# For Flannery O'Connor fans- an informal poll **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512 "2004-01-08T21:48:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/1 "2004-01-08T21:48:05Z")
Flannery O’Connor is essentially the patron saint of the college where I work and the city where I live. I was a fan (though not a mega-fan) of her fiction before I came here but I’ve been amazed to discover what a cult following she has- I’d never have dreamed it was as large as it is in a nation not known for its love of literature or anything that happened before last June. Part of my position is promoting the F O’C collection both in person and online and I’m trying to get a better understanding of her current fan-base. For those who are major fans of her work, what draws you to her the most (e.g. southern voice? Catholicism? ear for dialect? humor? religion?) Any feedback at all is appreciated. (This isn’t going into a scholarly study or anything like it, but is more an informal measure to understand her popularity today.) PS- For anybody interested, [here](http://library.gcsu.edu/~refdesk/andalusia_photos.html) are some photos I took of her home, Andalusia, last winter. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/2 "2004-01-08T21:52:38Z")
Also, what are your favorite stories/works of hers? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/3 "2004-01-08T23:45:26Z")
Good Country People - hands down. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/4 "2004-01-09T01:37:37Z")
**A good man is hard to find** would be my favorite story. For me, what draws me to her writing is the dark humor. “She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/5 "2004-01-09T01:40:41Z")
“She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” I actually thought of that line in the “What’s the Scariest Story You’ve Ever Read” thread. That story was like “Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge” in that it messed me up (in a good way) when I first read it because I was completely wrong about where it was going. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/6 "2004-01-09T02:21:27Z")
I love Flannery. My GF bought me a collection of her shorts and I loved them. I’m not sure what draws me to her, but I think it’s the general fucked-upness that tends to draw me to Kafka as well. But her characters are far more real. Two of my favorites are “The River” and “The Artificial Nigger.” But they’re all great. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/7 "2004-01-09T02:43:24Z")
I have read only the book of her letters. What drew me to her was her able and lifelong defense of her faith, in words alternately colloquial, humorous, and sincere. > [@](#): > > Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. [Mary McCarthy] said that when she was a child and received the Host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the “most portable” person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, “Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.” That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/8 "2004-01-09T07:38:36Z")
I asked for and received _The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor_ for Christmas. I read some stories of hers a few years ago in English class and fell in love with her skewed sense of humor. Like **hlanelee** , my favorite story is “Good Country People.” ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/9 "2004-01-09T09:22:10Z")
There’s nothing in the world like going to a tent revival and healing then coming home to read Flannery o’Connor. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/10 "2004-01-09T13:23:45Z")
I’d have to say it was her sheer craft that first drew me; many of the stories in _Everything That Rises Must Converge_ I was just amazed by, like “Parker’s Back” and “Revelation.” “An Encounter with the Enemy” stands out for me from _Good Man._ You certainly don’t go to her fiction to be soothed or comforted, and I’ve noticed I don’t read her nearly as much as when I was just out of college. At that age, there was something so bracing about her, I think, that also drew me to her. In my humble opinion, _The Violent Bear it Away_ doesn’t nearly get the attention it deserves. Stunning novel, just beautifully executed. And one of my favorite opening paragraphs in literature. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/11 "2004-01-09T13:26:41Z")
By the way, great photos, **Sampiro.** Thanks for putting em up. ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/12 "2004-01-09T15:55:33Z")
I love Flanery O’Conner as well. And I have to concur with the choice of “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Love that story! I think what appeals most to me is her vivid characterization. With just a twist of a sentence, she takes me into a character’s mind and psyche in a way that few writers seem able to do. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/13 "2004-01-09T16:15:21Z")
A great story about Andalusia, btw: after Flannery’s death her mother, Regina (who outlived her by 30 years) essentially closed the home due to its memories and maintenance and spent the rest of her life in a house in the city limits. Though she was a great manager of her daughter’s literary estate (she herself wasn’t literary but she had always been, of necessity, a hardheaded business woman) she either didn’t understand the value of rough drafts or just didn’t want to go through her daughter’s effects. Many of Flannery’s original drafts, cartoons (she was a talented cartoonist) and voluminous handwritten notes and correspondence were kept in cardboard boxes in Flannery’s bedroom in the deserted house. The value of this, not just literarily but monetarily, is almost impossible to estimate, but rough estimate: many many many many thousands of dollars. Here in M’ville, most people have no idea who she was (and then there are those who know exactly who she was but are still p.o.d because she wrote about Uncle X and Cousin Y fifty years ago). The abandoned house was broken into several times and among the items stolen were a broken radio, a few fishing poles and a gas can. The thieves stole items that could be bought brand new at any Wal-Mart for a few dollars and stepped over boxes filled with manuscripts that would bring a fortune from an archives or collector to do it. I think Flannery would love that irony. ---
**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/14 "2004-01-09T16:30:18Z")
Trivia: I seem to recall that when Tommy Lee Jones was asked about his major college paper, he responded it was about Flannery O’Connor. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/15 "2004-01-09T18:25:34Z")
So was Conan O’Brien’s, and Bruce Sprinsteen is such a fan that when he played Atlanta he came the 90 extra miles here to see her exhibits. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-flannery-oconnor-fans-an-informal-poll/223512/16 "2004-01-09T23:16:36Z")
Flannery O’Connor is among my very favorite writers of all times (some of you may remember that my sigline was a FO’C quote for a very long time). I never would have read her except David Sedaris kept on me about it, and I finally took him at his word and read her. I was hooked for life (and you can hear her influence in his work, too). My favorite story is probably “Revelations,” but _The Violent Bear It Away_ is among my favoritest pieces of literature ever, and I feel like it was a big influence on another favorite, Russell Hoban’s _Riddley Walker_. What I like about her is her spiritual passion refracted through a darkly sardonic worldview. She sees humanity’s sins and weaknesses and chides them for them affectionately. I’ve always been fascinated by religious hysterics, and of course that’s one of her favorite subjects too. I like her frequent theme of the _unavoidability_ of spirituality, even though I myself am a die hard atheist. But I think that, as an artist, her themes of inspiration and religious hysteria echo parallels of my inner art energies, to put it uneloquently. And she made me understand the central concept of all stories: that there is a moment when the protagonist is offered an opportunity to accept grace–to do the right thing for the right reasons–and if he accepts that offer, it’s a happy ending; rejection leads to tragedy. (Thus I realized, after reading O’Connor, that, for example, “Snow White” is really about the queen, and not about Snow White at all.)