Meanwhile There Are Letters
Page 57
2 William Butler Yeats published a book of poems titled The Tower in 1928. Among the poems in this book are “The Tower” and “Sailing to Byzantium.” In the spring 1984 text, Donna has taken a break from home and the stresses of caregiving, permitting Stella to sit for a number of hours with the stricken Henry. Donna’s return pulls Stella away from memories of a vigorous Henry talking about “Sailing to Byzantium.”
3 The Red Branch or Ulster Cycle of Irish folklore was written in old and middle Irish and featured Cuchulain. Yeats made use of tales from the Red Branch cycle in his “dramatic poem” called “The Shadowy Waters” and in his poem “The Two Kings.” He made Cuchulain the major character in four plays.
4 This experience was one Welty herself had. She attempted to put it into a story early in the 1950s, but was unsatisfied with the result. Later she described the experience in her autobiography One Writer’s Beginnings, though the Yeats poem that inspired her was “The Song of Wandering Aengus” (One Writer’s Beginnings [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984]).
5 “Flashback,” Box 249, Folder 8, Piece 30.
6 “Flashback,” Box 249, Folder 8, Piece 31.
7 “Flashback,” Box 249, Folder 8, Piece 36.
8 “Spring ’84 Pulled out to be of use in Henry story,” Box 250, Folder 7, Piece 23.
Part 3
1 “Spring ’84,” Box 250, Folder 8, Piece 27.
2 “Affinities,” Box 248, Folder 4, Piece 10. At some point Welty worked on an alternative ending for the story, in which Henry’s wife dies of cirrhosis of the liver, and Henry has gone to live in a “sort of boarding house for invalids.” Rachel visits him there: “He gave me his sweet smile—his smile never changed at all, never—and we often sat in the wicker chairs in the Visitor’s Lounge, sometimes holding hands. We had little to say, but at our age it didn’t matter so desperately that he had little or no memory of Rachel Friarson—perhaps I don’t remember her all that well either. But I would never forget that Henry was dearer to me than anyone else in the world. [. . .] We were both, I believed, content that, so far, survival had itself been survived./He had continued to grow bald. The white fringe around his forehead was about all he had left.” Box 249, Folder 2, Piece 76.
INDEX
Aaron, Daniel, 458
Ader, Richard, 173
Ader, Tessa, 173
Ah, Wilderness! (O’Neill), 268
Ain’t Misbehavin’, 392, 513n11
Alberta, Canada, 88, 369–370, 371
Algonquin Hotel, New York City: cat at, 162; Macdonald staying at, 21, 192, 249, 292; seeing Don Freeman at, 270, 271; Welty and Macdonald first meeting at (1971), ix, x, 22, 23; Welty and Macdonald missed opportunity to meet at, 229, 230; Welty sending letter to Macdonald at, 207; Welty staying at, 211, 247, 295, 311, 421, 433, 449
Algren, Nelson, 266
Allen, Woody, xv, 421, 422
Ambler, Eric, 120, 248, 249, 264, 267, 508n10
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 421
An American Family (documentary), 112, 114, 502n7
Amish, the, 25, 28, 254, 453, 483
Anderson, Judith, 192, 195, 197–198, 199, 201
Antaeus (magazine), 317, 328, 331
Apollo 14 moon mission (1971), 39, 499n28
Archer character: in Archer in Jeopardy, 438; Archer-Martha Mitchell parody, 145, 148; in film, 191, 195, 196, 197, 199; in The Instant Enemy, 274; looking like Macdonald, 229–230; pre-Archer books searching for, 106, 110; in Sleeping Beauty, 93, 97; in television series, 238, 239; Welty on, in The Underground Man review, 9–10
