Few writers have had the impact on my life that Flannery O'Connor has had. There are a few definitive reasons for this. First, she was from Georgia, and her writing depicts mindsets and customs that are still prevalent in the Southern part of the United States today, some 45 years since her death.
But perhaps the most relevant similarity between her life and mine is that I, too, live with the chronic illness that eventually claimed her life. This illness, lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus, had a direct bearing on both O'Connor's life and her fiction. And it has a day-to-day impact on my life, as well. For those who have any questions about this illness, I would suggest looking up the Lupus Organization online. I will not directly link to it here, since I have no desire to focus too intensively on medical issues. This is, after all, a literary forum--and I suspect that Flannery O'Connor would want to be remembered for her fiction, not her battle with lupus.
She was born Mary Flannery O'Connor, the only child of Regina and Edward O'Connor, on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. Edward died of lupus when O'Connor was just thirteen, and three years prior to that the family moved from Savannah to Milledgeville, Georgia, so that they could be closer to Regina O'Connor's relatives. Flannery, a precocious child, had a strict Roman Catholic upbringing. In 1945, she graduated from Georgia State College For Women with a degree in sociology. In 1947, she earned an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa. Her thesis featured a collection of short stories which she worked to expand into a full-length novel after winning a literary prize in 1948, an accomplishment which brought her to Saratoga Springs, New York.
It wasn't until 1950 that she was diagnosed with lupus. Her first attack was severe enough so necessitate her moving back to Milledgeville from Connecticut, and she resided in Georgia for the remaning 14 years of her life. This first bout with lupus, which was treated with massive doses of cortisone (steroids), made it mandatory for O'Connor to lead the final years of her life walking on crutches (hence the many photos of her available on-line and in books that depict her using crutches).
Although she is one of the Southern United States' most widely recognized and praised writers, Flannery O'Connor only
wrote two short novels--Wise Blood (1952) and Everything that Rises Must Converge (1960), in addition to one volume of short stories, A Good Man is Hard to Find (1955). In her collected correspondence, she speaks about how the fatigue brought about by lupus made it impossible for her to write more than two or three hours a day. This situation, of course, fully explains why she didn't write more, though it does not take away from her genius or creative brilliance in any way. It isn't easy to describe much of her fiction, and labels such as "Southern Gothic" tend to shortchange her work, in my opinion, since they only focus on one aspect of it. A lot of her stories focus on the hypocritical side of religion. Wise Blood, probably her most famous work, centers around a man who believes he is destined to become an evangelical preacher. The novel was made into a film by the great director, John Huston, in 1979.
O'Connor's wit and sharp-edged vision have influenced a generation of writers since her time. In fact, her work has attracted more critical attention than any other 20th century American woman writer. What is it about this lady's writing that makes scholars and readers alike keep returning to it again and again? It could be that irony with which she shows day-to-day situations in the lives of seemingly ordinary people. And when I use the word "ordinary", it is in the broadest sense. O'Connor's stories are full of dysfunctional characters--hypocrites, domineering women, ungrateful children, and other maladjusted people. But is not society full of people like this? I think what she succeeds in demonstrating is that the most pernicious type of evil is that which has nothing to do with supernatural forces or pacts with Satan. It is the type of evil that comes from the malignancy of the human spirit. To use O'Connor's own words, her desire was to reflect "the broken condition of mankind and the devil by which we are possessed."
Flannery O'Connor's own literary influences were vast and varied. She was a voracious reader. It was not uncommon for her to have dozens of books shipped to her at one time. Among her favorite writers were Honore de Balzac, Henry James, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. She was also a fan of J. D. Salinger, whose book The Catcher in the Rye she devoured in a matter of hours. She had a somewhat sardonic view of life, was incredibly self-effacing, and rarely--if ever--minced words. Her courage was astounding, and her writing is truly a testament to the triumph of the will and the human spirit over physical fragility.
There is so much more I could say about Flannery O'Connor. I began this thread spontaneously, however, and I haven't any extensive notes to help me along. My decision to honor O'Connor with a thread was provoked by an e-mail that came in my inbox this morning from the New York Times about a new biography on Flannery O'Connor by Brad Gooch.
It is my hope that Flannery O'Connor's s work will continue to be read, loved, and analyzed. She may have only lived for 39 years, but she left us with a literary legacy that may be lacking in bulk but is truly extraordinary in content.
To understand her best, I would recommend her collection of letters, The Habit of Being (1979). But it is unnecessary to learn more about the woman merely to appreciate her work. So, if fiction is what interests you most, plunge into her short stories or one of her novels. You will never look at life or the Southern United States in quite the same way again.
