came across a small company combining the best of both worlds.

DailyLit.com delivers short snippets of literature to your cell phone screen, PDA, or email inbox to be consumed at your leisure. The idea is that entire books are serialized into consecutive snippets–each of which can be read in about five minutes. All one needs to do is to pick a book, decided upon how often you want the snippets to come, and then read the entire thing five minutes at a time.

Sure beats Donkey Kong in my book!