Flannery O'Connor was a 20th century American author known for her short stories and novels. She was born in Georgia and set many of her stories in the American South. O'Connor struggled with lupus for many years, which influenced her writing and contributed to her early death at age 39. Despite her illness, she produced two novels and over 30 short stories that were noted for their grotesque characters and spiritual themes reflecting her devout Catholic faith. Her writing brought her critical acclaim for its exploration of faith in a changing American South.

1. A biographical report

3.  Mary Flannery O’Connor (most commonly
known as Flannery O’Connor ) was born in
Savannah, Georgia.
 Flannery tasted fame at the age of six when a
film of Flannery and her trained chicken was
made by Pathé News.
 Her father died of systemic lupus
erythematosus in 1937.

4.  Author of two novels.
 Wise Blood (1952)
 The Violent Bear It Away (1960)
 32 short stories, including two books of short
stories.
 A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955)
 Everything That Rises Must Converge (published
posthumously in 1965).
 Stories took place in the south, and disfigured
or grotesque characters were common.

5.  Graduated from Georgia State College for
Women in 1945.
 Attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the
University of Iowa in 1946
 In 1949, she went to stay with Robert
Fitzgerald, a translator of the classics, and his
wife in Redding, Connecticut for two years.
The were also Catholics.
 Like her father she died of systemic lupus
erythematosus in 1964.

6.  Devout Roman Catholic
 Attended Mass almost daily as an adult.
 Her Southern, fundamentalist Protestant
characters, often underwent transformations
brought on by pain and violence, leading them
to a more Catholic theology.
 Spiritual undertones pervaded her writing, her
Catholic faith being one of her greatest
influences.

7.  Her suffering from lupus and her father's death
from the same disease were significant
influences.
 Flannery was only 39 when she died, but lupus
and the treatment for it caused
some disfigurement,
making her
look much
older.

8.  The last significant influence on her writing
was her southern roots.
 She wrote in a Southern Gothic style with
settings of a regional South.
 Living in the “Bible Belt” of the South caused
her characters to be Southern Protestants as
well.
 Since she wrote in the South, racism had a
place in her stories.

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Document URL
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July 2012.
Document URL
http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/the-artist-as-invalid/
"Flannery O'Connor." The New Georgia Encyclopedia. University of Georgia
Press, 2009. Web. 8 July 2012.
Document URL
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-498