Flannery O’Connor
American writer, whose novels and short stories focusing on
humanity's spiritual deformity and flight from redemption earned
her a unique place in 20th-century American fiction.
Childhood
Mary Flannery
O’Conner was born
on March 25, 1925,
in Savannah,
Georgia.
Her baby crib was
advertised a a “kiddie
coop.”
She lived at 207 East
Charlton Street on
LaFayette Square until she
was sixteen years old.
Most of her life was spent in Milledgeville, Georgia,
where she raised peacocks and wrote. O’Connor moved
to Milledgeville in 1941, and lived her final days at
Andalusia, a farm.
Education
Went to Georgia State College for
Women and graduated in 1945.
Went to Iowa State University and
graduated in 1947.
Her Religion
Flannery was a devout
Catholic, and her religion
greatly influenced her
outlook on life and her work.
Works
O'Connor is frequently compared to the American
novelist William Faulkner for her portrayal of
southern character and milieu and to the Austrian
writer Franz Kafka for her preoccupation with the
grotesque.
A basic theme of her work is the individual's vain
attempt to escape the grace of God, and her work
is profoundly and pervasively religious. She died
of lupus, a disease that crippled her for the last ten
years of her life.
Works
Wise Blood (1952)- first novel
The Violent Bear it Away (1960)- her second, and
final novel.
A Good Man is Hard to Find, and other stories
(1955)- book of short stories
Complete Short Stories of Flannery O’Connor (1971)book of short stories released after her death.
Flannery’s
Style
Flannery O’Connor’s style has
been described idiosyncratic
and unladylike.
She was very straightforward
with her writing.
Her work, along with authors
like Carson McCullers,
focused on topics like the
South and its people.
Her Illness
Flannery O’Connor had the disease, lupus.
The disease started coming on in 1950 and by 1955
she had to walk with crutches.
Her father also died from lupus.
Some people say that her most creative years were
when she was the sickest.
She died in 1963 at age thirty-nine.
Criticism
“Highly unladylike, brutal irony, a slam-bang humor,
and a style of writing as direct as a death
sentence.”-Time Magazine
“Grave, enigmatic, troubling, and highly
idiosyncratic”-Barrett and Cullinan
The End