Convergence and Separateness
Today, a friend and I went to a lecture by Dr. Suzanne Marrs, one of the nation's leading authorities on Eudora Welty. We discussed Welty's short story "A Still Moment." The event, held as a brown bag lunch and lecture, took place at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in downtown Jackson. I really enjoyed it. I had almost forgotten what a good teacher Dr. Marrs is. I dug up my old copy of Welty's short stories, read away, and came to "class." It was a very mixed crowd, which I thought was wonderful. Old and young, men and women, with lots of very interested-looking readers. (I noticed several people who came with notes, pads of paper, and pens.)
The story details a fictional meeting between three very disparate but historical characters who theoretically could have been in Mississippi (and along the Natchez Trace) at the same point in history. Lorenzo Dow was a circuit Methodist preacher, a fanatic for "saving souls." James (or John) Murrell was a murderer and horse thief who patrolled the Trace, looking for victims. Audobon is, of course, James Audubon, the famed ornithologist and rumored Lost Dauphin of France. We discussed the element of time in the story, they way that Dow is always looking to the future, and how Murrell wants to destroy the present. Audubon seems to want to capture the present, but he is never totally successful, as his drawings can only show a shadow of what man experiences upon seeing a living bird. By chance the three isolated men meet on the Trace, and they share a moment suspended in time, the observation of a snowy white heron feeding in the untamed wilderness. Murrell approaches confession, Dow sees it as a visible sign of God's love, and Audubon tries to memorize the details of the bird. The three men, all isolated, separate, share the "still moment," and then Audubon shoots the bird. (He cannot paint from memory; Audubon killed all of his feathered subjects, mounted them, and painted from the dead, mounted birds.) With the death of the bird, the three men are shaken from the still moment, and they return to their separateness.
Welty also played with some other themes: sight and seeing, closeness and distance (which plays into the separateness/confluence theme), light and darkness. For such a short piece of work, there's just so much there. You can read it several times, and get different things out of it (and see new things) each time.
Dr. Marrs will be discussing "Moon Lake" on June 21 and "No Place for You, My Love" on June 28. (Both of which, sadly, I will have to miss. I have Public Relations Association of Mississippi meetings scheduled for both dates.) To learn more about these free lectures, visit the department online.
The story details a fictional meeting between three very disparate but historical characters who theoretically could have been in Mississippi (and along the Natchez Trace) at the same point in history. Lorenzo Dow was a circuit Methodist preacher, a fanatic for "saving souls." James (or John) Murrell was a murderer and horse thief who patrolled the Trace, looking for victims. Audobon is, of course, James Audubon, the famed ornithologist and rumored Lost Dauphin of France. We discussed the element of time in the story, they way that Dow is always looking to the future, and how Murrell wants to destroy the present. Audubon seems to want to capture the present, but he is never totally successful, as his drawings can only show a shadow of what man experiences upon seeing a living bird. By chance the three isolated men meet on the Trace, and they share a moment suspended in time, the observation of a snowy white heron feeding in the untamed wilderness. Murrell approaches confession, Dow sees it as a visible sign of God's love, and Audubon tries to memorize the details of the bird. The three men, all isolated, separate, share the "still moment," and then Audubon shoots the bird. (He cannot paint from memory; Audubon killed all of his feathered subjects, mounted them, and painted from the dead, mounted birds.) With the death of the bird, the three men are shaken from the still moment, and they return to their separateness.
Welty also played with some other themes: sight and seeing, closeness and distance (which plays into the separateness/confluence theme), light and darkness. For such a short piece of work, there's just so much there. You can read it several times, and get different things out of it (and see new things) each time.
Dr. Marrs will be discussing "Moon Lake" on June 21 and "No Place for You, My Love" on June 28. (Both of which, sadly, I will have to miss. I have Public Relations Association of Mississippi meetings scheduled for both dates.) To learn more about these free lectures, visit the department online.
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