Flannery O'Connor's Dark Comedies

Flannery O'Connor's Dark Comedies PDF

Author: Carol Shloss

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2012-01-16

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 0807142468

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In Flannery O'Connor's Dark Comedies Carol Shloss aims to return Flannery O'Connor to her readers on fathomable terms, to offer a rhetorical, rather than theological, perspective from which to understand the country preachers, square-jawed farm wives, wise rubes, foolish intellectuals, huckster Bible salesmen, killers, and other "good country people" who populate O'Connor's fiction. This valuable study of O'Connor's style uses several methods to dissect the author's literary devices from the dramatization of extreme religious experience to direct address to the reader.

The Body in Flannery O'Connor's Fiction

The Body in Flannery O'Connor's Fiction PDF

Author: Donald E. Hardy

Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9781570036989

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This is a reading of physical obsession in O'Connor through linguistic and literary techniques. central struggle between spirit and matter in O'Connor through a close quantitative examination of the interactions of grammatical voice and physical bodies in her texts. Bridging literary theory and linguistics, Hardy demonstrates that the many constructions in which the body parts of O'Connor's characters are foregrounded, either as subjects or objects, are grammatical manipulations of semantic variations on what linguists deem the middle voice - roughly indicating that the subject is acting upon himself or herself. productive approach to understanding O'Connor's use of the body and its parts in her explorations of the sacramental and the grotesque. Linguistic analysis of grammatical middle voice is coupled with quantitative analysis of body-part words and the collocations in which they appear to present a new point of entrance to understanding O'Connor's stylistic manipulations of the body as central to the rift between spirit and matter. Through this method of reading O'Connor, Hardy makes a valuable contribution to the growing body of work that is introducing linguistic terminology and concepts into literary studies.

Reconsidering Flannery O'Connor

Reconsidering Flannery O'Connor PDF

Author: Alison Arant

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2020-12-15

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1496831837

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Contributions by Lindsay Alexander, Alison Arant, Alicia Matheny Beeson, Eric Bennett, Gina Caison, Jordan Cofer, Doug Davis, Doreen Fowler, Marshall Bruce Gentry, Bruce Henderson, Monica C. Miller, William Murray, Carol Shloss, Alison Staudinger, and Rachel Watson The National Endowment for the Humanities has funded two Summer Institutes titled "Reconsidering Flannery O’Connor," which invited scholars to rethink approaches to Flannery O’Connor’s work. Drawing largely on research that started as part of the 2014 NEH Institute, this collection shares its title and its mission. Featuring fourteen new essays, Reconsidering Flannery O’Connor disrupts a few commonplace assumptions of O’Connor studies while also circling back to some old questions that are due for new attention. The volume opens with “New Methodologies,” which features theoretical approaches not typically associated with O’Connor’s fiction in order to gain new insights into her work. The second section, “New Contexts,” stretches expectations on literary genre, on popular archetypes in her stories, and on how we should interpret her work. The third section, lovingly called “Strange Bedfellows,” puts O’Connor in dialogue with overlooked or neglected conversation partners, while the final section, “O’Connor’s Legacy,” reconsiders her personal views on creative writing and her wishes regarding the handling of her estate upon death. With these final essays, the collection comes full circle, attesting to the hazards that come from overly relying on O’Connor’s interpretation of her own work but also from ignoring her views and desires. Through these reconsiderations, some of which draw on previously unpublished archival material, the collection attests to and promotes the vitality of scholarship on Flannery O’Connor.

Approaches to Teaching the Works of Flannery O'Connor

Approaches to Teaching the Works of Flannery O'Connor PDF

Author: Robert Donahoo

Publisher: Modern Language Association

Published: 2019-09-01

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1603294074

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Known for her violent, startling stories that culminate in moments of grace, Flannery O'Connor depicted the postwar segregated South from a unique perspective. This volume proposes strategies for introducing students to her Roman Catholic aesthetic, which draws on concepts such as incarnation and original sin, and offers alternative contexts for reading her work. Part 1, "Materials," describes resources that provide a grounding in O'Connor's work and life. The essays in part 2, "Approaches," discuss her beliefs about writing and her distinctive approach to fiction and religion; introduce fresh perspectives, including those of race, class, gender, and interdisciplinary approaches; highlight her craft as a creative writer; and suggest pairings of her works with other texts. Alice Walker's short story "Convergence" is included as an appendix.

Ritual Performance in the Fiction of Flannery O'Connor

Ritual Performance in the Fiction of Flannery O'Connor PDF

Author: Cynthia Seel

Publisher: Camden House

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9781571131966

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"The study begins with an exploration of O'Connor's Southern milieu, a survey of relevant scholarship (particularly feminist theory), and a clarification of essential terms and concepts surrounding ritual. The remaining chapters are then dedicated to the six short stories, each of which depicts certain ritual patterns and archetypal models. In this way, the study furnishes a prototype that can be applied to O'Connor's entire oeuvre." "Ritual Performance in the Fiction of Flannery O'Connor is an excellent resource for teachers and students of American literature, Southern Studies, feminist theory, and ritual studies. Because it is story-centered rather than theory-driven, it will appeal to those who are looking for ways to read (and teach) O'Connor's astonishing stories more deeply."--BOOK JACKET.

The Modern Satiric Grotesque and Its Traditions

The Modern Satiric Grotesque and Its Traditions PDF

Author: John R. Clark

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0813161355

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Thomas Mann predicted that no manner or mode in literature would be so typical or so pervasive in the twentieth century as the grotesque. Assuredly he was correct. The subjects and methods of our comic literature (and much of our other literature) are regularly disturbing and often repulsive -- no laughing matter. In this ambitious study, John R. Clark seeks to elucidate the major tactics and topics deployed in modern literary dark humor. In Part I he explores the satiric strategies of authors of the grotesque, strategies that undercut conventional usage and form: the de-basement of heroes, the denigration of language and style, the disruption of normative narrative technique, and even the debunking of authors themselves. Part II surveys major recurrent themes of grotesquerie: tedium, scatology, cannibalism, dystopia, and Armageddon or the end of the world. Clearly the literature of the grotesque is obtrusive and ugly, its effect morbid and disquieting -- and deliberately meant to be so. Grotesque literature may be unpleasant, but it is patently insightful. Indeed, as Clark shows, all of the strategies and topics employed by this literature stem from age-old and spirited traditions. Critics have complained about this grim satiric literature, asserting that it is dank, cheerless, unsavory, and negative. But such an interpretation is far too simplistic. On the contrary, as Clark demonstrates, such grotesque writing, in its power and its prevalence in the past and present, is in fact conventional, controlled, imaginative, and vigorous -- no mean achievements for any body of art.