Customer Reviews

Losing Battles

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In "Delta Wedding" Eudora Welty explored the dynamics of a family wedding; "Losing Battles," which greatly resembles her earlier novel, is a similar yarn about a family reunion. The cause for the celebration is Granny Vaughn's 90th birthday, but the relations also gather for her grandson Jack's return from prison and to learn that the schoolteacher who had taught (and tortured) three generations of Banner's inhabitants has passed away that very morning.

Told almost entirely in dialogue, this novel reads like one of the lengthiest plays ever written. Welty moves from one conversation to the next, recording every word spoken by every character, rarely describing what they are thinking or how they are feeling, and supplying the "action" only when necessary. I can imagine that some might find this technique tiresome, but I couldn't stop turning the pages. Yes, it's a long read, but it's an easy one.

The novel displays Welty's usual small-town humor: townfolk so closely bound that they are unable to hold a grudge (Jack even comes to the aid of the judge who sentenced him), rapid-fire and droll sarcasm among family members ("What's a morning yell for?" "Mainly to show you're still alive after the night."), and rural parochialism and ignorance that are more endearing than disquieting. The one surprise (for Welty) is the pure slapstick of the situation created when the judge's car teeters on the edge of an incline--which it does for most of the length of the novel--and the family's various attempts to bring it safely down; the last chapter is more Keystone Cops than her usual high-brow Faulkner-style wit.

Like the book's many outsiders (Jack's wife, the schoolteacher, an aunt newly married into the family, the judge and his wife), the reader ultimately succumbs to the charm and magnetism of the Banner community. Any attempt to resist is just a losing battle.

A friend of mine challenged me to find an example of a book that displays the one thing that remains Southern in our late 20th-century culture, and with Eudora Welty's "Losing Battles," I found it! Southern families have been strung across American since the end of World War II, but the one thing that keeps us together is the family reunion. Welty's work reconfirms this, and with her gift of conversational writing, created a masterpiece. If you're lonely for a bit of catching up on family information, even though the one depicted here may not be your own family, this one is it!

It's true--hardly anything happens in this book--but I found the natural descriptions so beautiful--almost impresionistic and the unraveling of all the "tales" so fascinating! At first I was wondering how I could possibly be interested in the jailbird--Jack Renfro. But his own family loves him so. And I loved his darling little red-headed ex-schoolmarm wife. The irony of him saving the judge who sentenced him! It's so very funny. I laughed out loud. It's hard to tell who all the uncles and aunts are--but just read on--the stories will get told and it will become clear.

You have been cordially invited to attend Granny's 90th birthday celebration and family reunion. Present will be various aunts, uncles, brothers, cousins, children, grandchildren, and assorted eccentric (in the deep South sense) friends and neighbors. All are part of Granny's "extended family," which Ms. Welty makes sure includes her readers. The guest of honor is grandson Jack Renfro, who just escaped from prison 1 day ahead of the day he was to be officially released to enable him arrive at the celebration on time. Also there are his loving wife, Gloria, and their baby, Lady May. The judge who was responsible for putting Jack in prison and his constantly complaining and snooty wife are also "along for the ride". Also, present will be the spirits of relatives and friends past, especially that of the very recently deceased Miss Julia Mortimer, a much beloved and inspirational former teacher of many at the reunion. A very pleasant, but more often revealing, and sometimes shocking time is guaranteed for all.

Most of the "action" in _Losing Battles_ is presented through conversation which lends a real "you are there" feeling throughout. The novel ends with our attendance at Miss Julia's funeral, which is poignently and lovingly recounted by Ms. Welty. While I found Ms. Welty's style of writing often difficult is get through, I found the effort well worth it. Justly so, Ms. Welty's writing is meant be taken in slowly and savored to be truly appreciated.

two days in the life of a southern family, and all those around it. two "superior" figures, a judge {who sentenced the leading man to prison} and a schoolteacher{who figured he'd never amount to anything} mingle and judge and are judged by the common southern folk, who have their own chicken to fry. this book is funny. the title gives it away, and yet you continue to hope that the ending will be different than what you already know it to be. there really is no overweening plot. a family reunion, a funeral, and the rescue of a ditched car rotate at the center of the minds of the characters. stories are told, and truths are uncovered.

This is by far the best book I have read which deals with Southern culture. This book is very funny. At first it was hard keeping all of the characters straight but after awhile it becomes easy and you really get to know them. I am sure for those who have read this book that they thought of certain individuals in their families which reminded them of the characters in the book. There are also just enough twists and turns to keep you interested. However, like someone previously stated, this is the most entertaining book in which absolutely nothing happens. Welty utilizes a sort of Hemmingway-esque dialogue with just enough of a Southern twist to make the characters come to life in a sort of familial (inbred) manner.

Eudora Welty truly shows her Southern heratige in the novel, "Losing Battles." Three generations of Granny Vaughn's family come to celebrate her nineteth birthday. The family is also celebrating her grandson, Jack's, return home from prison. Welty writes this novel almost entirely in dialouge. At first it is very hard to keep up with all of the aunts, uncles, grandchildren, etc. talking, but as the novel progresses, it gets easier to read and you learn about each individual character. Even though this technique gets easier as the plot unfolds, it gets very tiring. It takes away a certain zest by not telling how the characters are feeling and thinking. Welty shows the great value of small towns. This novel brings about the closeness that communities should have. Take for example the fact that Jack ends up helping the judge who sentenced him to prison. The Banner community is very welcoming to other people, like Jack's new wife. The jargon used by Welty also creates a sense of closeness you feel toward the audience. "Losing Battles" reveals the importance of your roots and the people in which you come in contact with. On the day of the reunion a teacher who had taught three generations of Banner inhabitants passed away, giving the family more reasons to reminence about the old days. This part of the story created a twist and it allowed the novel to become more closer to heart. The laughter and the tears associated with the novel make it a 'losing battle' if you try to put it down. Even though it isn't my favorite novel in the world, it is well-written and one worth reading. So pick up a copy soon so you will be lost in the Southern heraitge that shined once again!

