Flannery O’Connor at 100: should we still read her?

The Guardian ^ | 3/25/25 | Catherine Taylor

[Borges]

She died before she was 40, leaving behind a body of blazingly original short fiction set in America’s segregated south. But her reputation has been tarnished by accusations of racism.

Amonth before she died aged 39, on 3 August 1964, of complications from the autoimmune disease lupus, the American writer Flannery O’Connor wrote from her home in Milledgeville, Georgia to a regular correspondent, the academic and nun Sister Mariella Gable: “The wolf, I’m afraid, is inside tearing up the place.”

The “wolf” that O’Connor refers to is her illness, the name of which derives from the Latin. The disease can be mild, but in its worst form it is systemic, causing not only inflammation, chronic fatigue, muscle weakness and skin rashes, but also permanent tissue damage. In her last years, O’Connor could only move around by means of crutches, tending to her beloved pet peacocks. “I can write for one hour a day, and my, my, do I like my one hour. I eat it up like it was filet mignon.”

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

She was a great writer and, yes, she should still be read.

[stylecouncilor]

She was a great writer and, yes, she should still be read.

Yes!

[richardtavor]

It is all about control..Terminal illnesses take away control. One has to fight to regain it, and only then, can a person gain dignity instead of losing it. I have told my Doctors on many occasions that we all are born with end stages on the horizon, and remind THEM that they will die too, eventually. It is how you live that determines how you die. I thought Flannery O’Connor used a great metaphor: “The wolf is in the house, I’m afraid, rummaging around”.