Flannery O'Connor Books

This is the first book published as a reaction to Flannery O'Connor's death in 1964. It is a valuable reaction to her work by a group of writers and scholars who are not interacting, particularly, with other scholars. That is, these are scholars talking to readers rather than to other scholars--it makes a big difference in what is said, and how it is said. For one thing, the book is free of much of the literary jargon that has since become so fashionable.

In 1964 there was little "critical" material available on O'Connor. She was admired by a select few readers and critics. Over time here place in the American canon has risen considerably so that now, each year seems to see a new critical study of her work.

This small book is valuable as a very early collection of discussion of her work. I am so glad to see it back in print. If you are an O'Connor enthusiast you should get this book and read it--everything in it is quite readable.

Several years ago I did extensive college-level work on the writings of Flannery O'Connor. I found two books particularly helpful in understanding the fullness of O'Connor's achievement, this book and Brian Ragen's "A Wreck on the Road to Damascus." Baumgaertner writes from a similar theological perspective, and though I do not believe she is a Roman Catholic as O'Connor was, she writes with understanding and sympathy for O'Connor's position. I bring up the religious issue only because any in-depth study of O'Connor must face the fact of her deep commitment to her beliefs.
The books is very readable, and though Jill Baumgaertner is a professor (at Wheaton College, Illinois) she takes pains to avoid the academic jargon that marrs much critical writing today. If what you want is a sympathetic insightful reading of O'Connor then there is no better book to start with. However, if what you want is "hip" academic jargon then read Kreyling's collection.

I'm so respectful to the author! As the title suggests, this is a reference guide to Flannery O'Connor's criticism. More than 2,700, from published books to master theses (including foreign ones), are listed with annotations, each of which is very clear and helpful. There are also indexes, and we can find what we're looking for by author's names and subjects. I really thank the Internet technology for bringing me this great book!

I was privileged to be introduced to Flannery O'Connor's works in Dr. Rath's Fiction class at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. At the time, I wasn't aware that Dr. Rath is considered to be one of the most important authorities on O'Connor's work and life.

Dr. Rath once told us in class that he would describe his feelings toward O'Connor and her writings as love, and were she alive, he might seriously consider leaving Mrs. Rath for her. Of course, he was joking, but Dr. Rath writes about Flannery O'Connor's work and life with a passion that few can match.

Flannery O'Connor is perhaps a greater writer about the South than William Faulkner. She had a life cut short by chronic illness but in her short life she managed to write some of the most memorable stories I've ever read.

You will enjoy Dr. Rath's writings about Flannery O'Connor. I encourage you to do an online search for his articles and essays once you have read his book on the subject.

Asals submits that his "overriding concern...is to plot out the most significant dimensions of the imagination" seen in Flannery O'Connor's works, and "to focus on her fascination with tensions and polarities."

Observes her use of startling and violent dualistic images and her debt to previous writers of the grotesque. Notes the unreconciled extremes evident in her fiction and outlines how and why these elements work so effectively. Discusses in the first chapter sources and influences for some of her early stories, including: "The Geranium," "The Turkey," "The Crop," "The Barber," "Wildcat" and "The Train."

The following three chapters focus on O'Connor's artistic practice in her more mature stories: "from close attention to texture...to examination of a crucial and recurrent pattern of character and action...to exploration of some characteristic habits of mind and the fictional strategies that embody them." Asals illustrates his points by drawing upon a variety of stories, then focuses on one story in particular for each chapter.

In the fifth chapter Asals discusses O'Connor's novel "The Violent Bear It Away," "both as a culmination of trends in her fiction after "Wise Blood" [novel] and as a significant achievement in its own right."

Outlines, in the final chapter, religious dimensions of O'Connor's imagination, focusing on her aesthetic discrimination. Maintains that inferences related to her theology "need to be determined within the larger imaginative structure of her fiction, not outside of it." Asals is dismayed to note that studies -- including his own -- seem to miss "the incorrigible sense of comedy that animates" her creations. Finds O'Connor's fiction to reflect "a world of pain dominated by the crucified, not the resurrected Christ, given over to sharp suffering and sudden death."

Adapted by R. Neil Scott from: Scott, R. Neil. FLANNERY O'CONNOR: AN ANNOTATED REFERENCE GUIDE TO CRITICISM. Milledgeville, GA: Timberlane Books, 2002. To order go to: www.TimberlaneBooks.com

I have written my MA thesis on O'Connor, and I can tell you that you will not find a better book that this one for teaching or research. Asals exploration of O'Connor is so extensive, clear and perceptive it discourages further efforts.

In Christian experience, one of the central themes recurring over time and in the attendant literature has been sin and redemption. From this book by Kim Paffenroth, 'The Heart Set Free', one sees selected snapshots of this issues from the Gospels (first/second century), Augustine (fourth/fifth century), Dante (thirteen/fourteenth century), and Flannery O'Connor (twentieth century). According to Paffenroth, 'these thinkers offer timeless criticisms of four of the greatest and most flawed societies of all time - Israel, Rome, medieval Europe, and America - and they do so in a way that raises their critiques out f the particular historical context and renders them relevant today.' Paffenroth's method is explained in the preface - each figure is contained in a chapter, with two particular sins highlighted, and two actions that can be redemptive. Then for each, Paffenroth highlights three specific texts and does a directed study including reflection and prayer. This includes both an academic and spiritual element to the writing, in combination in such a way that makes this text useful for classroom, congregational and small group study.

