Eudora Alice Welty:
(Jackson, Mississippi, 13 aprile 1909 – ibidem, 23 luglio 2001). Scrittrice statunitense di romanzi e racconti.
Era anche una fotografa.
Ha studiato all’Università del Wisconsin e successivamente ha frequentato il corso di pubblicità della Columbia University a New York. Negli anni Trenta ha lavorato come fotografa e ha scritto per la radio locale e i giornali di Jackson.
Only today,’ he said, ‘Today, in October sun, it’s all gold—sky and tree and water. Everything just before it changes looks to be made of gold.’
The words carry both a literal and a symbolic meaning:
– In the light of the ‘October sun,’ the sky, trees, and water appear truly golden.
– October is a ‘moment of transition’:
autumn is on the verge of turning into winter; leaves will fall, and the landscape will change.
– More generally, Welty suggests that things often appear especially beautiful, precious, and intense just before a change or loss occurs.
– The ‘gold’ thus represents not only beauty but also ’transience’:
precisely because something is not permanent, it takes on an added luster.
The sentence reflects a recurring theme in Welty’s work: ’the beauty of moments when nature, people, and lives are on the verge of change’.
Author and origin 📚:
The sentence is by the American writer Eudora Welty (1909–2001). It comes from her short story “The Wide Net,” included in the 1943 collection “The Wide Net and Other Stories”.
The English original reads:
> “Only today,” he said, “today, in October sun, it’s all gold—sky and tree and water. Everything just before it changes looks to be made of gold.”