Published in 1970, "Losing Battles" was the fourth of Eudora Welty's (1909 -- 2001) five novels and her first since 1954. Welty worked on and off again on this novel for fifteen years, with long periods of inactivity to care for her mother and brothers. Unlike her other novels, "Losing Battles" is lengthy. When her publisher demanded substantial cuts and edits to the text, Welty took her manuscript elsewhere and had the book published as she wanted it. The novel received great critical and popular acclaim upon publication.

The book is set in 1931, the midst of the Depression, in the hills of northeast Mississippi near a town called Banner. The scene for the book is a hardscrabble farm which is the site of a family reunion in celebration of the 90th birthday of the family matriarch, Elvira Jordan Vaughn or "Granny". Within the year, Granny's husband had died and her children also are dead. Granny's six living grandchildren (one is deceased) and their spouses attend as do five of Granny's great grandchildren of her granddaughter Beulah and Beulah's husband, Ralph Renfro. Many other guests attend the reunion, some uninvited and by surprise. The major character in the book is Beulah and Ralph's oldest son Jack. Jack had been serving two years at the notorious Parchman prison and escaped one day ahead of his release to attend the reunion. Jack has a young wife, Gloria, who had been teaching school and a two year old baby daughter, Lady May Renfro, who Jack meets for the first time at the reunion and instantly adores.

The book consists of a series of short stories told by the family about themeselves and others. The stories are full of detail and recounted in dialogue. The stories develop the many characters and their surroundings intimately and closely. Welty presents these poor characters and their difficult lives unsentimentaly but with love. The reader grows to love them as well. Many interrelated themes appear throughout the book rather than a developed plot. A major theme is Jack returning from Parchman and attempting to establish himself. His wife Gloria, raised in an orphanage and of uncertain parentage, struggles with her feelings for Jack's family. She realizes that much of her life will be devoted to trying to keep Jack out of further trouble. A good deal of the book concerns a character who does not appear, a long-time and rigorous schoolteacher, Julia Mortimer, who characterized herself as Saint George trying to slay the dragon of ignorance in Banner. County Judge Oscar Moody, who had sentenced Jack to Parchman, and his wife Maud Eva also find their way unwillingly to the reunion.

I found an exchange of letters between Welty and her longtime friend and editor William Maxwell good in characterizing and understanding "Losing Battles." In a letter to Welty dated August 10, 1969, Maxwell described the book as "a comic masterpiece". Maxwell wrote:

" One of the things that moved me particularly is how rich they all are in their poverty. I believed in the poverty, all right, but the effect seemed to be that everybody shone with Everlasting Grace, which they would not have had if they hadn't been so poor. And how they got to be poor -- That series of losing battles -- is also haunting. They are on the way down, so far on the way, that they are also on the way up.... Their troubles are I feel sure as immortal as they are endless. They are in for a long space of being loved by people they can't know anything about, who know everything there is to know, practically, about them. How did you do it?

Welty's August 15, 1969 reply to Maxwell also helps understand the novel. After recounting the lengthy period of time it took to write the novel, Welty wrote:

"But more than that (the time) is the reality of that central element in the people that live in rural Mississippi -- it's there to be seen by all -- that character of the relish of life and its tales in the face of poverty and all it's done to them, and, heaven knows, relish of ignorance on some parts along with pride and zest.... I really love these people -- the real ones and the story ones -- even when I sometimes want to shake them and beat them on the head as fellow Mississippians."

This book is full of Welty's sharp eye for detail, masterful storytelling, and comedy in the pathos of the everyday. With the close detail and full description of short scenes and incidents, the book, in spite of its length, suggests that Welty's gifts were more in the direction of the short story and short novel. Portions of this book drag, although Welty was write to insist on her text without large cuts. Some of the stories lack the subtlety and shades of meaning of Welty's other novels. But the book is easier to read than most of Welty's shorter novels. While rooted in its place, it captures something of the shared experiences of people. With patience, reading this book will be a joy.

The quotations from Maxwell and Welty in this review are derived from a collection of the Maxwell-Welty correspondence, "What there is to Say we have Said" What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell edited by Suzanne Marrs.

Robin Friedman

Ms. Welty has written, seemily, a book of her people, but I just could not read it. The Renfro clan was having a reunion on the day Jack Renfro was to arrive home from prison. It was also Granny's birthday. The best part of the story I read was of Jack's indiscretion tha led him to be incarcerated. I just could see this story going around and around, making mistakes of judgement and choices that run counter to the gerenal law of the land. It reminded me of "Tobacco Road." It has a simalar hapless band of amilies that can not rise above the sorry state of life they are living. It is like a soap opera of poor people and it just does not strike me as interesting.

What's wrong with me? I love Eudora Welty's short stories. But this novel was exasperating. The story opens at a family reunion in backwoods Mississippi, where the author "overhears" endless conversations about nothing carried on by the Renfros and their kin. For hours, they debate whether the family antihero,, Jack Renfro, will appear at the reunion (after several years in the penitentiary).

For 60 pages, I waded through trivial dialogue as family members eagerly awaited Jack's appearance. I gather from other reviewers' comments that the family bad boy did show up eventually, but by that time I'd left the party. I'd closed the book and drifted off to sleep.

If you want plot action, this is not the book for you. I'd suggest you pick up Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor or even William Faulkner.