Newspaper Page Text
About Books:
Flannery O'Connor's "Bulletin" Reviews
HUGH R. BROWN nr ' l,r ' ™ /-xn™.™ -
HUGH R. BROWN
When Flannery O’Connor was first gaining a national
reputation as a Catholic writer, in the 1950s, she was still a
puzzle to many of her co-religionists in Georgia.
Everybody knew she was a writer. She had already
published a novel, WISE BLOOD in 1952, and numerous
short stories, including those collected in A GOOD MAN
IS HARD TO FIND in 1955. But many Georgia Catholics
found it difficult to understand her stories. In particular,
it seemed almost impossible to discover the connection
between her Catholicism and such characters as Nazie
Motes, the country preacher who gouges out his eyes in
WISE BLOOD, or The Misfit, who orders the execution of
an entire family in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” And
even when she mentioned something specifically Catholic,
it was more than likely to be a character like the priest in
“The Displaced Persdn,” who seems to confuse
Christianity, peacocks and a Polish refugee.
I myself remember talking about Flannery O’Connor to
a Savannahian, one of her many local cousins, who
described her as “a perfect old maid” who lived on a farm
near Milledgeville and wrote “strange stories about ugly
country people.” The cousin, whose name I forget, was
typical in her views (if not her expression) of this
extraordinary lady from Georgia.
Now, almost 30 years later, the name O’Connor is very
well known in American literature. It is a rare anthology
of short stories that does not contain at least one of her’s,
usually complete with editorial questions designed to
bring the young reader to full knowledge of technique and
meaning. Her novels and short stories remain in print, her
collected letters and her lectures are acclaimed, and both
she and her fiction are the subjects of large numbers of
books, articles and university dissertations. For some, the
puzzle has been explained, and they discuss her characters
and their actions confidently in terms of “symbolic
representation” and “occasions of grace.” For others, the
puzzle remains or, if they have plunged deeply into the
arcane world of literary criticism, may even have become
more complex.
Thus it is a happy occurrence that in the midst of this
celebration of Flannery O’Connor there has been
published another volume of her collected writings, but
this time one that shows her as an author who puzzles
nobody: Flannery O’Connor the faithful reviewer of
books for diocesan newspapers.
c^fo[anta HA/raji fling
& '^Packing
Robert Williams
1189 Howell Mill Road, N. E
Atlanta, Georgia 30318
(404) 355-669-
BULK RATE
US. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 17*3
THE PRESENCE OF GRACE AND OTHER BOOK
REVIEWS, published this year by the University of
Georgia Press, is a collection of 120 reviews, all written
either for the Bulletin or the Southern Cross from 1956 to
1964, the year she died at the age of 39. The reviews were
compiled by Leo J. Zuber, her book editor on the Bulletin
from 1960. Mr. Zuber died in 1980 and the task of editing
the reviews, adding appropriate letters and writing an
introduction was carried out by Carver Martin, an English
professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
For readers who remember the Bulletin when it served
the entire state of Georgia, the letters interspersed
throughout the book will call up memories of Mr. Zuber,
Mrs. Eileen Hall, his predecessor in the job, and Gerard
Sherry, who edited the Bulletin in the early 1960s. She
also mentions John Markwalter, then an assistant on the
Bulletin, and now editor of the Southern Cross. All the
names come up incidentally as Ms. O’Connor expresses
her preference for books, worries about diocesan affairs
(“When are they going to get us a bishop,” she writes in
1962. “High time they got us something.”), and wonders
about the future of the book review section, “the best
thing in the paper.”
The reviews themselves are remarkable in two ways.
First, they give us Flannery O’Connor at her critical best,
penetrating in her lucid prose to the heart of volumes on
subjects ranging from the history of spirituality to popular
Catholic fiction. Second, the fact that they are collected
in one volume gives us perspective on her reading, her
concerns and her views about the American Catholic
Church of the pre-Vatican II era. The reviews show us a
young, gifted Catholic writer who was scandalized by the
low state of Catholic literature and art, sharply critical of
Catholic taste, dubious about the Catholic press, but
keenly aware of the need for intellectual and spiritual
development among all who seek the Kingdom of God.
The reviews show Ms. O’Connor as a Catholic of her
times, accepting the need for censorship in the arts, but
siding with New York drama critic Walter Kerr in his view
that Catholic tendencies toward censorship had much to
do with the “low state of Catholic taste” in America. She
is aware of and bows to authority, sending back to her
f editor a volume by the Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de
Chardin because he had been placed on the warning list by
the Holy Office, and suggesting the volume might better
be reviewed by “a clerical gentleman.”
The range of her reviewing (and thus of her reading) is
remarkably wide. Among others, she reviews Msgr.
Romano Guardini on Christ, on Mary and on meditations;
Father Bruce Vawter on the Old Testament, the Jesuit
Philip Hughes on the history of the Reformation, Jesuit
Walter Ong on the church in America, the Protestant
theologian Karl Barth on evangelical theology, the French
philosophers Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson, the
American economist Russell Kirk, and, of course Teilhard
PAGE 15—The Georgia Bulletin, September 1,1983
de Chardin and his theory of spiritual evolution, which
appealed strongly to her.
She has surprisingly few reviews of novels and fiction.
