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Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often wrote in a sardonic
Southern Gothic Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, country music, film and television that are heavily influenced by Gothic elements and the American South. Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing or ...
style and relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters, often in violent situations. The unsentimental acceptance or rejection of the limitations or imperfections or differences of these characters (whether attributed to disability, race, crime, religion or sanity) typically underpins the drama. Her writing reflected her
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
faith and frequently examined questions of morality and ethics. Her posthumously compiled ''Complete Stories'' won the 1972 U.S.
National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...
and has been the subject of enduring praise.


Early life and education


Childhood

O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in
Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
, the only child of Edward Francis O'Connor, a real estate agent, and Regina Cline, who were both of Irish descent. As an adult, she remembered herself as a "pigeon-toed child with a receding chin and a you-leave-me-alone-or-I'll-bite-you complex". The
Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home The Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home is a historic house museum in Savannah, Georgia where American author Flannery O'Connor lived during her childhood. The home, built in 1856,Milledgeville, Georgia Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon and bordered on the east by the Oconee River. The rapid current of the river here made this an attractive location to buil ...
, where they initially lived with her mother's family at the so-called 'Cline mansion', in town. In 1937, her father had been diagnosed with
systemic lupus erythematosus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...
; it led to his eventual death on February 1, 1941, and O'Connor and her mother continued to live in Milledgeville. In 1951, they moved to Andalusia Farm, which is now a museum dedicated to O'Connor's work.


School

O'Connor attended Peabody High School, where she worked as the school newspaper's art editor and from which she graduated in 1942. She entered Georgia State College for Women (now
Georgia College & State University Georgia College & State University (Georgia College or GC) is a public liberal arts university in Milledgeville, Georgia. The university enrolls approximately 7,000 students and is a member of the University System of Georgia and the Council ...
) in an accelerated three-year program and graduated in June 1945 with a
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in sociology and English literature. While at Georgia College, she produced a significant amount of cartoon work for the student newspaper. Many critics have claimed that the idiosyncratic style and approach of these early cartoons shaped her later fiction in important ways. In 1945, she was accepted into the prestigious
Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...
at the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
, where she first went to study journalism. While there, she got to know several important writers and critics who lectured or taught in the program, among them
Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the liter ...
,
John Crowe Ransom John Crowe Ransom (April 30, 1888 – July 3, 1974) was an American educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. He is considered to be a founder of the New Criticism school of literary criticism. As a faculty member at Kenyon ...
,
Robie Macauley Robie Mayhew Macauley (May 31, 1919 – November 20, 1995) was an American editor, novelist and critic whose literary career spanned more than 50 years. Biography Early life Robie Macauley was born on May 31, 1919, in Grand Rapids, Michigan ...
, Austin Warren and Andrew Lytle. Lytle, for many years editor of the ''
Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. History ''Th ...
'', was one of the earliest admirers of her fiction. He later published several of her stories in the ''Sewanee Review'', as well as critical essays on her work. Workshop director
Paul Engle Paul Engle (October 12, 1908 – March 22, 1991), was an American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as co-founder of the International W ...
was the first to read and comment on the initial drafts of what would become ''
Wise Blood ''Wise Blood'' is the Debut novel, first novel by American author Flannery O'Connor, published in 1952 in literature, 1952. The novel was assembled from disparate stories first published in ''Mademoiselle (magazine), Mademoiselle'', ''Sewanee Rev ...
''. She received an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 1947. She remained at the Iowa Writers' Workshop for another year after completing her degree on a fellowship. During the summer of 1948, O'Connor continued to work on ''Wise Blood'' at
Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March  ...
, an artists' community in
Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...
, where she also completed several short stories. In 1949 O'Connor met and eventually accepted an invitation to stay with
Robert Fitzgerald Robert Stuart Fitzgerald (; 12 October 1910 – 16 January 1985) was an American poet, literary critic and translator whose renderings of the Greek classics "became standard works for a generation of scholars and students".Mitgang, Herbert (Janua ...
(a well-known translator of the classics) and his wife, Sally, in
Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York ...
.


