Presentation Type
Poster
Presentation Type
Submission
Keywords
Welty, Ruby, revised, Fisher, self, words, identity, newspaper, abuse, individual
Department
English
Major
English (Literature) and English (Writing and Rhetoric)
Abstract
Eudora Welty’s “A Piece of News” presents the question, how does one achieve self-actualization? For the protagonist Ruby Fisher, the answer is language, although that answer is not clear in the original 1937 published version of the story. That story’s focal point is Ruby’s tumultuous and complicated relationship with her husband, Clyde. In contrast, the revised 1941 version from Welty’s collection A Curtain of Green shifts the focus from Ruby’s abusive marriage to her interiority. The subsequent increase in word count, shifts in narration, and emphasis on Ruby claiming her name when she reads it in a newspaper elevates the narrative to something more profound. Overall, these textual variants reveal that Welty’s extensive revisions changed not simply the storyline but also the text’s fundamental concerns. By foregrounding Ruby’s experience of sounding out the words in her name, Welty’s revised story revamps a familiar marital tale into an exploration of language, an exploration that provides a pathway to Ruby’s nascent sense of self.
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Katie Frye
Funding Source or Research Program
Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Location
Waves Cafeteria
Start Date
22-3-2024 1:30 PM
End Date
22-3-2024 2:30 PM
Textual Variants in Eudora Welty’s "A Piece of News”
Waves Cafeteria
Eudora Welty’s “A Piece of News” presents the question, how does one achieve self-actualization? For the protagonist Ruby Fisher, the answer is language, although that answer is not clear in the original 1937 published version of the story. That story’s focal point is Ruby’s tumultuous and complicated relationship with her husband, Clyde. In contrast, the revised 1941 version from Welty’s collection A Curtain of Green shifts the focus from Ruby’s abusive marriage to her interiority. The subsequent increase in word count, shifts in narration, and emphasis on Ruby claiming her name when she reads it in a newspaper elevates the narrative to something more profound. Overall, these textual variants reveal that Welty’s extensive revisions changed not simply the storyline but also the text’s fundamental concerns. By foregrounding Ruby’s experience of sounding out the words in her name, Welty’s revised story revamps a familiar marital tale into an exploration of language, an exploration that provides a pathway to Ruby’s nascent sense of self.