Archer television program, 202; cancellation of, 241; moving to Hawaii, 238; replacing Ironside, 234; Welty on, 239
Aswell, Duncan, xv, 37, 131, 407–408, 499n26
Aswell, Mary Lou, xv, 499n26; health issues, 343; Macdonald meeting with, 131; Macdonald on, 344–345; Macdonald’s desire to introduce Lorna Cltymer to, 227; Macdonald wishing to visit with, 169; note to Macdonald, 145; people visiting (1976), 300–301; photograph of, 130; relationship with son, 407; son’s disappearance and, xv, 131; visiting Welty, 166–167, 221, 268, 416; Welty letter to, after Macdonald’s death, 460; Welty’s visits to, 68, 196, 199, 203–204, 206, 324, 343–344; The World Within edited by, 156
Auden, W. H., 110, 114
Audubon Society, 88, 101, 109
Austen, Jane, xiv, 269, 271
autobiography/autobiographical works: Collected Stories (Welty) and, 446; Macdonald moved toward writing, 51, 182, 362–363, 365–366; One Writer’s Beginnings (Welty), xvi, 179, 460; The Optimist’s Daughter (Welty) and, 53, 76, 461; Pritchett’s books and, 217, 218; Self-Portrait: Ceaselessly into the Past (Macdonald), 447; “The Winds” (Welty), 356–357
awards: Avery Hopwood Awards, 370; Award of Merit, Popular Culture Association, xiii, 174, 184; distinguished achievement award, Ann Arbor, 96, 98; Edgar Award, 192, 195, 197, 208; given to Joan Fleming, 511n6; given to Macdonald, xii–xiii, 21, 174, 177–178, 184; given to Welty, x–xi, xii; Gold Dagger Award, xii, 511n6; Grand Master Award, Mystery Writers of America, xiii, 192, 206, 207, 248, 249; Lively Arts Award, Advertising Women of New York, 21; National Institute of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction, xii, 68, 69, 251; Presidential Medal of Freedom, 445–446; Robert Kirsch Award, xiii, 515n15; Silver Dagger Award, xii. See also Pulitzer Prize
Bacall, Lauren, 508n6
Bach, Richard, 504n38
Balakian, Nona: corresponding with Macdonald, 156; Critical Encounters, 392, 401, 408, 513n17; inquiring about/saying hello to Macdonald, 339, 359, 419, 453; in London, 401; on Macdonald, 293; Macdonald’s NY visit (1976) and, 294; Macdonald’s response to Woods’ review sent to, 146, 156; National Book Critics Circle and, 290, 293; NYTBR piece on Eudora Welty Day, 128, 141, 145, 503n26; The Robber Bridegroom musical, NYC and, 312; Welty’s NY visits and, 161, 173, 193, 295, 392, 397
Bamberg, Robert, 340–341
Bardin, John Franklin, 297
Barnes, Clive, 314
Barrett, “Sweet Emma”, 185, 506n2
Barzun, Jacques, 435, 514n10
Basson, Barbara, 73
Baxter, Warner, 275
Becker, Carl, 43
Bellow, Saul, 509n3
Bell, Quentin, 107
Bergman, Ingrid, 237, 508n6
bestseller charts: Sleeping Beauty on, 133, 141, 144, 145; The Underground Man on, 10
birds/birding: The Birds and the Beasts Were There (Millar), 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 55–58; Christmas Bird Count, 58, 59, 62, 64, 65, 88, 105, 109, 180, 186, 287, 502n1; Clark, Carnie and, 109; Macdonald on feeder for, 108–109; Macdonald writing about, 75, 87–88, 91, 158, 163, 168; magnificent frigatebird, 84, 87; Pearl River boat trip (1972) and, 74–75; Ross’s gull, 243; sandhill cranes, 101; in Sleeping Beauty (Macdonald), 94; Welty writing about, 76, 86–87, 107, 165
Black, Patti Carr, 513n7
Blotner, Joseph, 198, 367, 370, 506n7, 506n8