Career

O'Connor is primarily known for her short stories. She published two books of short stories: ''
A Good Man Is Hard to Find ''A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories'' (published in the United Kingdom as ''The Artificial Nigger and Other Tales'') is a collection of short stories by American author Flannery O'Connor. The collection was first published in 1955. The ...
'' (1955) and ''
Everything That Rises Must Converge ''Everything That Rises Must Converge'' is a collection of short stories written by Flannery O'Connor during the final decade of her life. The collection's eponymous story derives its name from the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The collecti ...
'' (published posthumously in 1965). Many of O'Connor's short stories have been re-published in major anthologies, including ''
The Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in con ...
'' and '' Prize Stories''. O'Connor's two novels are ''
Wise Blood ''Wise Blood'' is the Debut novel, first novel by American author Flannery O'Connor, published in 1952 in literature, 1952. The novel was assembled from disparate stories first published in ''Mademoiselle (magazine), Mademoiselle'', ''Sewanee Rev ...
'' (1952) (made into a
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
by John Huston) and ''
The Violent Bear It Away ''The Violent Bear It Away'' is a 1960 novel by American author Flannery O'Connor. It is the second and final novel that she published. The first chapter was originally published as the story "You Can't Be Any Poorer Than Dead" in the journal '' ...
'' (1960). She also has had several books of her other writings published, and her enduring influence is attested by a growing body of scholarly studies of her work. Fragments exist of an unfinished novel tentatively titled ''Why Do the Heathen Rage?'' that draws from several of her short stories, including "Why Do the Heathen Rage?," "The Enduring Chill," and " The Partridge Festival". Her writing career can be divided into four five-year periods of increasing skill and ambition, 1945 to 1964: * Postgraduate Student: Iowa Writers' Workshop, first published stories, drafts of Wise Blood. Literary influences include
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
,
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
,
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
* Early: ''
Wise Blood ''Wise Blood'' is the Debut novel, first novel by American author Flannery O'Connor, published in 1952 in literature, 1952. The novel was assembled from disparate stories first published in ''Mademoiselle (magazine), Mademoiselle'', ''Sewanee Rev ...
'' completed and published. In this period, satirical elements dominate. Influences include
Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...
. * Middle: ''
A Good Man Is Hard to Find ''A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories'' (published in the United Kingdom as ''The Artificial Nigger and Other Tales'') is a collection of short stories by American author Flannery O'Connor. The collection was first published in 1955. The ...
'' published, ''
The Violent Bear It Away ''The Violent Bear It Away'' is a 1960 novel by American author Flannery O'Connor. It is the second and final novel that she published. The first chapter was originally published as the story "You Can't Be Any Poorer Than Dead" in the journal '' ...
'' written and published. Influences include
Friedrich von Hügel Friedrich von Hügel (born ''Friedrich Maria Aloys Franz Karl Freiherr von Hügel'', usually known as ''Baron von Hügel''; 5 May 1852 – 27 January 1925) was an influential Austrian Catholic layman, religious writer, and Christian apologist. Al ...
. In this period, the mystical undercurrents begin to have primacy. * Mature: ''
Everything That Rises Must Converge ''Everything That Rises Must Converge'' is a collection of short stories written by Flannery O'Connor during the final decade of her life. The collection's eponymous story derives its name from the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The collecti ...
'' written. Influences include
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ( (); 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and phil ...
and Mary Anne Long. In this period, the notion of grotesque is expanded to include the good as grotesque, and the grotesque as good.