The chapter on the Gospels looks at the sins of revenge and arrogance. These are sins recurrent in today's society, and Paffenroth choses the texts of Matthew 5 (love your enemies), Mark 10 (the request of James and John to sit at Jesus' right and left hand), and Luke 4 (the proclamation of the Acceptable Year of the Lord). Paffenroth draws on various means of textual analysis and spiritual analysis, including interfaith dialogue. For example, the idea of service being an antithesis to arrogance is one that occurs in other religions, too. 'From completely different theologies, Hindus and Christians have both perceived and tried to follow the difficult truth that devoted service is not just the means to salvation; it is also the end or goal of a saved life.'

I first discovered Paffenroth's writing through a companion book on Augustine (one of my special subjects of study), so the chapter on Augustine held particular appeal to me. After a brief biographical sketch, Paffenroth identifies pride and ambition as major sins of concern, both for Augustine and for Rome. The opposites presented here are humility and contemplation. One of the problems of both of these sins, in Augustine's time and our own, is that they are subtle, and often encouraged by the general society. Rome itself was ambitious in the world, and proud of its history. But pride blinds one to sin (Paffenroth excerpts the 'Confessions', book 5 here), and ambitions can trap us and corrode relationships ('Confessions', book 9). The very first paragraph of the 'Confessions' is highlighted as the third text, one in which the proud, ambitious, highly intelligent Augustine humbles himself in contemplative manner toward the will of God - 'our heart is troubled until it rests in you'. (inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te). The world is indeed a restless place, then and now.

The section on Dante looks at appetite (not simply gluttony, according to the traditional list of seven deadly sins, but encompassing a larger range including lust, greed, and others) and malice. Dante provides the images of a hierarchy of sin - despite the scriptural ideas of 'all falling short', we have a natural inclination to think that some sins are in fact worse than others; Dante obviously shared this, by making the punishments in hell worse and worse as things progressed. Dante's view of many of the sins of appetite is that they are in fact so close to not being sins in many respects that they warrant the least punishment. However, sin is a trap - contrasting Dante's view of the sinful (even the minor sinful) Christians versus the non-Christian virtuous, Paffenroth states that 'the sinners are trapped in their individual places, incapable of movement or change' - sin is a prison, a chain, something that, far from adding variety, in fact makes existence more monotonous. Malice, on the other hand, is a more deliberate act, and one that is both uniquely human and uniquely destructive of relationship - hence, loneliness and separation are far more of a torment than fires and cauldrons and smoke (which are still there in Dante, in some abundance). Paffenroth draws on excerpts from the Inferno, the Purgatory, and the Paradise.

Perhaps my favourite chapter in the book is the one dealing with Flannery O'Connor. Upon receiving this book I at once turned to this chapter to see if Paffenroth had included the story of Ruby Turpin (it was there, much to my delight). The sins of self-righteousness and self-deception are brought into focus, and the way these can destroy both oneself and one's relationships in the world are brought into high focus. Self-deception requires revelation, a unique kind of knowledge and insight given by God, to be overcome. Self-righteousness requires grace, something found in abundance if one looks in the right places, but sometimes with an awesome cost. Paffenroth selects 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', 'A Temple of the Holy Ghost', and a third story [the censors won't let past to be listed] for examples of problems with perception and judgement, and a moment of grace.

After each chapter, Paffenroth gives a short annotated bibliography with selected further readings, as well as endnotes; the use of endnotes rather than footnotes gives this more of a 'general' feel rather than an academic format; while the book certainly stands up well to academic standards and the endnotes are very useful, they can also be somewhat distracting for the more general reader.

This is the kind of book I wish I had written. It has motivated me to re-read the primary material again with new insights in mind. This is the kind of book that can stimulate discussion - try to find a friend with whom to read and share.

She's good, one of those sardonic southern writers who couldn't write a bad sentence if you held her feet to the fire or offered a bribe. She's got that fine ear that condenses our common language and turns it into near poetry. Every word pure protein, no filler. She fuses voice to people to place, like Grace Paley only Hood's people live in rural Georgia, tend to hunt, and Church sends its long shadow. So, imagine cross between Grace Paley and Flannery O'Connor. THrow in the terse existentialism of the blues. Richer language than Raymond Carver, or Tobias Wolfe but part of that short story renaissance that started in the Eighties. She's one of the best.

This is an incredible true sweet tale of a little girl born with a physical disfiguration. Flannery O'Connor wrties a brilliant introduction and the story of this innocent little girl is irresistable.

With the enormous influence that Flannery O'Connor's works have had on students, scholars and other writers, this volume is a welcome addition to O'Connor scholarship.

The teaching role of Edmondson's discussions of O'Connor's perspectives on good and evil and of her views of the intervention of God's grace in the affairs of humankind, are especially insightful. His views on the pervasiveness of humankind's descent into nihilism are very thought-provoking.

Readers of this book--just like readers of Flannery O'Connor's works--may find themselves affected by the content far more than they might imagine.

Dr. Prown explores a whole new approach to O'Connor. She displays a rare understanding of the place of O'Connor in modern Southern and feminist literature. Dr. Prown goes far beyond the usual realm of literary criticism to place O'Connor into the thread of our everyday lives. I highly recommend this book to scholars, laypersons, and all readers interested in O'Connor, Southern literature, and feminist writers.