Flannery O'Conner is a native daughter of Georgia. When I first read her work, I was not enamored by the grotesque characters. Southern Gothic was an acquired taste for me. Flannery O'Conner displayed a mastery of sharp irony with underlying religious themes in her work. Being a Roman Catholic in a largely Protestant South, her work reflects strong religious redemption themes.Flannery O'Conner did not have much of an adulthood. She suffered from Lupus and died at 39. Her mind was quite lively although she spent much of her day convalescing. I read where she stated how much she loved to work the hour she was allowed to write each day. Her father died when she was 15 of Lupus.
Her home, Andalusia, is a tourist attraction in Milledgeville, GA. O'Conner was an anomaly in Baptist Georgia in that she was Catholic. She was born in Savannah. She moved with her parent's to Atlanta for her father's work. As he became ill, they moved to Milledgeville where Flannery O'Connor's maternal family lived. The descendents of Flannery O'Connor's peacocks walk the ground's today.
http://andalusiafarm.org
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/flannery-oconnor-1925-1964
Hi Ann - Lupus is a horrible disease to have ... poor woman her talent was curtailed. Lucky peacock descendants being able to walk the grounds to this day ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeletehttp://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/o-is-for-orkney-islands-adapted-breeds.html
I didn't realize lupus was hereditary.
ReplyDeletePeacocks still going strong is good. Ugg to Lupus. A horrible disease indeed.
ReplyDeleteA life cut short. The peacock legacy sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat's really sad to die so young. I'm glad her writing made her happy.
ReplyDeleteI've read many of her stories but knew little about her life, especially not that she died so young from lupus. How sad that she could only write an hour a day.
ReplyDeleteA shame she died so young, and that she could only write an hour a day!
ReplyDeleteDiscarded Darlings - Jean Davis, Speculative Fiction Writer, A to Z: Editing Fiction
O'Connor is one of my favorite writers. My creative writing professor at the University of Tennessee introduced me to her work when I took a couple of his classes in the early seventies. He was considered a leading Flannery O'Connor scholar and referred to her work often. I enjoy her grotesque characters and strange stories. So memorable in a haunting way.
ReplyDeleteI've been to Milledgeville a few times for work purposes, but at the time I don't think I was aware that home was there and probably didn't have time to visit anyway. One day I'd like to visit, but it's not typically a place where I would be likely to go.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out