She reviews nothing by Graham Green and only THE
ORDEAL OF GILBERT PINFOLD by Evelyn Waugh. But
she does review lesser writers and regularly displays a
trenchant pen when she points out their shortcomings. Of
a novel by Charles B. Flood entitled TELL ME
STRANGER, she comments that “in fiction there is
nothing worse than a combination of slickness and
Catholicism.” Of Morris L. West’s THE DEVIL’S
ADVOCATE, which she liked, she notes that “the book is
worth reading for its virtues and we have its faults to
thank for its being so widely read.” She was, of course, a
craftsman herself and considered writing a vocation. She
regards the best seller list as “a standard of mediocrity
through which occasionally a work of merit will slip for
reasons unconnected with its quality.” But when she
reviews a “real writer,” she is quite generous, praising, for
example, Francois Mauriac’s LINES OF LIFE, and Julian
Green’s THE TRANSGRESSOR.
A few of her favorites are not much read today. For
example, she has praise for J.F. Powers’ portraits of “the
immovable pastor, the ambitious curate, the Gothic
housekeeper and the Regulars of Altar and Rosary” in his
short story collection THE PRESENCE OF GRACE. Most
of these types, natural targets for satire in the 1950s are
no longer with us. However, when she writes of basic
matters - the life of prayer, the figures of the Old
Testament, the often tortuous paths of grace and salvation
- her reviews are as fresh today as they were when she
wrote them, and, like her fiction, likely to endure.
(Hugh Brown is Professor of English at Armstrong State
College, Savannah.)
eciafiiti for:
•Gift Wrapping
•Custom Packing
« • »
pick-up, delivery, mailing,
& shipping services
3400 Peachtree Road, N.E.
Atlanta, Ga. 30326 (404) 261-7212
The only insurance people you ’ll ever need
To Place Classifieds
Call 881-9732
CLASSIFIEDS
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic
Church is seeking an Assistant
Music Director whose
principal responsibilities will
be to direct our choral music
program. Knowledge of the
Catholic Mass is necessary but
can be supplemented by other
church music experiences.
Salary to be determined by
ability and experience. All
applicants welcomed. Call
522-6776.
CONDOMINIUM FOR RENT:
Buckhead. $450 a month. 2
br. Town House. Jim
Winchester 355-3489 or
233-2654.
PIANO LESSONS. Qualified,
patient teacher with music
degree. Will visit home.
633-2780 or 378-5786.
FOR RENT: Lake Lanier
mobile home. 3 br., 2 ba.,
boat dock. 992-0103.
KIAWAH: 4 br., rental,
396-2256.
DRUM INSTRUCTION: All
styles; all levels. Home visits.
987-2834.
HOUSE PAINTING.
Responsible college students.
Free estimates. References.
Paul Bell 457-8938.
PROTECTION SYMBOL:
Inspiring decal display. Home,
car, business. $1 each. 3 for
$2.50. Protection Symbol,
2890 Turner Church Rd.,
McDonough, GA 30253.
TV MASS FOR SHUT-INS.
Send for a free monthly
missalette and follow the Mass
on television every Sunday at
10:00 a.m. on Atlanta’sWVEU
- Channel 69 on the UHF band.
Write: TV MASS; BOX 54424;
Atlanta, Ga. 30308
“PREGNANT? ” To discuss
abortion alternatives call
BIRTHRIGHT 233-1171.
Service is free and
confidential.
CRISIS PREGNANCY
SERVICE - Call 881-8987 for
help with medical care and
living arrangements. Service
free and confidential.
CHRISTIAN HOUSEKEEPER
NEEDED: Live-in in exchange
for room and board. Walk to
St. Jude’s. 3%-1988.
ALL ATLANTA CARPET
CLEANING: $14 per room.
(Sofa or 2 chairs $35)
Prespotting, Deodorizing,
Steam Cleaning, 3M Scotch
Guard. Call 7 days, 2334902.
Satisfaction Guaranteed.
Whole House Special $93.
JOB WANTED: Honest,
hard-working family man
seeks position with
dependable company in
Atlanta area, accessible by
MARTA. Long job history,
including ownership of own
company. Employment
disrupted by stroke suffered
10 years ago, but now
recuperating and has been
re-employed in recent years.
Seeking entry level position
with responsible company and
opportunity to show abilities.
Recommendations available.
CaU 634-51% or write 2807
Clairmont Rd., Atlanta, GA
30329.
HILTON 1 EAT)
Condominium. Sleeps 6. Near
beach. Weekly $300.
636-7656.
CLOCK REPAIR: Specializing
in Grandfather and antique
wall and mantle clocks. House
CaUs. 457-1627.
5 BEDROOM HOME Near
Marist and Our Lady of the
Assumption schools. Great
family home with master and
private bath separate from
children’s wing. Recreation
room, two fireplaces.
$135,000. Cathy Hohlstein
237-5227; Buckhead Brokers,
Inc.; 3650 Habersham Rd.;
Atlanta, GA 30305.
UPHOLSTERY Re-finishing
and made to order cushions.
CaH 344-2201 or627-9287.
AMELIA ISLAND,
FLORIDA: Oceanfront 3 br.,
2 ba., fuUy furnished condo
apt. directly on beach. Tennis, -M
pool, golf. 500 ft private
fishing pier. Weekly or
monthly rentals available.
Sleeps 7. CaH 636-5688.
