Catholic Books >  Literature / Fiction Books >  Literary Commentary Books >  Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor



Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor

Item Number: 21672

Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor
View XL Image
Purchase Information

Your Price:  $30.00

Select Qty:

Availability:   Usually leaves our store within 2-3 Weeks

Bookmark and Share




Product Details
Author: 
Format:
Manufacturer:
Date:
Pages:
 Brad Gooch
Discuss Catholic books. Hard Cover
Little Brown and Co.
2009
464

 General Description:

The landscape of American literature was fundamentally changed when Flannery O'Connor stepped onto the scene with her first published book, Wise Blood, in 1952. Her fierce, sometimes comic novels and stories reflected the darkly funny, vibrant, and theologically sophisticated woman who wrote them. Brad Gooch brings to life O'Connor's significant friendships--with Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Hardwick, Walker Percy, and James Dickey among others--and her deeply felt convictions, as expressed in her communications with Thomas Merton, Elizabeth Bishop, and Betty Hester. Hester was famously known as "A" in O'Connor's collected letters, The Habit of Being, and a large cache of correspondence to her from O'Connor was made available to scholars, including Brad Gooch, in 2006. O'Connor's capacity to live fully--despite the chronic disease that eventually confined her to her mother's farm in Georgia--is illuminated in this engaging and authoritative biography.
 

Reviews -

"Flannery O'Connor, one of the best American writers of
short fiction, has found her ideal biographer in Brad Gooch. With elegance and
fairness, Gooch deals with the sensitive areas of race and religion in
O'Connor's life. He also takes us back to those heady days after the war when
O'Connor studied creative writing at Iowa. There is much that is new in this
book, but, more important, everything is presented in a strong, clear light." -- Edmund White

"This splendid biography gives us no saint or martyr but the
story of a gifted and complicated woman, bent on making the best of the
difficult hand fate has dealt her, whether it is
with grit and humor or with an abiding desire to make palpable to readers the
terrible mystery of God's grace." --Frances Kiernan, author of Seeing Mary Plain: A Life of Mary McCarthy


"A good biographer is hard to find. Brad Gooch is not
merely good-he is extraordinary. Blessed with the eye and ear of a novelist, he
has composed the life that admirers of the fierce and hilarious Georgia genius
have long been hoping for." -- Joel Conarroe, President Emeritus, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation
 

From Publishers Weekly -

Gooch (City Poet:The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara) offers a surprisingly bloodless biography of Flannery O'Connor (1925–1964), who, despite the author's diligent scholarship, remains enigmatic. She emerges only in her excerpted letters, speeches and fiction, where she is as sharp-tongued, censorious, piteously observant and mordantly funny as her beloved short stories. There is little genuinely interesting new material, but there are small gems—the full story of O'Connor's friendship with the mysterious A. of her letters, for instance. Perhaps mindful of the writer's dislike of being exposed in print, Gooch errs on the side of delicacy; he does not sufficiently explore her attitudes toward blacks and how the early onset of lupus left her sequestered on her mother's Georgia farm, without the male companionship she craved. Instead, he plumbs O'Connor's fiction for buried fragments of her daily life, and the revelations are hardly astonishing. Readers looking for more startling tidbits will be disappointed by this account that brims with the quiet satisfactions the author took in her industry (I sit all day typing and grinning like the Cheshire cat), her faith, friends and stoic approach to a debilitating disease. 16 pages of b&w photos.

From The New Yorker magazine -

Drawing on recently unsealed letters and an impressive array of interviews, Gooch provides the first major biography of Flannery O'Connor since she died in 1964, at the age of thirty-nine. He presents a writer influenced by the early death of her father and the retreat from city life to country; an Irish Catholic upbringing that evolved into an adult fascination with theology; and a Southern small-town culture whose matrons, including O'Connor's mother, were happy for her success but put off by the unladylike nature of her work "Everybody here shakes my hand but nobody reads my stories." Though she spent time in both the Midwest and the Northeast, lupus narrowed the circle of her life to a dairy farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she collected exotic birds. Gooch's account is meticulous, but O'Connor's sedate, chaste life is pale in comparison with her fantastic fiction - a contrast that underscores her inscrutable genius.
 