Characteristics

Regarding her emphasis of the grotesque, O'Connor said: " ything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic." Her texts usually take place in the South and revolve around morally flawed characters, frequently interacting with people with disabilities or disabled themselves (as O'Connor was), while the issue of race often appears. Most of her works feature disturbing elements, though she did not like to be characterized as cynical. "I am mighty tired of reading reviews that call ''A Good Man'' brutal and sarcastic," she wrote. "The stories are hard but they are hard because there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian realism... When I see these stories described as horror stories I am always amused because the reviewer always has hold of the wrong horror." She felt deeply informed by the sacramental and by the
Thomist Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed questions a ...
notion that the created world is charged with God. Yet she did not write
apologetic Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...
fiction of the kind prevalent in the Catholic literature of the time, explaining that a writer's meaning must be evident in his or her fiction without
didacticism Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...
. She wrote ironic, subtly allegorical fiction about deceptively backward Southern characters, usually fundamentalist Protestants, who undergo transformations of character that, to her thinking, brought them closer to the Catholic mind. The transformation is often accomplished through pain, violence, and ludicrous behavior in the pursuit of the holy. However grotesque the setting, she tried to portray her characters as open to the touch of
divine grace Divine grace is a theological term present in many religions. It has been defined as the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptati ...
. This ruled out a sentimental understanding of the stories' violence, as of her own illness. She wrote: "Grace changes us and the change is painful." She also had a deeply sardonic sense of humor, often based in the disparity between her characters' limited perceptions and the awesome fate awaiting them. Another source of humor is frequently found in the attempt of well-meaning liberals to cope with the rural South on their own terms. O'Connor used such characters' inability to come to terms with disability, race, poverty, and fundamentalism, other than in sentimental illusions, as an example of the failure of the secular world in the twentieth century. However, in several stories O'Connor explored some of the most sensitive contemporary issues that her liberal and fundamentalist characters might encounter. She addressed the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
in her story " The Displaced Person",
racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...
in "
Everything That Rises Must Converge ''Everything That Rises Must Converge'' is a collection of short stories written by Flannery O'Connor during the final decade of her life. The collection's eponymous story derives its name from the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The collecti ...
" and
intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
uality in " A Temple of the Holy Ghost". Her fiction often included references to the problem of race in the South; occasionally, racial issues come to the forefront, as in " The Artificial Nigger," "Everything that Rises Must Converge," and "
Judgement Day The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
," her last short story and a drastically rewritten version of her first published story, "
The Geranium "The Geranium" is an early short story by the American author Flannery O'Connor. It was first published in ''Accent: A Quarterly of New Literature'' in 1946 and is one of the six stories included in O'Connor's 1947 master's thesis ''The Geranium ...
". Despite her secluded life, her writing reveals an uncanny grasp of the nuances of human behavior. O'Connor gave many lectures on faith and literature, traveling quite far despite her frail health. Politically, she maintained a broadly progressive outlook in connection with her faith, voting for
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
in 1960 and supporting the work of
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
and the civil rights movement.


Illness and death

By the summer of 1952, O'Connor was diagnosed with
systemic lupus erythematosus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...
(lupus), as her father had been before her. She remained for the rest of her life on
Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...
. O'Connor lived for twelve years after her diagnosis, seven years longer than expected. Her daily routine was to attend Mass, write in the morning, then spend the rest of the day recuperating and reading. Despite the debilitating effects of the steroid drugs used to treat O'Connor's lupus, she nonetheless made over sixty appearances at lectures to read her works. In the PBS documentary, ''
Flannery Flannery is a bridge convention using a 2 opening bid to show a hand of minimal opening bid strength (11-15 high card points) with exactly four spades and five (or sometimes six) hearts. It was invented by American player William (Bill) L. Flanne ...
'', the writer
Alice McDermott Alice McDermott (born June 27, 1953) is an American writer and university professor. For her 1998 novel ''Charming Billy'' she won an American Book Award and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. McDermott is Johns Hopkins University's Rich ...
explains the impact lupus had on O'Connor's work, saying, "It was the illness, I think, which made her the writer she is." O'Connor completed more than two dozen short stories and two novels while living with lupus. She died on August 3, 1964, at the age of 39 in Baldwin County Hospital. Her death was caused by complications from a new attack of lupus following surgery for a
uterine fibroid Uterine fibroids, also known as uterine leiomyomas or fibroids, are benign smooth muscle tumors of the uterus. Most women with fibroids have no symptoms while others may have painful or heavy periods. If large enough, they may push on the bl ...
. She was buried in Milledgeville, Georgia, at Memory Hill Cemetery.