The Blue Hammer (Macdonald): completion of, 278; early titles for, 228, 263, 267, 288; final revisions on, 276; Macdonald on title for, 269, 273; NYTBR on, 298; reaction to, in New York, 269; response by Bill Gault, 282; reviewed by Sipper, 312; on Times list, 342; Welty on, 287–288
Boatwright, James, 79, 80, 501n12
Book-of-the-Month Club, 187, 188, 236
Borowitz, Albert, 321
Bowen, Elizabeth, xiv, 137, 503n15; Agatha Christie and, 284; death, 116; introduction to Uncle Silas, 166, 254; in Knopf photo book, 278; on Macdonald, 116; Macdonald on, 118, 234; Welty on, 116–117; Welty’s review on, 234, 236, 252, 507n1
Bradbury, Ray, 127, 218, 503n24
Brand, Max, 38
Branson, Allegra, 96
Branson, Anna, 100
Branson, H. C., 96, 100
Bresson, W. T., 151
British Columbia, Canada, 70, 72, 73
British Crime Writers Association, xii
Brokaw, Tom, 384
Brooks, Cleanth, x, 496n4
Brooks, Mel, 222
&nbs
p; Broyard, Anatole, 133, 314, 509n8
Bruccoli, Matthew: biographies by, 273–274; The Composition of Tender Is the Night, 35, 37; drinking champagne (or not) with Welty, 35, 37, 43; Fitzgerald-Ober correspondence and, 145; Lost American Fiction, 376, 381; Macdonald on, 30; nearly meeting Welty, 277; O’Hara biography, 266, 273–274, 275, 277; Scott and Ernest, 389; Welty on, 27–28, 31–32, 40–41; Welty’s photo book and, 58
Buchan, John, xiv, 116, 503n14
Buchwald, Art, 148, 150, 504n39
Buckley, William F., Jr., 106, 108, 109–110, 502n22
Bunting, Charles, 501n21
Burnett, W. R., 167–168
Caen, Herb, 126, 127–128, 503n22
Cain, James M., 190, 236–237, 238, 266, 500n33
Cairo, Illinois, 20, 35, 36, 46
Calisher, Hortense, 448, 509n8
camera obscura, 430
Camp David Accords, 405, 513n18
Canada: Macdonald’s ties to, 369–370. See also individual province and city names
Canadian Broadcasting Corp., 112
Capers, Charlotte, 278, 513n7
Carol Burnett Show, The 234, 235–236
Carr, Mary (Macdonald’s cousin), 370, 414
Carroll, Jon, 503n11
Carter, Jimmy, 327, 329, 337, 445–446
Castro, Fidel, 433, 514n7
Cate School, California, 200, 212, 218
Cather, Willa: lecture given by Welty on, 164, 169; Macdonald on, 272; 100th birthday celebration, 259; Welty quoting from, 164; Welty reading, 115, 140; Welty’s essay on, 252
Cawelti, John, 189
Chancellor, John, 384
Chandler, Raymond, 302, 510n16
Chappell, David, 108
Cheever, John, 174
Chekhov, Anton, xiv; as an encourager, 348–349; The Black Monk, 150, 156; The Duel, 326, 329, 346, 349; Uncle Vanya, 148, 150; Welty’s essay on, 326, 328–329, 337, 342–343; Welty’s homage to, 124
Christian Scientists, 218, 219
Christie, Agatha, 84, 116, 163, 166, 284, 286, 509n6
Christmas Bird Count, 58, 59, 62, 64, 65, 78, 88, 105, 109, 180, 186, 287, 502n1
City Center Acting Company, 233, 243, 245, 261
Clark, Carnie, 109
Clark, Mark, 445, 515n3
Clemons, Walter: on Ain’t Misbehavin’ (musical), 392; on Blotner, 198; discussing Macdonald, 58; Esquire article and, 79; first meeting Welty, 1, 497n1; Knopf party and, 23, 24; leaving NY Times for Newsweek, 45; at Newsweek, 60; as a pianist, 90; on Prescott review, 140; Pulitzer Prize article, 27, 28; residence of, 90; review of Sleeping Beauty, 132; review of A Sort of Life (Greene), 45; Sweeney Todd and, 419; The Underground Man review and, 8; weekly column of, 27; Welty/Macdonald first meeting and, 22; Welty seeing in NY, 72, 90, 117, 173, 193, 229, 270, 339, 392, 443
Clymer, Lois, 325
Clymer, Lorna, 227
Clymer, Ted, 89, 102, 283, 285, 325
Cobb, Ty, 252
Cocke, William T., 229