 

 Browse For Similar Items In

Review Provided By TiberRiver.com - THE Catholic Book Review Site A Tiber River reviewer hasn't written a review for this book yet.
Sign up as a Tiber River reviewer and see your review here!
(Apart from fame, you can also can get free stuff and gift certificates.)

Reviews:

Related Articles

1. Damien of Molokai - Priest of Heroic Kindness 11/02/2009

2. Msgr. Ronald Knox - Priest of Heroic Modesty 10/05/2009

3. Fr. Peter Whelan - Priest of Heroic Generosity 08/31/2009

4. Augustine Tolton - Priest of Heroic Patience 07/30/2009

5. Don Carlo Gnocchi - Priest of Heroic Kindness 06/18/2009

6. Fr. Vincent Capodanno - Priest of Heroic Virtue 06/01/2009

7. About Muriel Spark 04/22/2009

8. Our Lady of Fatima 02/26/2009

9. St. Anthony of Padua 02/26/2009

10. St. Mark the Evangelist 02/24/2009

11. St. Joseph 02/23/2009

12. St. Patrick 02/11/2009

13. The Meaning of Lent 01/21/2009

14. St. Valentine 01/16/2009

15. St. John Bosco 01/16/2009

16. St. Anthony the Great, Founder of Monasticism 01/14/2009

17. Archbishop Fulton Sheen 01/14/2009

18. St. Thomas Aquinas 01/06/2009

19. St. Francis de Sales 01/06/2009

20. The Conversion of Paul 12/17/2008

21. St. Agnes of Rome 12/17/2008

22. Pope St. Damasus I 12/02/2008

23. St. Jude Thaddeus 12/02/2008

24. The Ignatius Critical Editions 11/25/2008

25. Good King Wenceslas 11/25/2008

26. A Resource Guide to Books by Pope Benedict XVI 11/25/2008

27. St. Catherine of Alexandria 11/24/2008

28. St. Francis Xavier 11/24/2008

29. St. Lucy 11/24/2008

30. Saint Cecilia 11/21/2008

31. Devotion to the Saints 11/13/2008

32. St. Albert the Great 11/04/2008

33. St. Martin de Porres, the Saint of the Broom 10/24/2008

34. Monthly Dedications of the Church Year 10/24/2008

35. St. Josaphat Kuncevyc 10/21/2008

36. St. Teresa of Avila 10/14/2008

37. St. Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart 10/14/2008

38. In Remembrance of Pope John Paul II 10/13/2008

39. Resources for the Year of St. Paul 10/13/2008

40. A Letter From Padre Pio 10/01/2008

41. Francis and Clare - A New Feature Film 10/01/2008

42. Mother Teresa's Secret Fire 10/01/2008

43. St. Pio - Padre Pio - A Model for Our Times 09/22/2008

44. The Apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes 07/21/2008

45. About St. Bernadette 07/21/2008

46. The Real St. Nicholas 07/08/2008

47. The Conversion of St. Paul 07/03/2008

48. Why a Year of St. Paul? 07/02/2008

49. The Martyrdom of St. Paul 07/02/2008

50. About the Nativity of St. John the Baptist 06/20/2008

51. About St. Aloysius Gonzaga 06/19/2008

52. The Feast of St. Justin Martyr 05/31/2008

53. Feast of St. John Neumann 01/02/2008

54. Feast of the Holy Family 12/29/2007

55. Feast of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr 12/28/2007

56. Feast of St. John the Evangelist 12/26/2007

57. Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton 12/26/2007

58. Feast of St. Stephen, Martyr 12/24/2007

59. Feast of St. Basil the Great 12/21/2007

Have a comment about this product? Please let us know.

 If you would like a reply, please include your email address.


