Author and Agent: Eudora Welty and Diarmuid Russell - Hardcover

Michael Kreyling

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0947792902 ISBN 13: 9780947792909

Publisher: Bellew Publishing Co Ltd, 1991

Synopsis

In May 1940, Diarmuid Russell, partner in a newly-launched literary agency, wrote to a relatively unknown Eudora Welty, offering to become her agent. This elegant portrait traces Welty's development as a writer and Russell's encouragement of, and devotion to, her talent. Photographs.

"Beyond the portrait of an admirable relationship between author and agent, this work provides insight into the publishing world, the early views and prejudices toward short stories and writers from the South, the obstacles to getting published, and the individual struggles and writing habits of Welty. An enjoyable and enlightening contribution to literary history." - Library Journal

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

From his first letter to Welty in 1940 ("an agent is rather a benevolent parasite because authors as a rule make more when they have an agent than they do without one"), agent Russell of Russell and Volkening kept up a dedicated correspondence of more than 30 years' duration with the Southern writer. Drawing on these letters, Vanderbilt University English professor Kreyling chronicles the course of the unusually close and enduring relationship the two enjoyed. From his early unflagging efforts to sell Welty's stories to houses interested only in novels to his later support through a period of chaotic change in the publishing industry, Russell functioned as her literary mentor and business adviser, and was clearly instrumental in bringing the author's work to a larger audience. Although Kreyling's style is merely workmanlike, the book takes a revealing look at the often misunderstood relationship between author and agent. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

The 30-year literary relationship between Welty and her agent Russell is here chronicled through use of the letters that frequently passed between the two. The letters reveal an agent who believed in the art and potential of his client and an author who unconditionally trusted the judgment, instincts, and integrity of her agent. Beyond the portrait of an admirable relationship between author and agent, this work provides insight into the publishing world, the early views and prejudices toward short stories and writers from the South, the obstacles to getting published, and the individual struggles and writing habits of Welty. An enjoyable and enlightening contribution to literary history.
-Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bellew Publishing Co Ltd
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0947792902
• ISBN 13: 9780947792909
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224