Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, and Me: An Interview with John Maxwell

Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, and Me:An Interview with John Maxwell Pearl A. McHaney Mississippian John Maxwell is an actor, playwright, and director best known for his one-man play Oh, Mr. Faulkner, Do You Write? When I encountered a 1980 newspaper photograph of John Maxwell performing a scene from The Robber Bridegroom for a televised program of the Eudora Welty Americana Awards given by Mississippians for Educational Television,1 I thought EWR readers might appreciate learning about Maxwell's experiences presenting Faulkner's story in the U.S. and abroad to a variety of audiences, his insights into how people view the South in general, and his relationship, if any, with Eudora Welty. In January 2022, John shared the following stories. Pearl McHaney: When did you first hear of Eudora Welty or read her work or feel the power of her writing? John Maxwell: Eudora Welty was for the longest time the "other" famous Mississippi writer. Growing up on a cotton farm two miles outside of Pickens, Mississippi, in the nineteen fifties, a few teachers in my high school had attempted to make literature relevant to our young lives, but it didn't take. I was never studious and didn't take up recreational reading until well out of college. Welty was never a priority for me like Vonnegut or Faulkner came to be. I suppose if I had had anyone to sing Welty's praises as my mother did of Vonnegut and Faulkner, I would have discovered her sooner. I found my "place" in Faulkner in my early thirties. I have never been well-read. I have never been a scholar of any kind, yet Faulkner captures my heart. To this day as I read Faulkner, I don't know half of what I am reading, but the rhythm of his language wraps me in the rhythms of my [End Page 73] past, a past I visit to this very day by simply picking up a short story or re-reading a novel. My first real experience with Welty wasn't until I watched a production of The Ponder Heart at New Stage Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi. The theatre at that time was in a wonderful old church in the "seedy" part of Jackson. I remember as you drove to the theatre you passed an old rundown hotel with a gaudy blinking neon sign that read "Eternity? Where will you spend it?" The sanctuary in the church where the stage was situated was small. The seats were pews with cushions and were arranged with carpets down the aisles, all bathed in wood. The ceiling was arched. There could not possibly have been a more suitable venue for Welty than this one. And there I sat and watched the production I suppose was adapted by Patti Black or Jane Reid Petty. Jane played the lead with Tom Spengler playing Uncle Daniel, and it was magical.2 Extraordinary. Miss Welty loved to come to rehearsals of her plays at New Stage, and while I was not in this production, but in a couple of others to come, I remember so vividly her laughter. She loved her work. I suppose if I were to pick a "first" work of hers it would be The Ponder Heart. I have always loved how she uses the obviously ordinary to illuminate the profound in common life. PM: What is a favorite fiction or essay by Welty that you admire, or that comes back to you as something more to ponder? JM: I'll preface this answer in repeating that I have read some Welty, but not all. There are plenty I have not read (my loss). So, my answer again is couched in what I have read by Welty. There are several of the short stories that make me laugh out loud. "Petrified Man" may be the purest fun for me as any. And there are others, as well, but the story of Welty's that moves me the most is "A Worn Path." I am drawn to old Black women in anything I read. The character, Old Phoenix, stops me on the page. I suppose my deep affinity is due to the influence...