Comments:


Enter the text above:

Patron Saint List: A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z 
My Cart

1-Oplatki Chri $10.00
1-Gold 50th An $25.50
1-Genesis $18.95
1-Don't Trust $11.95
1-Pieta Fine A $349.95
1-Flagellation $89.95
1-Pieta Fine A $219.95
1-First Commun $12.00
1-Great High P $11.95
1-Great High P $21.95
1-Our Life In $7.95
1-Prayers To T $2.00
1-Stories Of K $14.95
1-Our Life In $39.95
1-Hungry Souls $12.95
1-You Shall No $0.31
1-Las Posadas $1.95
1-Our Lady of $27.95
1-Flagellation $219.95
1-Jesus Speaks $12.95
1-Feasts of Je $2.00
1-Baroque Styl $246.95
1-Heretics $14.95
1-Our Life In $12.95
1-Flagellation $349.95
1-Flagellation $52.95
1-Our Lady of $40.75
1-Pieta Fine A $112.95
1-Flagellation $112.95
1-Scapular T-S $18.00
1-How to Serve $12.50
1-St. John Ber $38.50
1-Awakening $14.95
1-St. Denise R $22.00
1-Understandin $10.00
1-Mother Of Di $18.75
1-Theology of $12.99
1-Christmas Cl $40.78
1-The Splendor $29.95
1-Magnificat M $79.95
1-Xtreme Papa $28.00
1-Christmas wi $17.95
1-St. Damien o $0.75
1-Peter on the $9.95
1-Scapular T-S $18.00
1-The Odyssey $13.99
1-Picture Book $9.95
1-O Lux Beatis $16.99
1-Oplatki Chri $5.99
1-Scapular T-S $21.00
1-The Iliad of $14.00
1-Pope John Pa $5.95
1-Art of Marri $35.99
1-St. John Via $39.95
1-The Young Pe $14.95
1-Angel Fine A $349.95
1-Jesus of Naz $60.00
1-Magnifikid! $34.90
1-Wedding at C $21.95
1-Catechism Of $8.99
1-2010 Divine $9.00
1-St. Francis $42.95
1-Marriage Ins $42.92
1-Catholic War $8.00
1-Catholic War $8.00
1-St. Francis $424.95
1-Catherine of $16.95
1-Our Lady of $136.95
1-Oxford Latin $21.95
1-2010 Ordo Lo $14.95
1-Jesse Tree O $8.00
1-Pure Manhood $2.95
1-Haec Dies Po $3.25
1-St. John Via $19.95
1-Puer Natus E $2.50
1-Black Neckba $49.95
1-Orthodoxy $18.95
1-Hospitality $9.95
1-Our Moral Li $30.00
1-2010 Catholi $30.95
1-Gold Arra Co $8.25
1-Our Lady of $136.95
1-November 200 $5.95
1-Marriage Ble $35.99
1-2010 Saints $15.00
1-Knowing Your $3.95
1-Douay-Rheims $69.95
1-A Latin Amer $16.99
1-The Last Sec $21.95
1-El Año de Gr $12.00
1-2010 Liturgi $16.95
1-Irish Shamro $50.00
1-Our Lady of $82.00
1-Douay-Rheims $69.95
1-Black Wood B $16.95
1-Boy's First $21.50
1-Saint Anthon $2.00
1-Psallite Sap $13.50
1-Navy Pacer R $7.95
1-Angels - Pur $45.99
1-El Año de Gr $15.00
1-Our Lady of $18.95
1-Music in Cat $19.00
1-The Divine M $9.99
1-Loitering wi $13.95
1-Hayes and Fi $150.00
1-Simple-Etche $699.00
1-St. Maximill $54.95
1-Turquoise Ce $9.95
1-Lourdes Pewt $44.50
1-San Damiano $37.75
1-St. Therese $14.95
1-Complete Spi $19.95
1-Roguemos al $51.95
1-Bernadette ( $19.95
1-Peaceful Aft $17.50
1-The Bachelor $12.95
1-December 200 $5.95
1-Let's Read L $30.00
1-My Vocation $15.00
1-The Ten Comm $2.00
1-The Shorter $19.95
1-2010 Mary an $9.00
1-U.S. Army Pr $9.95
1-Unabridged C $14.95
1-St Peregrine $1.00
1-Our Lady of $25.95