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, xii, 75, 100, 304, 377, 510n17
colleges and universities: Agnes Scott College, 336; Antioch College, 35, 372, 375; Bryn Mawr College, 188, 191, 311; Cal State L.A., 88, 121; The Citadel, 444–445; Columbia University, xi, 292, 348, 453; Connecticut College, 408; Cornell University, 43, 305, 326, 336, 339; Denison University, 28–29, 433, 435; Duke University, 203, 335; Harvard University, 204–205, 324, 340, 458–459; Hollins College, 188, 191; Kent State University, 339, 340–341, 511n8; Millsaps College, 154, 202–203; Mississippi State College for Women, xi; Mt. Holyoke College, 274; Oberlin College, 375; Oxford University, 417, 418, 425, 429; Queens College (Queens University of Charlotte), 140, 504n33; Smith College, 311; St. Olaf College, 294; University of Alabama, 364; University of Alberta, 370; University of Arkansas, 197; University of California, 16; University of California at Santa Barbara, 206; University of Chicago, 19, 172; University of Kentucky, 433; University of Michigan, xii, 98; University of Minnesota, 304; University of Montpelier, France, 382; University of South Carolina, 266; University of Southern Maine, 408–409; University of Western Ontario, xii; Vanderbilt University, 364; Welty’s honorary degrees from (see Welty, Eudora, honorary degrees); Welty’s lectures at, 305, 333–334, 367, 375; Yale University, 184, 247, 359
Collier, John, 166, 174
Collins, Michael, 136
Collins, Wilkie, xiv, 283, 284, 286, 375, 509n5
Compton-Burnett, Ivy, 82
Connery, Sean, 508n6
Conrad, Barnaby, 200, 203, 212, 218, 506n9; furnishing plane ticket for Welty to Santa Barbara Writers Conference, 250; on paying expenses for Welty, 330; requesting a workshop from Welty, 306; Welty and 1978 Writers Conference, 375; Welty’s visit to Santa Barbara and, 235
Conrad, Mary, 508n14
Constable, John, 302–303, 510n17
Cook, Fannye, 56–57
Coral Casino, Santa Barbara, California, 237, 239, 286, 307, 509n4
Coulette, Henri: The Blue Hammer title and, 269; education of, 88; The Family Goldschmitt, 48, 85, 88; Macdonald on, 121–122; Welty on The War of the Secret Agents, 119–120
Council on the Arts. See National Council on the Arts
Cowley, Malcolm, 31
Crime Writer’s Conference, London, 264, 266
Cross, Amanda, 453
Daly, Elizabeth, 166, 167
Darrach, Brad: Bobby Fischer book by, 219, 220–221, 222–223, 226–227; interviewing Macdonald, 211–212, 225; on Macdonald’s marriage, 214; Mel Brooks profile by, 222
Davie, Donald, 95, 152, 321, 325, 398
Davie, Patrick, 95
Davies, Robertson, 453, 515n12
Davis, Curtis, 221
Dickens, Charles, 284
Dickinson, Emily, 280
Dickinson, Ray, 26–27; called Roy Dickson, 202
Didion, Joan, 218
Diogenes Verlag, 294
Diver, Dick, 49, 500n35
divorce, Macdonald on, 325, 511n2
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 278, 280
Doubleday Doran pamphlet (1941), 19–20
Dow, Lorenzo, 33
dreams: of letters written, 185; by Macdonald, 91–92, 358–359; by Welty, 240–241, 305, 431
Dreiser, Theodore, 194
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson), 167
Dunaway, Faye, 507n3
Durant, Will, 21
Earthquakes: 1973, 115, 502n12; 1975, 259; 1978, 401–402
Easton, Robert, 38, 40, 41–42; The Happy Man, 337; Macdonald meeting for lunch, 136; on Macdonald’s last Lew Archer novel, 265; Macdonald’s walk with, 201; mountain trip, 337; suggesting revisions in Macdonald’s book, 265; Welty’s letter from, 260