But perhaps the most relevant similarity between her life and mine is that I, too, live with the chronic illness that eventually claimed her life. This illness, lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus, had a direct bearing on both O'Connor's life and her fiction. And it has a day-to-day impact on my life, as well. For those who have any questions about this illness, I would suggest looking up the Lupus Organization online. I will not directly link to it here, since I have no desire to focus too intensively on medical issues. This is, after all, a literary forum--and I suspect that Flannery O'Connor would want to be remembered for her fiction, not her battle with lupus.
She was born Mary Flannery O'Connor, the only child of Regina and Edward O'Connor, on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. Edward died of lupus when O'Connor was just thirteen, and three years prior to that the family moved from Savannah to Milledgeville, Georgia, so that they could be closer to Regina O'Connor's relatives. Flannery, a precocious child, had a strict Roman Catholic upbringing. In 1945, she graduated from Georgia State College For Women with a degree in sociology. In 1947, she earned an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa. Her thesis featured a collection of short stories which she worked to expand into a full-length novel after winning a literary prize in 1948, an accomplishment which brought her to Saratoga Springs, New York.
It wasn't until 1950 that she was diagnosed with lupus. Her first attack was severe enough so necessitate her moving back to Milledgeville from Connecticut, and she resided in Georgia for the remaning 14 years of her life. This first bout with lupus, which was treated with massive doses of cortisone (steroids), made it mandatory for O'Connor to lead the final years of her life walking on crutches (hence the many photos of her available on-line and in books that depict her using crutches).
Although she is one of the Southern United States' most widely recognized and praised writers, Flannery O'Connor only
wrote two short novels--Wise Blood (1952) and Everything that Rises Must Converge (1960), in addition to one volume of short stories, A Good Man is Hard to Find (1955). In her collected correspondence, she speaks about how the fatigue brought about by lupus made it impossible for her to write more than two or three hours a day. This situation, of course, fully explains why she didn't write more, though it does not take away from her genius or creative brilliance in any way. It isn't easy to describe much of her fiction, and labels such as "Southern Gothic" tend to shortchange her work, in my opinion, since they only focus on one aspect of it. A lot of her stories focus on the hypocritical side of religion. Wise Blood, probably her most famous work, centers around a man who believes he is destined to become an evangelical preacher. The novel was made into a film by the great director, John Huston, in 1979.
O'Connor's wit and sharp-edged vision have influenced a generation of writers since her time. In fact, her work has attracted more critical attention than any other 20th century American woman writer. What is it about this lady's writing that makes scholars and readers alike keep returning to it again and again? It could be that irony with which she shows day-to-day situations in the lives of seemingly ordinary people. And when I use the word "ordinary", it is in the broadest sense. O'Connor's stories are full of dysfunctional characters--hypocrites, domineering women, ungrateful children, and other maladjusted people. But is not society full of people like this? I think what she succeeds in demonstrating is that the most pernicious type of evil is that which has nothing to do with supernatural forces or pacts with Satan. It is the type of evil that comes from the malignancy of the human spirit. To use O'Connor's own words, her desire was to reflect "the broken condition of mankind and the devil by which we are possessed."
Flannery O'Connor's own literary influences were vast and varied. She was a voracious reader. It was not uncommon for her to have dozens of books shipped to her at one time. Among her favorite writers were Honore de Balzac, Henry James, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. She was also a fan of J. D. Salinger, whose book The Catcher in the Rye she devoured in a matter of hours. She had a somewhat sardonic view of life, was incredibly self-effacing, and rarely--if ever--minced words. Her courage was astounding, and her writing is truly a testament to the triumph of the will and the human spirit over physical fragility.
There is so much more I could say about Flannery O'Connor. I began this thread spontaneously, however, and I haven't any extensive notes to help me along. My decision to honor O'Connor with a thread was provoked by an e-mail that came in my inbox this morning from the New York Times about a new biography on Flannery O'Connor by Brad Gooch.
It is my hope that Flannery O'Connor's s work will continue to be read, loved, and analyzed. She may have only lived for 39 years, but she left us with a literary legacy that may be lacking in bulk but is truly extraordinary in content.
To understand her best, I would recommend her collection of letters, The Habit of Being (1979). But it is unnecessary to learn more about the woman merely to appreciate her work. So, if fiction is what interests you most, plunge into her short stories or one of her novels. You will never look at life or the Southern United States in quite the same way again.
In closing, I want to share some words that the poet, Elizabeth Bishop, had to say about O'Connor:
I am sure her books will live on and on in American literature. They are narrow, possibly, but they are clear, hard,
vivid, and full of bits of description, phrases, and an odd insight that contains more real poetry than a dozen books
of poems.
vivid, and full of bits of description, phrases, and an odd insight that contains more real poetry than a dozen books
of poems.
Flannery O'Connor, we miss you.
~Titania
Last edited:
