adaptations: fidelity to source, 132–34, 142
and financial gain, 155–56, 160
as “too faithful” to source 144, 157
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 184
American Poets Corner, 189, 190, 192, 197
Andalusia (O’Connor family home), 5, 69, 82, 128
Alice Walker visit, 192
Ansen, David, 136, 138, 140, 146–47
“Artificial Nigger, The” (O’Connor), 47, 50, 103, 177, 184
and Tony Randall, 132
and Wise Blood (O’Connor), 150
Bellow, Saul, 69
Bikadoroff, Roxanna, 34
biographers, 110–11
Bishop, Elizabeth, 69
Borges, Jorge Luis, 4
Boswell, James, 39
on Wise Blood (Huston), 135, 139–40, 146, 147–48
Burgess, Anthony, 78
Caldwell, Erskine 8, 69, 127, 171
compared to O’Connor, 19, 22, 47, 53, 83
on Wise Blood (Huston), 154
Carter, Jimmy, 109
Cash, W. J., 14
correspondence with O’Connor, 119
Christianity, as portrayed in O’Connor’s fiction, 176–78
“Circle in the Fire, A” (O’Connor), 67
Clemons, Walter, 103, 104, 126
Coindreau, Maurice, 64
Complete Stories, The (O’Connor): Catholic themes of, 178
chronological arrangement of, 101
difficulty of understanding, 170
disturbing elements of, 168, 169
and National Book Award, 105
and racism portrayed in, 183, 186
reception of, 102–4
repetitive nature of, 178–79
and the South, 174
universal themes of, 176
Coonrod, Karin, 157, 158, 192. See also Everything That Rises Must Converge (Coonrod)
“dark,” as watchword to describe O’Connor’s work, 167–68
on O’Connor’s universal themes, 156–57
and theatrical adaptation, 155. See also Displaced Person, The (Dawkins)
Dickinson, Emily, 12
compared to O’Connor, 86, 128, 131
“difficult,” as watchword to describe O’Connor’s work, 170–71, 177
Directions ’65, 162
Displaced Person, The (Dawkins), 156, 157
Displaced Person, The (Foote), 163
“Displaced Person, The” (O’Connor), 46–47, 50
Eagleton, Terry, 7
on Giroux’s introduction to The Complete Stories, 98–99
Engle, Paul, 55
Esprit (University of Scranton literary magazine), 67–72
Everything That Rises Must Converge (Coonrod), 157–59
initial reception of, 158
Everything That Rises Must Converge (O’Connor): dedication, 82
disturbing elements of, 168
initial reception of, 76–79
racism depicted in, 184, 185, 186
unlikable characters of, 169
“Everything That Rises Must Converge” (O’Connor), 47, 78, 184
“fanatic,” as watchword to describe Mason Tarwater, 180–82
Farrar, John, 112
Faulkner, William: as southern writer, 5, 189
works regarded as inferior to O’Connor’s, 22–23, 127, 171
works regarded as similar to O’Connor’s, 12, 19, 53, 77, 81, 163, 171, 172, 173
works regarded as superior to O’Connor’s, 6, 78
Fitzgerald, Benedict, 133, 142, 149, 163
Fitzgerald, Robert, 56, 77, 193
and The Complete Stories, 96
introduction to Everything That Rises Must Converge, 82–85, 130
as O’Connor’s literary executor, 82
Fitzgerald, Sally, 7, 56, 112, 117, 131, 133
and O’Connor’s letters, 118–25. See also Habit of Being, The (O’Connor)
Flannery O’Connor Day (January 16, 1972), 109
Flannery O’Connor: The Cartoons (O’Connor), 3–4
“fundamentalist,” as watchword to describe Mason Tarwater, 180–82
Galley Proof, 159, 160, 176, 192
Genette, Gerard, 26
Gentry, Bruce, 1
Geranium, The (O’Connor’s MFA thesis), 95
“Geranium, The” (O’Connor’s short story), 76
Gilman, Richard: 127, 157, 162, 196
Giroux, Robert, 6, 47, 93, 104–5, 111, 189
as champion of O’Connor, 92, 94, 100, 106–7, 193
on The Displaced Person (Dawkins), 157