1-Para LLevar $3.95
1-Our Lady of $13.95
1-Army Pacer R $7.95
1-San Damiano $77.50
1-Dawn of the $10.99
1-Robinson Cru $5.95
1-Prinknash Ab $29.95
1-Essence of P $15.95
1-San Damiano $501.00
1-Theology Of $39.95
1-Chant Classi $41.95
1-Amazing Grac $75.95
1-Pewter Baby $15.75
1-Kissing the $29.95
1-Simple-Etche $51.00
1-A Beginner's $9.95
1-Ratzinger's $17.95
1-Our Moral Li $12.00
1-D'Aulaires' $18.95
1-Our Lady of $23.95
1-Diciembre 20 $5.95
1-Navy Wearabl $9.95
1-Great High P $48.95
1-The Miracle $20.00
1-Saint Thomas $12.95
1-Preparing fo $2.50
1-Confessions $10.95
1-Wood Bead Ro $21.95
1-First Holy C $21.95
1-Marines Pace $8.95
1-Ritual del M $39.95
1-Quo Vadis? $19.95
1-Our Father i $75.95
1-Pray For Our $6.00
1-Doers of the $9.95
1-Hayes and Fi $150.00
1-St. Paul Pre $112.95
1-2010 Ordo Bo $14.95
1-Pride and Pr $4.95
1-Olivia and t $10.95
1-White Cloiso $119.99
1-El Año de Gr $4.00
1-Air Force Pa $7.95
1-Secular Sabo $21.99
1-Octubre 2009 $5.95
1-St. John Via $12.00
1-Saint Theres $14.95
1-Para Entende $4.95
1-The Way $9.95
1-Bach for Cat $7.00
1-Scapular T-S $18.00
1-Trappist Inc $29.95
1-Latin - Engl $5.50
1-Catholic Dic $2.00
1-Macbeth $3.95
1-The Icon Boo $10.00
1-San Damiano $54.00
1-U.S. Air For $9.95
1-Called to Lo $24.00
2-Gold Filled $56.95
1-Catholic 1,2 $2.00
1-Descent From $349.95
1-Into the Hea $19.95
1-The Gargoyle $11.95
1-Our Father i $75.95
1-The Finishin $12.95
1-White Glass $54.95
1-Stainless 24 $5.95
1-Merry Christ $16.99
1-A Song for N $16.95
1-Liturgia de $23.95
1-Little Offic $14.95
1-Jujube Wood $36.95
1-God's Plan f $9.95
1-Into the Hea $24.95
1-St. Paul Pre $349.95
1-Primer for t $2.00
1-Our Lady of $19.95
1-Water from F $4.00
1-Murder in th $8.00
1-Anniversary $29.25
1-Catholic ABC $2.00
1-Black Onyx C $9.95
1-San Damiano $29.50
1-The Our Fath $2.00
1-Saint Martin $2.00
1-Ghirelli Our $159.99
1-St. Paul Pre $219.95
1-San Damiano $1,428.00
1-Max and Bene $17.95
1-The Bible Co $14.95
1-Jujube Wood $36.95
1-Our Lady of $136.95
1-The Girls of $11.95
1-San Judas Ta $0.75
1-French Rope $32.50
1-Into the Hea $244.99
1-Wake Up In U $17.50
1-St. Paul Pre $89.95
1-Hayes and Fi $130.00
1-Great High P $32.95
1-First Commun $21.50
1-Italian Ince $32.95
1-The Poems of $12.00
1-Chanting on $20.00
1-Pope Benedic $29.95
1-Girl's First $29.95
1-May Birthsto $10.95
1-The Templars $14.95
1-St. Paul Pre $52.95
1-Memento Mori $13.95
1-Take Five $9.95
1-Powerful and $17.50
1-February Bir $14.95
1-Misal 2010 $5.95
1-They Found T $9.99
1-First Commun $21.50
1-Marcelino Pa $12.48
1-Pewter Holy $9.95
1-Water from L $3.00
1-Jujube Wood $64.95
1-You Shall No $0.75
1-Cross and Re $7.50
1-Simple Gold $624.99
1-St. John Dam $24.95
1-St. Francis $259.95
1-Calvary Bron $422.95
1-Black St. Mi $6.00
1-Swarovski Cr $55.00
1-Signa Severa $16.95
1-Pewter Birth $46.95
1-Liturgical N $3.50
1-Large Sterli $87.99
