Eudora Welty was Ugly

Apparently a biography of Eudora Welty that came out a few years ago “diminished” her because it accused her of turning to writing because she was homely. A friend of hers has written a new biography after getting a chance to thoroughly go through her papers in an effort to defend her friend.
What’s to defend?
I don’t understand… someone’s not too hot so they choose the most reclusive of all art forms?
This is news?

I haven’t ever read Welty, but of course I know about her. She’s one of the great Southern writers. She came to my attention because of an essay that I need to read desperately, called “why the novelist is not a crusader,” or something like that. People criticized her because she “portrayed” the south sympathetically, even though she was an outspoken proponent of Civil Rights. Writers have a hard time, since our work is so much easier to ‘get’ than most other art; it’s explicit, so people often conflate a positive ‘portrayal’ of a character as a larger statement about that sort of person or that sort of situation.

Welty famously argued that novelists should write good fiction and leave politics out of it. Moreover (I don’t know if she said this but I will), that people shouldn’t use people’s novels as evidence for political views that the novelist doesn’t necessarily have, and they certainly shouldn’t assume the novelist is trying to make some change in the world based on what they write. Welty didn’t think novelists should use their novels to crusade at all. Crusade on your own time, I say.

I agree with her for two reasons (wow, I’m really on a tangent here). First, I think crusading in fiction diminishes the art. Second, as a professional political guy, I also don’t think it’s good for much in 99% of all cases (yes, yes, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Great. Name a novel that did something for a political effort in the last twenty years? Now name all the billions that tried to. Thank you.).

Anyway, (back to my point – tangent over) I don’t understand why Welty needs to be defended for the shocking revelation that writing, as it happens, turns out to be a way for ugly people to win friends and influence people. No kidding! Have you ever looked at photos of writers? There’s a reason they don’t crossover to movie stardom very often.

Furthermore, who cares? We like their books. Their books are great. If it happens they developed the skill to make up for something else they lacked, then that’s worth knowing. But it isn’t an attack. It certainly isn’t a scandal. Why, that’s why a good number of people get good at art or sports or other means of success that don’t necessarily require looks. A lot of people have become great in one avenue of life because they were insecure about others.

I simply can’t believe there is a flap about this. The scandal is probably more that someone dared to say the truth. Welty was not an attractive woman. It’s true! If she had been a he, people probably would not have been stunned to see this in writing. In fact, it probably wouldn’t even have been observed. We can bemoan the fact that women have more pressure on them to be beautiful than men all we want, but at the end of the day it is what it is. Welty overcame it, at least to some degree, by writing very compelling fiction (and non-fiction). Her fans should celebrate that much rather than denying it.

And they sure as hell shouldn’t pretend like we should be surprised.