The Robber Bridegroom

What an imagination that dear woman had. This original fairy tale set on the American frontier has so many familiar elements skewed in so many ways, its brilliance is just staggering. Welty took the Brothers Grimm and some American tall tales, and scrambled them into something entirely new. And to think it was written by a nice maiden lady from Mississippi. Well, as she said of herself, "A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within."
Review written in 2007

Based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, the novella evinces masterful use of narrative compression which gives it the ring of parable. Set before the American Revolution, Clement, a Southern planter who has done quite well for himself, returns home from selling his tobacco to the British and must spend a night in town before traveling to his rural farm the next day. Sharing a bed with two other men, Clement finds himself beholden to one, Jamie Lockhart--a bandit though Clement doesn't know this--for saving his life from the third man who drunkenly tries to rob his bedmates during the night. The next day after a brief confab with Jamie over breakfast the men go their separate ways. Clement goes home to his termagant second show more wife, Salome, and his daughter, Rosamond, quite beautiful, who was borne by his first wife. Rosamond mostly spends her days singing romantic ballads when not harassed by Salome. The wicked step-mother archetype is alive and well in The Robber Bridegroom--and she's ugly too and out to kill her step daughter for being too beautiful and too central to her husband's affections. Also at work here is the old mistaken identities chestnut best known to me from Elizabethan drama. One day Rosamond returns to the house buck naked after being sent on a dangerous herb-picking expedition by Salome. She has just been robbed--yes, it's Jaime Lockhart in disguise--of a new dress and petticoats bought by her father on his recent business trip. Meanwhile, Clement invites Jamie Lockhart (without mask) to dinner to ask him if he might run the bandit to earth that has molested Rosamond. In exchange for her hand in marriage of course. Rosamond then wanders off and finds the bandits' hideout and commences to cook and clean for them and sleep with Jaime. If the foregoing doesn't wet your whistle, this is not the book for you. Throughout the style is, as I've said, compressed and vivid. Welty has a great gift for the elliptical soliloquy. A fast read and fun. Mandatory for aficionados of the Southern novel. show less

What a treat this little book is! An adult fairy tale with a twist, Welty, inspired (I assume) somewhat not only by her homeland, but by the Brothers Grimm themselves, tells the tale of Jamie Lockhart; a charismatic outlaw terrorising the population of deepest darkest Mississpi with his band of thieves, and Rosamund Musgrow; a completely innocent and utterly stupid young woman who wanders the countryside in her expensive silk gown, blissfully unaware of her evil stepmothers' burning desire to get rid of her for good. Stepmothers do get a bad press in fairy tales don't they?

Against an atmospheric backdrop populated by legendary figures from the place and period, Jamie Lockhart claims Rosamund as his own (quite literally) and whisks her show more off into the sunset to live as his 'robber bride'. This is a dark, poetic and completely unreal short(ish) story, written in an authentic voice and chock full of twists, turns and tricks. Drawing inspiration from traditions and tales far older than herself, Welty has written something truly unique. Something I rarely stumble across nowadays...

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Once I gave up trying to dig out what this was trying to *say* (an unfortunate habit us former English majors always seem to hang on to) and instead decided to simply enjoy it, it became much better. An odd, magical, strange little story with lush-yet-restrained prose.

Reading the first couple of pages of Eudora Welty's novel The robber bridegroom is an exhilarating experience. In adopting the writing style of the Brothers Grimm fairy-tales, she creates an entirely novel reading feeling with The robber bridegroom. The style is wonderfully befitting the story. Adopting this prose style to describe this story, which is set in the deep south of the United States shows her masterly talent to create a true novelty novel. It not only shows that the style of the Grimm Brothers can still be used, it can be be transplanted across the Atlantic and works just as natural with local characters in the legendary past of African-American story-telling in Mississippi. By combining the two story telling traditions, show more Welty gives new depth to the idea of universal literature.

The robber bridegroom does not only feature and antiquated style, the story is set in eighteenth-century Natchez, Mississippi, has characteristics of earlier story-telling traditions, involving somewhat confusing antics, and a multitude of characters, which make the story-line difficult to follow. For example, the story begins with two of the main characters sharing a bed of three bed fellows, a habit occurring quite naturally at that time as travellers sought lodging in inns. This scene introduces two of the main characters, as Jamie Lockhart does Clement Musgrove a good turn. Later on, Lockhart bids for Musgrove's daughter Rosamond.

The robber bridegroom is a wonderful reading experience, but the plot was rather a bit confusing. Not being very familiar with the Brothers Grimm, it is not clear how the story is related to the tale, although this does not seem to matter much. The novel can be read in its own right, as a classic of the Southern novel. show less

Cayman 2025 - #1 - Unexpected little gem....it took me a bit to grasp what was going on here......ended up being a fairy tale of sorts I guess.....very light on the believability scale, but i eventually got into the whimsical nature of things. This was also unexpectedly bawdy as the relatively short novel takes off. Mississippi River, Horse-riding bandits, evil stepmother, Natchez trail, neighborhood simpleton, beautiful damsel, etc., etc. The more i read, the more i enjoyed. Welty's first book i believe. Give it a try!

The Robber Bridegroom retells the classic fairy tale of the same name, though this time set in Mississippi during its early frontier days. Apparently, it features some legendary local characters (i.e. Clement Musgrove, Jamie Lockhart), none of which were familiar to me. Whether my enjoyment of the story suffered because of my ignorance in this matter I cannot say. Clement has a beautiful daughter, who is stolen away by the bandit Jamie, aided by the nefarious acts of Clement's evil second wife, who is jealous of his daughter.

The story is an interesting mix of frontier legend and fairy tale, but prose read like a fairy tale, with a kind of cadence that I enjoyed:

"Ho! Ho! Said the other, and taking off his red shirt and filling his show more bristling chest with a breath of fresh air, he seized the other's own jug and finished it off. Then, sailing his cap into the air, he gave a whistle and a shake and declared that he was none other than Mike Fink, champion of all the flatboat bullies on the Mississippi River, and ready for anything."

An easy, short read, the book is very witty and yet oddly disturbing in places. (2/13/12) show less