and Everything That Rises Must Converge, 72, 81
and Sally Fitzgerald, 112, 117–18, 120
on The Habit of Being, 126
and Lee, 117–18. See also Complete Stories, The (O’Connor)
Glaser, Milton, 28
Glasson, June, 36
on O’Connor meeting Engle, 98–99
“Good Country People” (O’Connor), 47, 87, 174
Good Man Is Hard to Find, A (O’Connor): banning of, 7, 187
character of grandmother in, 146
difficulty of understanding, 170
racism portrayed in, 183, 185, 186, 187
Roman Catholic themes of, 177
universal themes of, 176, 187–88
violent elements of, 48, 52, 168
“Good Man Is Hard to Find, A” (O’Connor), 45–47, 50
Gordon, Caroline, 14, 19, 48, 69, 70, 71
and Flannery O’Connor Journal, 115
and Giroux, 93
Gossett, Thomas F., 58, 114–15
gothic: as description of O’Connor’s work, 5, 65
inadequacy of term, 6, 25, 69–70, 81
Greene, Graham, 126
“Greenleaf” (O’Connor), 71
“grotesque”: changing implications of, 139–40
literary form defined, 16–17
as watchword to describe O’Connor’s work, 17, 54, 69, 79, 139, 167, 188
Habit of Being, The (O’Connor), 114, 127, 128
as autobiography, 130
conception of, 113
cover art for, 129
and Giroux, 113–15
and National Book Critics Circle Award, 131
reception of, 126–30
title of, 125. See also Giroux, Robert Fitzgerald, Sally
O’Connor, Regina habitus, 126
Hawkes, John, 43, 57, 69, 70–71, 137, 146, 196
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 91, 127, 192
Hazlitt, William, 17
Hester, Betty, 48, 57, 161, 163, 195
as “A.” in The Habit of Being, 123, 129
as friend of O’Connor, 122
Hicks, Granville, 45, 48, 52, 60, 69
Howe, Irving, 78
Hungerford, Amy, 34
on Wise Blood, 149–50
Hyman, Stanley Edgar, 79–80
introductions, and authors’ reputations, 64–65, 84, 96, 125, 130
James, Henry, 88, 104, 127, 189, 192
Jovanovich, William, 104
compared to O’Connor, 127, 156, 176
Judge, John F., 68
“Judgment Day” (O’Connor), 76
Kauffmann, Stanley, 139, 143, 157
Kermode, Frank, 69
“King of the Birds, The” (O’Connor), 72
Kirk, Russell, 83
Koontz, Dean, 5
Lamb, Wally, 189
and O’Connor’s letters, 116–17
Lehman-Haupt, Christopher, 92, 108
letters: and author’s character and work, 117
and author’s reputation, 120, 124
and copyright laws, 115
Lewis, R. W. B., 18
“Life You Save May Be Your Own, The” (O’Connor), 47, 103, 109, 176, 185
adaptations, 160–61
and O’Connor’s letters, 119, 122, 123
Lynch, John A., 51–52
Malamud, Bernard, 92
Maritain, Jacques, 125
McCullers, Carson, 5, 8, 19, 69, 77, 127, 171
O’Connor on, 156
McKee, Elizabeth, 94, 99, 111, 162
McMurtry, Larry, 5
letters of, 127
Memoir of Mary Ann, A, 64–65
O’Connor’s introduction to, 65
Mencken, H. L., 13, 51, 173, 181
Merton, Thomas, 69, 77, 92, 100
Montaigne, Michel de, 17
Mystery and Manners (O’Connor), 88–90, 162, 169, 177
National Book Award, 105–8
Oates, Joyce Carol, 1, 85, 105
O’Connor, Flannery: 9, 100, 159, 189
compared with other artists, 172–73
illness of, 70–71, 85–87, 129, 190
literature, assumptions about, 88, 131, 160
and peacocks, 72–75
prizes received, 64, 105–6, 131
and reviewers, 12, 16, 44–45, 52, 53, 77
as Roman Catholic, 107, 178, 195–96
as southern author, 12–14, 45, 52, 67, 69, 76, 109, 110, 159, 197
and southern religion, 137
O’Connor, Flannery, works: 69, 91–92, 166–67
character types in, 102–3
difficulty of understanding, 54, 89, 170–71
grotesque elements of, 16–19, 54, 69, 79
limited range of, 77, 83–84, 103–4, 178–79