Letters

Throughout her life, O'Connor maintained a wide correspondence, including with writers
Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...
and
Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American people, American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the N ...
, English professor Samuel Ashley Brown, and playwright
Maryat Lee Maryat Lee (born Mary Attaway Lee; May 26, 1923 – September 18, 1989) was an American playwright and theatre director who made important contributions to post-World War II avant-garde theatre, pioneering street theatre in Harlem and later fou ...
. After her death, a selection of her letters, edited by her friend Sally Fitzgerald, was published as ''The Habit of Being''. Much of O'Connor's best-known writing on religion, writing, and the South is contained in these and other letters. In 1955,
Betty Hester Hazel Elizabeth Hester (June 1, 1923 – December 26, 1998) was an American correspondent of influential twentieth-century writers, including Flannery O'Connor and Iris Murdoch. Hester wrote several short stories, poems, diaries, and philosophical ...
, an Atlanta file clerk, wrote O'Connor a letter expressing admiration for her work. Hester's letter drew O'Connor's attention, and they corresponded frequently. For ''The Habit of Being'', Hester provided Fitzgerald with all the letters she received from O'Connor but requested that her identity be kept private; she was identified only as "A." The complete collection of the unedited letters between O'Connor and Hester was unveiled by
Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
in May 2007; the letters had been given to the university in 1987 with the stipulation that they not be released to the public for 20 years. Emory University also contains the more than 600 letters O'Connor wrote to her mother, Regina, nearly every day while she was pursuing her literary career in Iowa City, New York, and Massachusetts. Some of these describe "travel itineraries and plumbing mishaps, ripped stockings and roommates with loud radios," as well as her request for the homemade mayonnaise of her childhood. O'Connor lived with her mother for 34 of her 39 years of life.


Catholicism

O'Connor was a devout Catholic. From 1956 through 1964, she wrote more than one hundred book reviews for two Catholic diocesan newspapers in Georgia: ''The Bulletin'' and ''The Southern Cross''. According to fellow reviewer Joey Zuber, the wide range of books she chose to review demonstrated that she was profoundly intellectual. Her reviews consistently confronted theological and ethical themes in books written by the most serious and demanding theologians of her time. Professor of English Carter Martin, an authority on O'Connor's writings, notes simply that her "book reviews are at one with her religious life". A prayer journal O'Connor had kept during her time at the University of Iowa was published in 2013. It included prayers and ruminations on faith, writing, and O'Connor's relationship with God.


Enjoyment of birds

O'Connor frequently used bird imagery within her fiction. When she was six, O'Connor experienced her first brush with celebrity status.
Pathé News Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as British Pathé. Its coll ...
filmed "Little Mary O'Connor" with her trained chicken and showed the film around the country. She said: "When I was six I had a chicken that walked backward and was in the Pathé News. I was in it too with the chicken. I was just there to assist the chicken but it was the high point in my life. Everything since has been an anticlimax." In high school, when the girls were required to sew Sunday dresses for themselves, O'Connor sewed a full outfit of underwear and clothes to fit her pet duck and brought the duck to school to model it. As an adult at Andalusia, she raised and nurtured some 100
peafowl Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are refe ...
. Fascinated by birds of all kinds, she raised ducks, ostriches, emus, toucans, and any sort of exotic bird she could obtain, while incorporating images of peacocks into her books. She described her peacocks in an essay titled "The King of the Birds".


