Flannery O'Connor

by Jill Pelïez Baumgaertner, Frederick Buechner (Foreword by), Douglas Robillard Jr (Foreword by)

Overview

Description: ""To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures."" --Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners Drowning in a river, the violent murder of a grandmother in the backwoods of Georgia, and the trans-genital display of a freak at a carnival show are all shocking literary devices used by Flannery O'Connnor, one of American literature's best pulp fiction writers. More than thirty-five years after her death, readers are still shocked by O'Connor's grotesque images. Dr. Jill Baumgaertner concentrates on O'Connor's use of emblems, those moments of sudden and horrid illumination when the sacred and the profane merge as sacrament. This readable volume is ideal for college students, O'Connor scholars, or those wishing to better understand southern gothic fiction. Endorsements: ""Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner has written one of the few indispensible books on Flannery O'Connor. O'Connor wrote about--and for--people who were blind to what she thought was most important in their lives. Baumgaertner shows how O'Connor worked to restore the vision of both her characters and readers, allowing them to see, even in the grotesque and the violent, emblems of the law that condemns and the grace that saves."" --Brian Abel Ragen, author of A Wreck on the Road to Damascus: Innocence, Guilt and Conversion in Flannery O'Connor ""Professor Baumgaertner's fine study provides the first discussion of the significant emblematic qualities of Flannery O'Connor's work. At the same time, it serves the beginning student of O'Connor as a clear introduction to the religious elements in both her stories and her two novels."" --Marshall Bruce Gentry, author of Flannery O'Connor's Religion of the Grotesque ""This book is both scholarly and easily accessible for the average reader, both interpretive of O'Connor and grittily realistic. Whether O'Connor is taught in areas of higher education, portions of this book ought to be used."" --Walter Wangerin, author of Book of the Dun Cow About the Contributor(s): Dr. Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner is professor of English at Wheaton College.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625640253
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	05/01/2013
Series:	The Flannery O'Connor Studies Series
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Dr. Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner is professor of English at Wheaton College.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

1 "The Meaning Is in You": 3

Flannery O'Connor's Letters

2 The Law Which Condemns 25

"The Geranium"

"The Barber"

"The Crop"

"The Turkey"

"Good Country People"

"The Life You Save May Be Your Own"

"The Comforts of Home"

3 Discharged from the Law 63

"Parker's Back"

"The Lame Shall Enter First"

"The Artificial Nigger"

4 Sacrament: The Outward and Visible Sign 85

"The Displaced Person"

"The Temple of the Holy Ghost"

"The Enduring Chill"

"The River"

5 And the Blind Shall See 121

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find"

"A Late Encounter with the Enemy"

"A View of the Woods"

"A Circle in the Fire"

"Everything That Rises Must Converge"

"Greenleaf"

"Revelation"

6 One Step Forward and Two Back 155

Wise Blood

7 "I Don't Talk No Words" 183

The Violent Bear It Away

8 Flannery O'Connor and the Limitations of Language 207

"Judgement Day"

Bibliography 233

Index 239

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner has written one of the few indispensible books on Flannery O'Connor. O'Connor wrote about—and for—people who were blind to what she thought was most important in their lives. Baumgaertner shows how O'Connor worked to restore the vision of both her characters and readers, allowing them to see, even in the grotesque and the violent, emblems of the law that condemns and the grace that saves."
—Brian Abel Ragen, author of A Wreck on the Road to Damascus: Innocence, Guilt and Conversion in Flannery O'Connor

"Professor Baumgaertner's fine study provides the first discussion of the significant emblematic qualities of Flannery O'Connor's work. At the same time, it serves the beginning student of O'Connor as a clear introduction to the religious elements in both her stories and her two novels."
—Marshall Bruce Gentry, author of Flannery O'Connor's Religion of the Grotesque

"This book is both scholarly and easily accessible for the average reader, both interpretive of O'Connor and grittily realistic. Whether O'Connor is taught in areas of higher education, portions of this book ought to be used."
—Walter Wangerin, author of Book of the Dun Cow

Editorial Reviews

"Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner has written one of the few indispensible books on Flannery O'Connor. O'Connor wrote about—and for—people who were blind to what she thought was most important in their lives. Baumgaertner shows how O'Connor worked to restore the vision of both her characters and readers, allowing them to see, even in the grotesque and the violent, emblems of the law that condemns and the grace that saves."

—Brian Abel Ragen, author of A Wreck on the Road to Damascus: Innocence, Guilt and Conversion in Flannery O'Connor



"Professor Baumgaertner's fine study provides the first discussion of the significant emblematic qualities of Flannery O'Connor's work. At the same time, it serves the beginning student of O'Connor as a clear introduction to the religious elements in both her stories and her two novels."

—Marshall Bruce Gentry, author of Flannery O'Connor's Religion of the Grotesque



"This book is both scholarly and easily accessible for the average reader, both interpretive of O'Connor and grittily realistic. Whether O'Connor is taught in areas of higher education, portions of this book ought to be used."

—Walter Wangerin, author of Book of the Dun Cow

From the Publisher

[This book] would be both informative and accessible to students, scholars and anyone interested in Christian or Southern gothic literature. -- ForeWord Magazine

Jennifer Sperry