racism of characters in, 183–88
as “realistic,” 174–75
Roman Catholic themes of, 20–21, 23–25, 34–36, 40, 43–44, 49–53, 57, 63, 68, 149, 176–77
southern reception of, 14–15
theoretical audiences of, defined, 42–44
universal themes of, 45, 53, 76, 92, 102, 106, 176, 190. See also individual works O’Connor, Regina, 82, 108, 111
and Flannery’s letters, 113, 115–25
on Flannery’s work, 124–25
paratexts, 26
“Parker’s Back” (O’Connor), 81, 181
Parker’s Back: An Opera in Two Acts (Hayes), 159
Poirier, Richard, 78
Porter, Katherine Anne, 68, 71
Prayer Journal, A (O’Connor), 193–94
Price, Richard, 5
Pritchett, V. S., 86
Rabinowitz, Peter J., 4, 10, 40–41
racism, O’Connor’s depictions of, 183–88
Reed, Rex, 136
reputation, literary: and author’s letters, 120
and character types, 102
fluidity of, 104
and O’Connor’s critics, 69, 79, 80–81
and O’Connor’s inner circle, 82, 96, 125, 133
and online reviews, 164–66, 172
and readers’ religious beliefs, 176–78
and watchwords, 195
“Revelation” (O’Connor), 47, 78, 81, 146
“River, The” (O’Connor), 42, 43, 50, 87, 147
Roth, Philip, 20
Schlitz Playhouse, 7
Schwartz, Lawrence H., 81
Sessions, William A., 193
South, American: clichés about, 174, 176, 196–97
in Coonrod’s Everything That Rises Must Converge, 159
Dawkins on, 157
in A Good Man Is Hard to Find, 45, 52
Mencken on, 13–14
in reviews, 173–76
unfavorable opinions of, 197–98
universal characteristics of, 198
in Wise Blood (Huston), 140–41, 154
in Wise Blood (O’Connor), 12
southern gothic, 3, 139, 167, 196
inadequacy as label, 69–70, 81, 104, 189
Stone Mountain Park, 110
Styron, William, 26
and The Habit of Being, 119
“Temple of the Holy Ghost, A” (O’Connor), 50, 181
United States Postal Service, 1–2
“unlikable,” as watchword to describe O’Connor’s characters, 169–70
Violent Bear It Away, The (O’Connor), 42, 103, 137, 156, 192, 196
and Christianity, 62–63, 176–77
and critics, 194–95
difficulty of understanding, 54, 170
disturbing elements of, 168
Francis Tarwater in, 146
Mason Tarwater in, 179–81, 182
Rayber as hero of, 60–61
as “realistic,” 175
reception of, 53–63
theme of prophecy in, 55–56, 180, 181, 182
theoretical audiences of, 56–61, 147, 179–83
unlikable characters of, 169
Warren, Robert Penn, 69
watchwords: defined, 3
in Directions ’65, 162
in obituaries, 76
in online reviews, 167, 169, 188
and reputation, 195
and The Violent Bear It Away, 54, 58–59, 180–82
and Wise Blood (Huston), 139
and Wise Blood (O’Connor), 11, 14, 17, 21. See also “dark,” “difficult,” “fanatic,” “fundamentalist,” “grotesque,” “unlikable”
Waugh, Evelyn, 15
Welty, Eudora, 14, 69, 77, 174
Why Do the Heathen Rage? (O’Connor), 64
Wise Blood (Huston): and Criterion Collection, 155
marketing of, 135–36, 137, 150–51, 154
and O’Connor’s novel, 142, 144
and O’Connor’s reputation, 150
as “realism,” 140–41
reception of, 138–42
theoretical audiences of, 145–49
trailer for, 151. See also Huston, John Wise Blood (O’Connor), 103
compared to other authors’ works, 19–20, 22
cover of, 26–38
difficulty of understanding, 170–71
disturbing elements of, 168, 172
as grotesque, 17–19
O’Connor on marketability of, 136
O’Connor’s preface to, 24
as satire, 21–22
second edition of, 23–26
and the South, 173
as theatrical adaptation, 156, 159
theoretical audiences of, 42–44
unlikable characters of, 169
Wood, Ralph C., 2, 49, 181, 193
Zinn, Howard, 198