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Title details for Good Things Out of Nazareth by Flannery O'Connor - Available

Good Things Out of Nazareth

The Uncollected Letters of Flannery O'Connor and Friends

by Flannery O'Connor
Ben Alexander
Audiobook
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A literary treasure of over one hundred unpublished letters from National Book Award-winning author Flannery O'Connor and her circle of extraordinary friends.
Flannery O'Connor is a master of 20th-century American fiction, joining, since her untimely death in 1964, the likes of Hawthorne, Hemingway, and Faulkner. Those familiar with her work know that her powerful ethical vision was rooted in a quiet, devout faith that informed all she wrote and did.
Good Things out of Nazareth, a much-anticipated collection of many of O'Connor's unpublished letters, along with those of literary luminaries such as Walker Percy (author of The Moviegoer), Robert Giroux, Caroline Gordon (author of None Shall Look Back), Katherine Anne Porter (Ship of Fools), and movie critic Stanley Kauffmann, explores such themes as creativity, faith, suffering, and writing. Brought together they form a riveting literary portrait of these friends, artists, and thinkers. Here we find their joys and loves, as well as their trials and tribulations as they struggle with doubt and illness while championing their Christian beliefs and often confronting racism in American society during the Civil Rights era.
Advance praise for Good Things Out of Nazareth
“An epistolary group portrait that will appeal to readers interested in the Catholic underpinnings of O'Connor's life and work . . . These letters by the National Book Award–winning short story writer and her friends alternately fit and break the mold. Anyone looking for Southern literary gossip will find plenty of barbs. . . . But there’s also higher-toned talk on topics such as the symbolism in O’Connor’s work and the nature of free will.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“A fascinating set of Flannery O’Connor’s correspondence . . . The compilation is highlighted by gems from O’Connor’s writing mentor, Caroline Gordon. . . . While O’Connor’s milieu can seem intimidatingly insular, the volume allows readers to feel closer to the writer, by glimpsing O’Connor’s struggles with lupus, which sometimes leaves her bedridden or walking on crutches, and by hearing her famously strong Georgian accent in the colloquialisms she sprinkles throughout the letters. . . . This is an important addition to the knowledge of O’Connor, her world, and her writing.”—Publishers Weekly

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 15, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781984883698
      • File size: 406048 KB
      • Duration: 14:05:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      With insight and compassion, a team of narrators performs this collection of more than 100 unpublished letters by and about American literary icon Flannery O'Connor and her contemporaries. Novelists Walker Percy and Caroline Gordon (NONE SHALL LOOK BACK) and editor Robert Giroux, among others, fill out the portrait of the sometimes cantankerous O'Connor in knowing and empathetic tones. Narrators John Mayer, Arthur Morey, Dorothy Dillingham Blue, and Kimberly Farr represent the full cast of intellectuals and scholars of O'Connor's age, the 1950s and '60s, who helpfully supported and gently guided the writing and rewriting of this singular talent. The letters explore themes such as creativity, faith, suffering, and writing during a time of social struggle in America. O'Connor's takes on racial equality and religious freedom still ring true today. R.O. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 5, 2019
      Alexander, a Franciscan University of Steubenville English and humanities professor, presents a fascinating set of Flannery O’Connor’s correspondence. Beyond recreating the flavor of the Southern Catholic intellectual subculture which O’Connor inhabited, the compilation is highlighted by gems from O’Connor’s writing mentor, Caroline Gordon. Recognizing O’Connor’s talent early on, Gordon sets about pushing O’Connor to sharpen her prose, study James Joyce, and develop an “elevated” tone to complement her regional dialect. O’Connor fans will especially prize Gordon’s detailed critiques of such celebrated works as the novel Wise Blood and short story “Good Country People.” While O’Connor’s milieu can seem intimidatingly insular, the volume allows readers to feel closer to the writer, by glimpsing O’Connor’s struggles with lupus, which sometimes leaves her bedridden or walking on crutches, and by hearing her famously strong Georgian accent in the colloquialisms she sprinkles throughout the letters—congratulating author Thomas F. Gossett on receiving a positive Time review, she comments “better to have those people for you than agin .” Alexander makes a few odd editing choices, such as including a surprising amount of material about O’Connor’s fellow Southern Catholic author, and Caroline Gordon mentee, Walker Percy. On the whole, however, this is an important addition to the knowledge of O’Connor, her world, and her writing.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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