Edel, Leon, 164
Edgeworth, Maria, 155
Edwin Drood, possible dramatization for television, 112, 114, 502n8
Eliot, T. S., 120, 193, 435
Ellington, Duke, 168
Ellin, Stanley, 264
England: Losing Battles (Welty) published in, 83, 84; Macdonald reading about, 269; Macdonald’s visits to, 35, 38, 39, 49, 52, 264–265, 266, 267, 297, 307, 309–310, 313, 315; The Optimist’s Daughter published in, 84; Oxford University, 417, 418; Welty’s trip to (1979), 426–427, 429
environmental issues: energy crisis, 175–176; oceanfront apartment building, 142; oil crisis, 223–224; oil spills/oil slicks, 38, 40, 139, 163, 220, 223; Santa Barbara environmentalist program, 354, 356
Erikson, Erik, 280
Erskine, Albert, 498n16; Bruccoli and, 58, 277; as Bruccoli’s editor, 266; Macdonald’s New York meeting with Welty (1971) and, 22; The Optimist’s Daughter and, 53, 55; retirement, 293
Esquire, 79, 125, 256, 261, 279, 501n11
Eudora Welty Day: events, 128–129; Macdonald on, 258; NYTBR piece on, 128, 141, 145; Welty’s readings at, 128; Welty writing to Macdonald about, 113–114. See also Jackson, Mississippi, visit (1973)
Eudora Welty Symposium (1977), 512n19
Eustis, Helen, 170–171, 505n55
Evans, Walker, 251
Evers, Medgar, 298
Fadiman, Clifton, 136
Farish Street Baptist Church, 507n1
Faulkner, William: comments on Absalom, Absalom!, 198; meeting Margaret Millar, 198; Meriwether article, 99, 501n19; “Some Notes on Time in Fiction” and, 164; Welty’s reviews on, 326, 330, 511n3
Fearing, Kenneth, 167, 171, 173, 505n55
The Ferguson Affair (TV movie), 168, 198
Ferrell, J. G., 284
Ferrone, John, 453
Ferry, W. H. (Ping), 265, 266, 280, 367
fiction: autobiography and, 319, 365–366; paralleling reality, 427–428; Welty on affinity between film and, 374–375, 404
films, xv; Archer character in, 191, 195, 196, 197, 199; The Asphalt Jungle, 167–168; The Blue Dahlia, 302, 510n16; Chinatown, xv, 235, 237–238, 240; Dick Lid’s educational, 182; The Drowning Pool, 198, 238, 276–277; The Great Gatsby, 275, 509n25; Klute, 290; Macdonald on his books being made into, 321, 422–423; Manhattan, xv, 421–422; Murder on the Orient Express, 240, 242, 508n6; Stalag 17, 197; The Three Roads, 244–245, 247–248, 422, 424; Three Sisters (Chekhov), 280; The Underground Man, for television, 86, 168, 191–192, 197–198, 201–202, 205, 209–210, 212, 234, 235, 241; on Welty, 338, 340
Finch, Cliff, 509n21
Finney, Albert, 242, 508n6
Fischer, Bobby, 219, 220, 223
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, xiv, 11, 252, 501 499 n24; Bruccoli and, 266, 274; as comparable to Welty, 252; correspondence with Harold Ober, 145; The Last Tycoon, 45; Zelda and, 44
Fitzgerald, Geraldine, 189, 257, 268
Fitzgerald, Zelda, 40, 44, 499–500n31
Flanner, Janet, 253
Fleming, Joan, 334, 511n6
flood, Jackson, Mississippi (1979), 419–421
Fonda, Jane, 290
Ford, Ford Madox, xiv; Lid’s book on, 12, 16; Macdonald on, 12; Mizener’s biography of, 11–14; on Welty, 21; Welty-Macdonald connection and, ix; Welty on, 13, 14–15
Ford, Julie, 12, 17, 18, 41
Ford, R. A. D. (Bob), 38, 499n27; friendship with Macdonald, 42, 43; letter from Moscow shown by Macdonald to Welty, 51, 54; Macdonald’s plans to visit, 38–39, 48, 111; muscular dystrophy of, 42–43; in Paris, 67; retirement, 394; Russian edition of Blue City and, 111; Russian edition of The Far Side of the Dollar and, 405; Voznesensky and, 42, 48, 499n29