O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away was published sixty-nine years ago in January, 1960. "The back jacket is devoted to a quote from Caroline's piece in Critique [on Wise Blood]," O'Connor told Betty Hester, "which will be like waving the red flag in front of several bulls." From an outsider's perspective, it was a nice blurb… Continue reading The Violent Bear It Away: 70 years old in 2020
A Peripety
I think you need in this story [“The Enduring Chill”] what Aristotle called "a peripety," the unforeseen incident which brings about a solution and yet springs out of what has gone before. Suppose that, as very well might be, one of the students in this class is a sort of Fr. Wiegel, a young priest… Continue reading A Peripety
8 January 1964: Gordon to O’Connor
"When I reached my uncle's house," Gordon wrote to O'Connor, "my cousin, Manny, warned me not to mention Kennedy's name. My aunt doesn't like him much better than she liked Roosevelt. Those members of my family have all turned Republican. I always feel like saying, 'But you haven't got enough money to turn Republican'." from… Continue reading 8 January 1964: Gordon to O’Connor
Meeting the Mark
When Flannery O'Connor prepared her first short story collection, A Good Man is Hard to Find, she acknowledged to friend Robert Lowell how much she relied upon Caroline Gordon's feedback on her stories: "I send them all to Caroline and she writes me wherein they do not meet the mark." --Flannery O’Connor to Elizabeth and… Continue reading Meeting the Mark
[Review] Two Ladies of the Southern Pantheon: Flannery O’Connor and Caroline Gordon
"The Southern Catholic literary pantheon may have a new elder stateswoman enshrined soon, if Christine Flanagan has anything to say about it. Associate professor of English at Philadelphia’s University of the Sciences, Flanagan is the editor of the recently released Letters of Flannery O’Connor and Caroline Gordon, published by the University of Georgia Press. While O’Connor’s… Continue reading [Review] Two Ladies of the Southern Pantheon: Flannery O’Connor and Caroline Gordon
Melanie Rae Thon, Silence and Song
One of my favorite writers and one of my greatest teachers is Melanie Rae Thon. She's received a Guggenheim, Whiting, appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize anthologies, and more. She's currently at U of Utah, teaching creative writing and environmental humanities. I can't believe I only recently saw this short film introducing her brilliant book,… Continue reading Melanie Rae Thon, Silence and Song
Flannery & Caroline, 10/9 @ Inkwood Books (Haddonfield)
Flanagan, a 1987 graduate of Haddonfield Memorial High School, has been researching the relationship between the two mid-20thcentury writers for four years. She has traveled to libraries in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and other Southern states to track down and compile copies of the letters the two women wrote to each other. “It was sort… Continue reading Flannery & Caroline, 10/9 @ Inkwood Books (Haddonfield)