1-Ghirelli Two $14.00
1-Pewter Birth $46.95
1-Pewter Scapu $47.00
1-Douay-Rheims $59.95
1-The Judas Sy $16.95
1-The Passion $20.00
1-After This L $12.95
1-Child's Bles $26.95
1-Eucharist Th $11.95
1-Catholic Chr $17.95
1-Demonology $23.95
1-Baby Boy's P $23.95
1-First Childr $7.95
1-David and So $24.95
1-Epic Timelin $1.00
1-The Miracle $12.95
1-The Desert F $12.95
1-Holy Week Re $25.00
1-St. Nathan G $27.75
1-Holy Euchari $25.95
1-The Rosary f $1.50
1-Saint Anthon $7.00
1-Catholic Cla $11.87
1-All Things G $39.95
1-Ghirelli Cle $103.99
1-Immaculate H $8.50
1-Emerald Gree $71.00
1-Catena Aurea $139.95
1-US Coast Gua $9.95
1-4-Way 14KT G $453.95
1-Divine Mercy $9.95
1-Infant of Pr $72.00
1-Pewter Birth $46.95
1-Render Unto $14.00
1-Blue First C $38.00
1-RC Vehicle D $2.50
1-Pewter Birth $46.95
1-One Holy Cat $2.50
1-4-Way And Mi $5.50
1-Solid Silver $4,200.00
1-Lingua Angel $11.95
1-Miraculous M $32.95
1-Beginning Ap $5.95
1-St. John Via $119.95
1-Confirmation $0.75
1-Financially $14.95
1-How to Apply $5.00
1-Jingle Bell $14.99
1-Francis and $19.95
1-The School O $13.50
1-The Rosary o $19.99
1-Catholic Vis $14.95
1-Ghirelli Cle $111.99
1-Lord of the $15.95
1-Sacred Heart $299.95
1-Police Offic $9.60
1-4-Way 14KT G $275.95
1-Praying the $12.95
1-Stainless 30 $5.95
1-Sterling Sil $37.95
1-Riding For A $9.99
1-Divine Mercy $9.95
1-Gold Plated $75.00
1-Douay-Rheims $59.95
1-First Commun $26.50
1-Our Lady of $147.00
1-Sterling Sil $114.50
1-The Wonders $24.95
1-The Love Cha $12.99
1-General Dire $19.95
1-Honor Your F $0.75
1-Lenten Refle $25.00
1-Former Drug $5.00
1-That Hideous $16.00
1-Mountain Mir $14.95
1-Holy Image, $75.00
1-Divine Mercy $44.95
1-7 Habits Of $15.95
1-Henle Latin $14.95
1-Umbert the U $11.95
1-St. Benedict $37.95
1-Scapular T-S $18.00
1-Literary Con $19.95
1-Silver Spons $21.95
1-You Shall No $0.75
1-Official 200 $2.50
1-An Anthology $14.95
1-Behind Bella $13.46
1-Surprised by $13.00
1-Child's Bles $26.95
1-St John Vian $85.95
1-Water Lily S $13.95
1-The Shepherd $19.95
1-St. John Med $45.95
1-Advent Slim $49.95
1-Mary, Mother $34.95
1-Magnificat M $44.95
1-Pewter Birth $46.95
1-Images of Ma $5.00
1-St. Therese $8.95
1-Paschal Cros $25.95
1-St. John Via $28.95
1-Two Essays o $36.00
1-Magnificat A $3.95
1-Two Lives: E $26.95
1-Mariette In $13.00
1-Pastoral Con $5.95
1-Way of the C $36.00
1-Preparation $12.00
1-The Spirit A $9.71
1-O Night Divi $14.95
1-The Sacramen $30.00
1-St. Paul Pap $24.00
1-On Christian $6.95
1-St. Michael $63.00
1-Ghirelli Ant $12.00
1-Baby Blessin $27.50
1-Refill Sheet $7.00
1-Sublime Chan $16.95
1-Keep The Tru $9.99
1-Pewter Birth $46.95
1-Red Tiger Ey $73.00
1-Swarovski Cr $36.00
1-My Treasury $13.95
1-The Office o $19.95
1-Juggler of N $19.95
1-Saint Michae $2.95
1-St. Jason Go $27.75
1-Flower Etche $639.99
1-Manual for t $3.95
1-Christmas wi $15.00
