Not to belittle her work or originality by stereotyping her, O’Connor was part of the Southern Gothic School, sometimes referred to as “The day the hogs ate Willie”. The picaresque characters in Mark Twain’s writing were certainly an inspiration for the Southern Gothics, but they dragged them into much a darker place in order to explore the contradictions of the post-bellum Southern culture.
Lol! “The Day the Hogs ate Willie”.
That’s the kind of story I want to hear read out loud, where the reader could pace the floor while speaking, maybe bang his fist down on a wooden desk for emphasis in certain parts of the conclusion.