flannery strongostrong’connor’s writing a guide for the perplexed.pdfVIP

Flannery O’Connor’s Writing: A Guide for the Perplexed Michael M. Jordan MANY READERS HAVE BEEN fascinated with can trust.” “Hep that lady up, Hirum.” Flannery O’Connor as a person and au- “Lady, there never was a body that give thor, perhaps for some of the same rea- the undertaker a tip”—a few memorable sons I find her so engaging. I wish to sentences from “A Good Man Is Hard to mention briefly four minor but not insig- Find.” “Ain’t there somewheres we can sit nificant features that attract me and then down sometime?” “I just want to know if focus on three main reasons for her en- you love me or don’tcher.” “One time I got during stature among readers, teachers, a woman’s glass eye this way. And you and critics. needn’t to think you’ll catch me because O’Connor had a very sharp eye and ear Pointer ain’t really my name. I use a differ- for the sights and sounds of her native ent name at every house I call at and don’t land. And for me, a native of western stay nowhere long. And I’ll tell you an- North Carolina living in exile in the Mid- other thing, Hulga, you ain’t so smart. I west, it is a joy to encounter the “South- been believing in nothing ever since I was ernness” in her fictional world, despite born!”—from Manley Pointer’s comments the fact that this world she presents is to Hulga Hopewell in “Good Country often not at all lovely. She did not wear People.” rose-colored glasses, and her eye seized I think O’Connor is as good as Mark upon the depraved, the vulgar, and the Twain when it comes to realistically ren- grotesque. But there is no doubt that she dering both the comic and the tragic vi- ca