Posted on 08/05/2014 1:56:50 PM PDT by RMaley
Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the death of Southern writer, Flannery O’Connor. Below is a recording of her reading her short story, A Good Man Is Hard To Find.
“I am tired of reading reviews that call A Good Man Is Hard to Find brutal and sarcastic,” Miss O’Connor wrote before her death. “Grace changes us and change is painful.”
Miss O’Connor was a Catholic writer living in the deep South who suffered from lupus – a painful illness that ultimately took her life at the age of 39. Her characters often encounter violent or humiliating situations that test their faith, but just as often grants them a moment of transcendent grace
(Excerpt) Read more at thesenewtimes.com ...
One of my favorite writers.
There are plenty of good American writers in the period since the Second World War, although most of the best ones are specialty writers—science fiction, fantasy, mystery. But in my opinion, Flannery O’Connor is the only writer in this period who deserves to be called great.
One of mine as well. She certainly was fond of odd characters and bleak twists in her stories.
She’s a great writer.
However, there was one of her stories she never kidded about and that was "A Good Man is Hard to Find."
I read once where she was asked if she thought college students were being stifled in their writings and she replied something to the effect that they weren’t stifled enough. One thing about Flannery O’Connor is that she got to the heart of the problem in all her characters - which always seemed to be their hearts.
Southern Gothic (Catholic) Alert! And those peacocks!
Yes, she was brilliant. Catholic in the right way - that is, not ostentatious, even though she was definitely part of a minority in the South, and not exactly a welcome minority.
Alice Walker, who later went on to write idiotic and/or awful things, wrote a very nice article about O’Connor many years ago, when Walker was just starting out. I don’t recall what magazine she wrote it for, but she seemed to respect Flannery O’Connor as both a person and a writer. Pity Alice Walker herself ended up as a feminist-race-baiting hack. But Flannery O’Connor had nothing to do with that.
Love her.
Wasn't it Mae West that transposed that a bit to make it a little more racy?
Definitely warped.
When I first encountered her in 1970 as a freshman in college, I was appalled at what I thought was unnecessary brutality in “A Good Man...”. Today, I recognize O’Connor as one of my top five favorite authors and the “brutality” as merely a reflection of the deeply fallen nature of humanity—a story that can only be told truthfully. And next to the extent of the brutality, grace is an even greater marvel.
Is the short story still a popular form?
Not so much.
Now most people tie off with an Internet connection and shoot "media".
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