1-National Dir $19.95
1-Five Minutes $14.95
1-French Illum $19.95
1-The Little O $1.50
1-Girl's First $0.75
1-Lingua Angel $16.95
1-Light Blue R $30.00
1-Stainless 18 $4.50
1-Confirmation $2.25
1-14K Gold Cha $95.00
1-True Devotio $18.95
1-Charity in T $14.95
1-Milestones $12.95
1-First Commun $0.75
1-Theology Of $29.95
1-Ghirelli Cle $111.99
1-Sacred Hymns $15.95
1-Firefighter $9.95
1-Perelandra $13.00
1-Illuminated $19.95
1-Shamrock Bea $23.44
1-Vermeil Bead $125.99
1-I Love the P $2.50
1-Pewter Irish $42.99
1-Way of the C $35.00
1-Miraculous M $8.50
1-You Shall No $0.75
1-Meeting St. $12.95
1-Holy Family $975.00
1-National Gua $9.95
2-Whole Wheat $14.95
1-Joseph's Han $12.99
1-1962 Roman C $62.95
1-Hayes and Fi $756.00
1-St. Damien o $24.95
1-U.S. Marine $11.95
1-JMJ Vehicle $2.50
1-Five for Sor $13.95
1-Hayes and Fi $440.00
1-Second Frien $16.95
1-Understandin $44.95
1-The Sacramen $5.00
1-The Christia $24.95
1-Ghirelli Ant $12.00
1-Faith and Re $30.00
1-Light Rose S $55.00
1-The Open Doo $14.95
1-St. John Via $38.95
1-Oxford Poetr $26.95
1-Police Offic $9.95
1-Liverpool So $3,200.00
1-Property of $2.50
1-St. Benedict $29.95
1-Father Elija $17.95
1-Irish Rosary $20.95
1-The Gift of $5.95
1-Mother Of Di $15.00
1-Scare Tactic $9.99
1-St. Patrick $189.95
1-Irish Shamro $62.00
1-Sacred Heart $8.95
1-Mysteries Of $9.95
1-The End of T $17.95
1-Holy Spirit $20.00
1-Fr. Peyton's $10.95
1-Praying with $9.95
1-Our Lady of $22.99
1-Coming Soon $15.95
1-August Birth $13.95
1-St. Sebastia $49.75
1-Burgundy Cat $18.95
1-Out of the S $13.00
1-Fourteen Flo $19.95
1-Lord of the $13.95
1-The Weight o $11.99
1-Confirmation $3.99
1-A Spiritual $27.95
1-Patrick In H $6.95
1-Saint Franci $16.99
1-Lenten Refle $25.00
1-Sacred Class $18.95
1-Miraculous M $12.25
1-The New Revi $7.00
1-The Way of t $36.00
1-Jujube Wood $9.95
1-Coincidental $14.95
1-Who Needs Go $14.95
1-Ghirelli Pol $14.00
1-Stainless 18 $10.95
1-Scarlet and $14.95
1-Celtic Rosar $84.95
1-Ghirelli Ant $14.00
1-St. William $27.60
1-Miraculous 1 $295.00
1-"Who Started $21.00
1-In Paradisum $16.95
1-The Velvetee $9.95
1-The Biblical $14.95
1-Win the Worl $14.95
1-The Nativity $21.95
1-Ghirelli Cle $113.99
1-Dissent from $15.95
1-Home Blessin $26.95
1-Jujube Wood $8.95
1-Douay-Rheims $29.95
1-Gold Plated $113.25
1-Kristin Lavr $25.00
1-Firefighter $9.50

Subtotal: $31,353.25



HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.






Official PayPal Seal
Magnificat 165 100


Free Clergy Shirt 165 x 100


Brother Knight In The Knights of Columbus

We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Checks, Money Orders and Paypal.
 More Options
If you would like to place your order over the phone or have any questions about the site,
please call (719)495-7493 or toll-free, (866)428-2820.


By using our site you agree to our terms of use.
All content copyright 2009.