Initially, I was unsure about reading Meanwhile, There are Letters: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald. The feeling of voyeurism was unsettling, disturbing. I soon talked myself out of this, though. Ms. Welty did, after all, give these letters to the Department of Archives and History, knowing full well that someone would read over them. More importantly, Susanne Marrs—one of the book’s editors who is recognized as the leading authority on Welty’s writing—would not allow anything improper to be printed. Dr. Marrs’ devotion to Welty goes beyond the academic: the two were friends, and Marrs’ commitment to that friendship has endured long after Welty’s death.
So, I got a copy. And I’m loving it.
The mystery writer Kenneth Millar, under the pen name Ross Macdonald, dazzled readers with his books for over two decades, starting in the early 1950’s. A longtime reader and fan of Eudora Welty’s fiction, he dropped her a simple fan letter in 1971. Welty reciprocated both the letter and admiration (she was a voracious reader, especially of mystery novels) and a friendship born of letters followed. In Meanwhile, There are Letters, editors Marrs and Tom Nolan (an expert on Macdonald) have arranged the letters chronologically, adding annotations to give context about the world outside of the epistles.
We as readers get to see the friendship emerge, and possibly move into more intimate territory. So many things prevented Welty and Macdonald (Millar) from physically consummating a relationship: his marriage, their age, his declining health. Yet, the love engendered between these two souls is genuine. Don’t pick up this book if you’re looking for high drama and overwrought romance. Instead, get a copy to follow a beautiful companionship based on mutual love of reading, observing, writing, and living. Meanwhile, There are Letters isn’t a rapid page-turner: it’s a leisurely lope through a vast emotional landscape with two guides who know and love the territory.
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