Jonathan Yardley on Flannery O'Connor (Washington Post, 2005)
Excerpts from Sally Fitzgerald's book of Flannery O'Connor's letters, "The Habit of Being" (pdf). This will be distributed in print at Monday Lunch Group on November 2.
Time Magazine's review of Sally Fitzgerald's "The Habit of Being"
The Life You Save May Be Your Own (audio)
Photos of Andalusia, the farm where Flannery O'Connor spent her life
Emory University unseals the 274 letters written by Flannery O'Connor to Betty Hester. Emory's announcement of the celebration.
Monday Lunch Group Schedule
- Nov. 9 -- Read ahead of time the excerpts from Sally Fitzgerald's book which will be distributed on Nov. 2. Also read the Jonathan Yardley bio and the Time Magazine Review of Fitzgerald's book, and read the links about Betty Hester so you'll understand who the mysterious "A." is in Fitzgerald's book.
- Nov. 16 -- Sue Cottle will do a reading of "The Artificial Nigger." This is my favorite work of Flannery O'Connor, and Flannery herself indicated a similar preference for this story. Also read the article above on the banning of this work in a Catholic parish in Louisiana.
- Nov. 23 -- Read Flannery O'Connor short story "Good Country People". (We may choose to add another story to this assignment as well.)
- Nov. 30 -- Film viewing in Fellowship Hall. "Wise Blood" was O'Connor's first major work and her only novel. In 1979 the acclaimed director John Huston made a film version of "Wise Blood". Below is an excerpt from Vincent Canby's review in the NY Times in 1979.
Wise Blood, based on Flannery O'Connor's 1952 novel about an inside-out religious fanatic of the rural South, is one of John Huston's most original, most stunning movies. It is so eccentric, so funny, so surprising, and so haunting that it is difficult to believe it is not the first film of some enfant terrible instead of the thirty-third feature by a man who is now in his seventies and whose career has had more highs and lows than a decade of weather maps.