The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty is one of the most aesthetic novellas I've ever read. Laurel Hand, the woman at its center, is the last in her family. Both parents and her husband have died. This seems dramatic as she's only my age, but it's believable in a mid-century world of lower life expectancy and men lost in war. Navigating her grief and dealing with her parents' affairs keep her occupied, but she's dogged by her husband's second wife, a woman her age and one of the great antagonists in all literature.
I've read several Welty short stories, but this was my first of her longer works. She's a powerful character writer. All of her protagonists are fully formed and rooted in her Southern landscape. They vary wildly, though, in education, race, income, and condition. Sometimes they're absurdly funny; sometimes they're selfish and racist. Here, Laurel is thoughtful, elegant, and courageous in her grace under pressure.
The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973, deservedly. There isn't a word out of place. I found myself rereading several passages purely for their beauty. While not much happens in the plot (a death and a funeral), it reads like an extended personal essay. Grief is an important theme, but the passage of time resonates more completely throughout. There are bitter realizations about loss: the "optimist" in the title is mostly ironic. But the grand shift in the Laurel's understanding ultimately bends towards acceptance.
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