In this series, we are reading various short stories of Flannery O'Connor. This week, we look at what is probably her most well known and praised story - "A Good Man is Hard to Find." We also consider her reflections on being a Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South.
Listen online [here]!
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Flannery
O’Connor
Session 5:
A Good Man is Hard to Find, and Essays
“The
truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
October 22nd – A View
of the Woods, and The River
October 29th – The
Artificial N*****, and Wildcat
Themes in A Good Man is Hard to
Find
A. Division in family life:
Grandmother and son, parents and children, brother and sister.
B. Division in society: Black and
white, rich and poor, criminal and innocent
C. Violence as a moment of grace
Themes in The Catholic Novelist
in the Protestant South
A. Imagination and religious life
B. Writing from the experience of
real life and real culture
C. Southern imagination is formed
from Scripture, which makes the South a perfect place for the Catholic Novelist.
D. Incarnational vision of
religion and grace
E. A Catholic Novel does not need
to be about Catholic life or Catholic culture
