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Hostess: Sue
Though she was afflicted with systemic lupus erythematous—the disease which killed her father— and lived only 39 sharply circumscribed years, Flannery O’Connor managed to publish two novels, two major collections of short stories, as well as over a hundred books reviews for Catholic diocesan newspapers.
A Good Man is Hard to Find is the first of her two collections of short stories and is an excellent introduction to O’Connor’s voice, which is utterly unique in American literature. “Southern Gothic” is the most common descriptor used for her writing, but it hardly seems adequate. Her characters are often the kind of bland, common, run-of-the mill sorts you might expect to find next door in middle America. They are just as often murderers, scoundrels, monsters or madmen you hope never to see in your lifetime. The two types often meet in O’Connor’s stories with sometimes searing, sometimes puzzling, occasionally humorous but always memorable results. It is very unlikely that anyone who has read either “Good Country People” or “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (both stories are in this collection) will ever forget it.
Robert Lowell wrote, “Much savagery, compassion, farce, art, and truth have gone into these stories. O’Connor’s characters are wholeheartedly horrible, and almost better than life. I find it hard to think of a funnier or more frightening writer.” And if all that seems very contradictory, add to it the fact that O’Connor was a devout Roman Catholic whose stated purpose was to reveal the mystery of God’s grace in everyday life. Our discussion promises to be interesting.
For anyone who’s interested, here’s O’Connor reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find” via YouTube, of course.