Legacy, awards, and tributes

O'Connor's ''Complete Stories'' won the 1972 U.S.
National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...
and, in a 2009 online poll, was named the best book ever to have won the National Book Awards. In June 2015, the
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
honored O'Connor with a new postage stamp, the 30th issuance in the Literary Arts series. Some criticized the stamp as failing to reflect O'Connor's character and legacy. She was inducted into the Savannah Women of Vision investiture in 2016. The
Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction is an annual prize awarded by the University of Georgia Press named in honor of the American short story writer and novelist Flannery O'Connor. Established in 1983 to encourage young writers by bringi ...
, named in honor of O'Connor by the
University of Georgia Press The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is the university press of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. It is the oldest and la ...
, is a prize given annually since 1983 to an outstanding collection of short stories. In 1998, New Jersey rock artist
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
published the song ''A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Pittsburgh)'', based on the aforementioned short story. This was a recording from 1982. The Flannery O'Connor Book Trail is a series of Little Free Libraries stretching between O'Connor's homes in Savannah and Milledgeville. The
Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home The Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home is a historic house museum in Savannah, Georgia where American author Flannery O'Connor lived during her childhood. The home, built in 1856,Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in the ...
had a student dormitory named for O'Connor. In 2020, Flannery O'Connor Hall was renamed in honor of activist Sister
Thea Bowman Thea Bowman, FSPA (born Bertha Elizabeth Bowman; December 29, 1937 – March 30, 1990) was a Black Catholic religious sister, teacher, musician, liturgist and scholar who made major contributions to the ministry of the Catholic Church toward A ...
. The announcement also mentions, "This renaming comes after recent recognition of Flannery O’Connor, a 20th century Catholic American writer, and the racism present in some of her work."


Works


Novels

* ''
Wise Blood ''Wise Blood'' is the Debut novel, first novel by American author Flannery O'Connor, published in 1952 in literature, 1952. The novel was assembled from disparate stories first published in ''Mademoiselle (magazine), Mademoiselle'', ''Sewanee Rev ...
'' (1952) * ''
The Violent Bear It Away ''The Violent Bear It Away'' is a 1960 novel by American author Flannery O'Connor. It is the second and final novel that she published. The first chapter was originally published as the story "You Can't Be Any Poorer Than Dead" in the journal '' ...
'' (1960)


Short story collections

* ''
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories ''A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories'' (published in the United Kingdom as ''The Artificial Nigger and Other Tales'') is a collection of short stories by American author Flannery O'Connor. The collection was first published in 1955. Th ...
'' (1955) * ''
Everything That Rises Must Converge ''Everything That Rises Must Converge'' is a collection of short stories written by Flannery O'Connor during the final decade of her life. The collection's eponymous story derives its name from the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The collecti ...
'' (1965) * '' The Complete Stories'' (1971)


Other works

* ''Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose'' (1969) * ''The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor'' (1979) * ''The Presence of Grace: and Other Book Reviews'' (1983) * ''Flannery O'Connor: Collected Works'' (1988) * ''Flannery O'Connor: The Cartoons'' (2012) * ''A Prayer Journal'' (2013)


References


Citations


Works cited

* * * * * * * *


Further reading


General

* * * *


Biographies

* * *


Criticism and cultural impact

* * * *


Scholarly guides

* *


External links


The Flannery O'Connor Repository
* * Flannery O'Connor reads short stor
A Good Man is Hard to Find
(audio) * Flannery O'Connor introduction to lecture, o
Southern Grotesque
* Flanner O'Conno
cartoons


Library resources


''Postmarked Milledgeville''
a guide to archival collections of O'Connor's letters
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Flannery O'Connor papers, 1832–2003Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Flannery O'Connor collection, c. 1937–2003Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Letters to Betty Hester, 1955–1964
{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Flannery 1925 births 1964 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American essayists American feminists American environmentalists American Roman Catholic religious writers American women environmentalists American women essayists American women novelists American women short story writers Burials at Memory Hill Cemetery Christian novelists Critics of Objectivism (Ayn Rand) Deaths from lupus Ecofeminists Georgia College & State University alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni National Book Award winners Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) O. Henry Award winners People from Milledgeville, Georgia People from Ridgefield, Connecticut University of Iowa alumni Women religious writers Writers from Savannah, Georgia Writers of American Southern literature Catholics from Connecticut Catholics from Georgia (U.S. state) Virtue ethicists Writers with disabilities Writers of Gothic fiction American people of Irish descent Yaddo alumni